Carolyn Snyder

As our region navigates the complexities of the energy transition, sustainability, and affordability, it must be wary of using intermittent sources to replace reliable baseload power. https://lnkd.in/gA4apFnK

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Great work by Synapse Energy Economics, Berkeley Lab and E4TheFuture in codifying Distributional Equity Analysis for distributed energy, and elevating it as and equal companion to Benefit-Cost Analysis. I'm hearing growing equity concerns about DERs - e.g., rising rates for renters/households/business who can't quickly weatherize/electrify/buy solar/storage/EVs; those "left behind" on natural gas. What if a project/program/investment passes BCA but worsens equity? Awesome to see these questions go mainstream - and a rigorous approach! I am looking forward to working on DER equity analysis! DOE page links to a long and short guide, and registration for a June 25th webinar: https://lnkd.in/gsC2WhKy #energyequity #distributedenergy #energyjustice

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Last week, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved FERC Order 1920, a 1,300-page regulation that will transform how the U.S. power grid is planned and paid for. Now comes the hard part — turning those reforms into the thousands of miles of power lines the U.S. needs to transition from fossil fuels to clean, cheap, and reliable power. Clean energy investors, environmental groups, and grid reliability experts praised FERC’s two-member Democratic majority for crafting new rules that give the country a chance to build power lines at the rate needed to meet climate goals. Republicans in Congress — and at FERC itself — attacked the order as an attempt to force the cost of meeting clean energy policies onto unwilling states and utility customers. Legal challenges are almost certain to emerge. But supporters of FERC Order 1920 warned that roadblocks beyond lawsuits threaten the long-term benefits of the new transmission reforms. Perhaps the bigger challenge, they said, is making sure that the utilities, grid operators, and state regulators tasked with carrying out the reforms actually follow through over the coming years. FERC’s order applies most directly to the country’s regional grid operators, which manage transmission networks that provide electricity for about two-thirds of the U.S. population. With the exception of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the grid operator for most of the state, all these regional grid organizations must craft plans to comply with the order and submit them for FERC review by spring 2025. #ferc #transmissionreform #regionalgridoperators #ercot #energytransition #utilities #powerlines #renewablenergy

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Unintended Consequences of Well-Intended Regulations: In this recent article for Energy Marketing Conferences (EMC) Insider, I explain in very simple terms how carbon #capandtrade systems can undermine the #voluntarymarket for #cleanenergy if regulators do not set-aside allowances to account for #voluntaryprocurement. If you want your clean energy purchases to have greater impact , this is just another example of why you should look to Center for Resource Solutions and its Green-e© certified renewable energy.

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My hot take today is about a little noticed announcement the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) released quietly today. It has reopened an opportunity to fund carbon dioxide transportation networks. This is a positive and a much-needed development because Cipher reporting earlier this year revealed that many of the carbon storage projects are not just dependent on securing permits but also on delivering the captured CO2. Aware of the paucity of transport networks, DOE itself noted, the U.S. will need to capture and permanently store approximately 400–1,800 million metric tons of CO2 annually by 2050 to meet its commitments. https://lnkd.in/ef7JPEgr In other top reads by my colleagues, Cat Clifford highlighted a Bloomberg article that spotlights how Holtec International, a company involved in making nuclear waste storage casks, is now looking to revitalize a nuclear plant headed for decommissioning. And Bill Spindle reported about an upcoming gathering of corporate heads of fossil fuel and tech companies. We try to stay on top of breaking news about the global developments in the cleantech and climate space and share them with you so continue reading our Top Reads and Hot Takes at Cipher News. Cheers!

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Have you used DOE's WindExchange website before? https://lnkd.in/eUARRgWz. It provides accessible resources for local decision makers, communities, and individuals to understand the benefits and impacts of wind energy markets, technology, and development. WINDExchange empowers U.S. communities to understand and participate in wind energy siting, permitting, and installation processes. Help us improve the WINDExchange website by filling out a roughly 10-minute, voluntary, anonymous survey by Monday, April 29, 2024: https://lnkd.in/ekFEbDhP.

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The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has spent two years working on what could be the most important nationwide transmission grid reform in decades. Next week, it plans to finally announce its decision — and the implications for the clean energy transition are huge. FERC’s goal is to set rules for utilities and grid operators to plan for and fairly share the costs of expanding the nation’s overtaxed transmission grids, which carry electricity from where it’s produced to the substations where it’s distributed to where it’s consumed. The U.S. needs to build these new power lines at a rapid clip in order to shift the country from fossil fuels to clean, cheap, and reliable power, but right now the buildout is far too slow, due in large part to the cost-sharing issues FERC aims to iron out next week. As the regulator prepares to unveil its long-awaited reforms, FERC Chair Willie Phillips must navigate a key conflict, one that has split states — and Phillips’ two fellow FERC commissioners — along policy and partisan lines. That conflict is over clean energy policies, and whether the states that don’t have them should have to pay for power lines that they see as primarily supporting the climate objectives of other states. By mandating some form of cooperation on grid expansion, the upcoming decision ​“could enable hundreds of gigawatts of renewables to be connected that otherwise cannot be” due to grid backlogs, said Rob Gramlich, a well-regarded grid policy expert and president of consultancy Grid Strategies. ​“The best way to do that is to plan proactively, long term, for that future resource mix.” #energytransition #transmissiongridreform #gridexpansion #renewableenergy #ferc #regionalcooperation #worldgameworkshop

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Check out my The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) colleague Anna Johnson speaking about #industrialeletrification. #energypolicy #industrialpolicy #climatepolicy

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My latest post for Kleinman Center for Energy Policy.

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TODAY: A new report by National Renewable Energy Laboratory explores the barriers and opportunities for interregional transmission, a key tool for a cleaner, more reliable grid. Historically, regulatory challenges have prevented realizing the full value of interregional transmission. NREL’s report, a complement to GDO’s National Transmission Planning Study, outlines potential changes to market and operating rules to help connect high demand areas to renewable energy sources like wind and solar. Read the full report here: https://lnkd.in/eF95GU8w

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As large swathes of America sizzle through record temperatures this week, the Energy Institute published its annual statistical review of world energy: it makes for grim reading for people hoping to see rapid progress on the energy transition... Amanda Chu has the story Countries burnt record amounts of oil and coal last year, sending global fossil fuel consumption and emissions to all-time highs, the Energy Institute reported. Oil demand grew 2.6 per cent, surpassing 100mn barrels per day for the first time. Meanwhile, the share of fossil fuels in the energy mix declined slightly by half a percentage point, but still made up more than 81 per cent of consumption.  While EI’s estimates are largely in line with the International Energy Agency’s, its authors offer a more sombre view of the pace of the energy transition compared with the Paris-based watchdog. “Today’s new data provides little encouragement in terms of global climate change mitigation,” said Nick Wayth, chief executive of EI. “Arguably, the transition has not even started.”  Financial Times Energy Institute

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REsurety's Lee Taylor is a contributor on the policy brief: Assessing the Impact of Voluntary Actions on the Grid, that was published today from RMI with other contributors from National Renewable Energy Laboratory, WattTime.org and Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO). Summary: The urgency of the climate crisis is leading many large energy consumers to consider how they can more accurately assess the impacts of various potential actions on grid decarbonization. This paper provides an overview of the ZEROgrid Impact Advisory Initiative’s collective findings on consequential impact and reliability assessments, their implications, and areas where further research is required. This consensus paper is intended for corporate practitioners and policymakers navigating policy, investment, and procurement decisions that affect grid decarbonization and reliability. Download the brief here: https://lnkd.in/ekiTzFNC #renewableenergy #cleanenergy

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My colleagues Jane Rueger and Jacob Aaron Neeley break down the record-setting rules (1600 plus pages!) that FERC just issued on regional transmission planning, cost allocation, and siting. This deep dive is well worth the read! Perkins Coie LLP #transmissionplanning, #electricitytransmission, #siting, #renewableenergy, #solar, #wind.

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FERC has approved interconnection reform - and this is *generally* good for the energy transition. That said the devil in in the details of how states and utilities implement these changes. Some improvements like penalties assessed against utilities for tardy studies, trying to clean out queue squatters, and expressly identifying certain technical flexibility into interconnection design are good. However, we have specifically seen "Cluster Studies" and higher financial security requirements stymie development and create very costly and endless loops of re-studies in many markets (utility and DG). Calling on American Clean Power Association (ACP) Solar Energy Industries Association and importantly state level advocacy and watch dog groups to closely watch and actively participate as the implementation of these changes occur at the state level PUCs and DPUs - ensuring proper accountability and fair play. https://lnkd.in/ewehaH52 NYSERDA New York Solar Energy Industries Association MID-ATLANTIC RENEWABLE ENERGY COALITION Renewable Energy Vermont American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) Smart Electric Power Alliance NECEC Cleantech Leaders Roundtable

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Haley & Aldrich’s experts are uniquely suited help you meet these challenges.

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