News

WASHINGTON, D.C., and LANSING, Mich., October 17, 2019 – Advanced energy business groups today applauded the announcement from Governor Gretchen Whitmer that the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) would launch a multi-year initiative to modernize Michigan’s electric power system to maximize the benefits of clean, distributed energy resources for Michigan residents and businesses. National business organization Advanced Energy Economy (AEE) and the Michigan Energy Innovation Business Council (Michigan EIBC), a state partner of AEE, see the benefits from the MI Power Grid initiative as including: 

Energy News Network highlighted AEE's DER Report and included quotes by AEE's Jeff Dennis. Read excerpts below and the entire Energy News Network piece here. 

Rooftop solar panels and home battery systems could play a significant role in balancing the nation’s electric grid, but federal regulators need to adopt policies to help make that happen, according to a clean energy group’s recent report.

So-called distributed energy resources — customer-managed generation and storage systems spread across the grid — are often too small to participate in the regional wholesale markets where utilities buy most of the electricity they sell to customers...

Utility Dive reported Minnesota regulators pushed back on petroleum groups' attempt to reverse approval of Xcel Energy's $25 million electric vehicle pilot program, quoting  AEE's Matt Stanberry and AEE member Greenlots. Read excerpts below and the entire UD piece here. 

Minnesota regulators on Monday stamped out manufacturing and petroleum groups' attempt to reverse approval of Xcel Energy's $25 million electric vehicle pilot program. The state's Public Utilities Commission (PUC) approved the program in July, and five large industrial groups, including oil groups Marathon Petroleum and Flint Hills Resources, filed a petition with the commission on Aug. 6 asking regulators to reconsider the decision...

First two in series provide overviews on how wholesale markets work and the barriers that keep advanced energy technologies from competing

WASHINGTON, D.C., October 9, 2019 – Today, national business group Advanced Energy Economy released the first two policy briefs in a new series on how advanced energy technologies can and should be allowed to participate in wholesale electricity markets, for the benefit of customers and the grid itself. These two briefs, along with additional wholesale market briefs as they are developed, can be downloaded here. 

Washington Examiner's 'Daily on Energy' covered Trump's Republican nominee for FERC, quoting AEE's Jeff Dennis. Read excerpts below and the entire Washington Examiner piece here.

Clean energy groups worry that President Trump’s new Republican nominee for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, James Danly, would take a hands-off approach to the role, meaning he could be reluctant to push through changes to modernize the electric grid.

Not much is known in utility industry circles about Danly, the FERC general counsel since 2017 and a former lawyer at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, but he did hint at his view of the role of FERC members in a speech in April at Skadden's Energy Regulation and Litigation Group's 14th Annual Energy Conference in which he espoused a “humble regulator approach.”

The Virginia Mercury published an opinion piece by Devin Welch, of AEE member Sun Tribe Solar, calling on the Virginia Assembly to support clean energy for economic reasons, including jobs. Welch referenced and linked to AEE's recent Virginia jobs report, and called for expanding the successful Power Purchase Agreement Pilot program. Read excerpts below and the entire Virginia Mercury piece here. 

Last month, Gov. Ralph Northam made an exciting announcement: that Virginia would aim to get 100 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2050. It’s an ambitious — but essential — target, and much of the reporting post-announcement has focused on a major impetus behind this kind of goal setting: climate change and the very real impact it will continue to have on communities throughout the commonwealth. 

The Washington Post's Energy 202 reported on Trump naming a Republican nominee for FERC Commissioner without pairing with a Democrat, quoting AEE's General Counsel and Managing Director Jeff Dennis. Read excerpts below and the entire Washington Post piece here, a version of which also appeared in the print edition on Oct. 3.

President Trump finally chose a new Republican commissioner for a key panel of federal energy regulators. But he did so without naming a Democrat to go with him, setting off a potential battle with Senate Democrats over the future of renewable energy and gas pipeline projects across the country. On Monday, the White House announced the president intends to nominate James Danly to be a commissioner on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Danly, a Republican, currently serves as the panel’s general counsel and would fill a vacancy left by the death in January of former FERC chairman Kevin J. McIntyre. If confirmed by the Senate, Danly would serve until 2023.

Utility Dive reported on six state utility commissioners who are pressing FERC to prioritize its resilience docket, including perspective of AEE's Managing Director and General Counsel Jeff Dennis. Read excerpts below and the entire Utility Dive piece here. 

Six state regulators are pressing the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to prioritize its resilience docket, citing concerns over rapid coal plant retirements, Bloomberg first reported Monday. Utility commissioners from Wyoming, Montana, Alabama, Tennessee, West Virginia and Kentucky wrote separate letters to FERC, asking the commission to take action on the resilience docket opened in response to its unanimous rejection of the Department of Energy's bid to subsidize coal and nuclear resources.

Transmission and Distribution World published this final column in a four-part series by AEE's Bob Keough summarizing AEE's 2019 Market Report findings. Read excerpts below and the entire T&D World piece here.

According to the Advanced Energy Now 2019 Market Report, advanced transportation was the largest advanced energy segment worldwide in 2018 for the second year in a row, with an estimated US$494.8 billion in revenue, up 2% from 2017 and 8% the year before. Since 2011, the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of advanced transportation globally was 6%. At the end of 2018, over five million plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) were on the roads worldwide.

Transmission and Distribution World published this third column in a four-part series by AEE's Bob Keough summarizing AEE's 2019 Market Report findings. Read excerpts below and the entire T&D World piece here. 

According to the Advanced Energy Now 2019 Market Report, within the electricity delivery and management segment of advanced energy, it is noteworthy that advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) had two big revenue years in the United States recently, jumping 65% in 2017, to US$1.4 billion, and holding roughly steady in 2018. Smart meters and related infrastructure are foundational for much innovation in the electric power sector, including reforms like time-of-use rates.