America got a rare unanimous decision from the Supreme Court this week in a case that has widespread implications for our electric grid, as well as the markets and regulations that govern and move it.
The case was Hughes v. Talen Energy Marketing (docket no. 14-614). The Court decided it 8-to-0, with Justice Ginsburg writing the opinion.
It centered on a Maryland decision to guarantee fixed revenues for an electric generator. Typically, generators are paid through wholesale markets, regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). These wholesale markets keep prices down and costs competitive by only paying for the lowest-cost resources necessary to keep the system running. By guaranteeing money for a generator, no matter how competitive it was in the market, Maryland effectively muted the price signal and ensured that electricity from this particular resource would be paid – regardless of how costly it might be for consumers. Read More
Wait – Ohio utility regulators did what?
Localized power grids that have the ability to disconnect from the main, centralized grid – known as microgrids – have become one of the electricity industry’s latest darlings. Particularly after Hurricane Sandy knocked out electric generators and wires along the Northeast coast in 2012, urban and utility planners have been devising localized grids that can operate autonomously, strengthen the overall power system’s reliability and resilience, and protect critical infrastructure like hospitals, water treatment facilities, and police stations in the event of a grid-wide outage.
On vacation and awake in my too-soft bed at 5 AM while my family snored, I was regretting my misaligned sleep schedule. But then I realized time was on my side, so I tiptoed out in solitude for sunrise at the south rim of the Grand Canyon. Thanks to my very clever smart phone that is also a camera, my amateur photos (sort of) reveal the majesty of this national landmark. When we realize the schedule of Nature’s 
California has a nice problem: It’s producing so much clean solar energy that the state’s electric grid is at capacity, and sometimes beyond.
In extremely disappointing news, the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) recently approved the AEP and FirstEnergy bailout cases. By keeping old, uneconomic coal and nuclear plants running for the next eight years, the bailouts are bad for customers, bad for the environment, and bad for the competitive electric market. Even worse, customers are forced to subsidize these plants, even if they buy their power from a different supplier.