Grid

24 posts

Federal Regulatory Barriers to Grid-Deployed Energy Storage

by  Andrew H. Meyer Until recently, the most advanced form of grid-deployed energy storage involved pumping water up a hill.  But newer storage technologies like flywheels and chemical batteries have recently achieved technological maturity and are well into successful pilot stages and, in some cases, commercial operation.  If widely adopted […]

Up to 80% of the EU energy efficiency investments do not fulfill their original purpose

Teresa Parejo Navajas Professor of Law Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (Spain) Mr. Harald Wögerbauer, Member of the European Court of the Auditors (ECA), recently gave a press conference outlining the results of the ECA special report on energy efficiency in the EU. The Court found that the projects selected […]

State Public Utility Commissions Have Many Tools to Promote Energy Efficiency, Columbia Law Study Shows, but Progress Still Lags

State public utility commissions (PUCs) could make major progress toward achieving energy efficiency if they utilized the tools available to them, according to a study released August 14 by Columbia Law School’s Center for Climate Change Law. The report, “Public Utilities Commissions & Energy Efficiency: A Handbook of Legal & Regulatory Tools […]

New CCCL Working Paper: FERC Order 1000 as a New Tool for Promoting Energy Efficiency and Demand Response

By Shelley Welton, CCCL Deputy Director and Fellow This summer is an important time for clean energy enthusiasts to pay closer attention to the complex, technical world of electric transmission planning and siting.  In July 2011, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued Order No. 1000, the latest in a […]

PJM Announces Plans to Keep Outdated Coal Plants Open for Reliability Reasons

by Shelley Welton Deputy Director & Earth Institute Climate Law Fellow Earlier this month, citing reliability concerns, PJM, the mid-Atlantic’s regional transmission operator, asked FirstEnergy Corp. of Ohio to keep three coal-fired power plants in operation for the next three years that the company had previously scheduled to be shut […]

MIT Study Demonstrates Demand Response’s Role in Balancing Renewables

by Shelley Welton, Deputy Director & Fellow MIT released an interdisciplinary study on December 5, 2011, that examines “The Future of the Electric Grid.” Among many interesting findings, it nicely details the challenges we will face in adapting the electric grid to accommodate all the anticipated renewable resources coming on-line […]

The Air Quality vs. Electricity Grid Reliability Debate

By Shelley Welton, Deputy Director An ongoing battle over the potential tensions between air quality regulations and electric grid reliability has picked up steam recently, as two EPA air pollution regulations near the implementation phase: the cross-state air-pollution rule and the mercury and air toxics standard. Congressional Republicans and many […]