Each year, Women of Wind Energy (WoWE) awards fellowships to women college students or recent graduates to attend the annual American Wind Energy Association WINDPOWER conference. Previous awardees include engineers, lawyers, PhDs, MBAs, technicians, meteorologists, economists and more from schools like Stanford, Columbia Gorge Community College, James Madison, UC Boulder, Appalachian State, and MIT. Applications … Continue Reading
In September 2012, all new electricity generation came from solar and wind projects, according to the Energy Infrastructure Update (PDF) issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s Office of Energy Projects. Five wind projects totaling 300MW and 18 solar projects totaling 133MW came online during the month. The Energy Infrastructure Update also noted that nearly … Continue Reading
From my colleague Chad Marriott, who is attending the RETECH 2012 Conference in Washington, DC: Today at ACORE’s RETECH 2012 conference in Washington, D.C., John Lushetsky, Executive Director of the U.S. Army Energy Initiatives Task Force ("EITF") announced that the Army expects to issue a request for proposals within the next 90 days for a … Continue Reading
The Pacific Northwest Economic Region (PNWER) Energy Storage Coaliation (ESC) will be holding an important energy storage conference at the Portland Convention Center on October 8, 2012. ESC has worked with the Oregon and Washington public utility commissions to bring together a diverse mix of developers, utilities and regulators to share their perspectives on opportunities and barriers … Continue Reading
Northwestern Energy has issued an RFP seeking up to 45 MW of renewable generation that qualify under Montana’s community renewable resource requirement. The RFP process is being managed by Land Energy Consulting. The first conference call for the RFP was held on August 15, and a second is scheduled for September 12. Proposals are due at … Continue Reading
On July 23, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie signed into law a bill which amends the state’s solar energy incentive program in an effort to increase the demand for solar renewable energy credits (SRECs), stabilize the market for SRECs, which has seen a substantial decline in price over the last year, and support the development … Continue Reading
As my colleagues Kristen Castaños and Melissa Foster posted on the Stoel Rives California Environmental Law Blog, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced today that it will publish the Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (“Solar PEIS”) for solar energy development in six southwestern states—Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. The Solar PEIS is a … Continue Reading
An update from Marcus Wood, Jennifer Martin & Jason Johns: The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) regulations provide that, for purposes of calculating a qualifying facility’s net capacity, generating facilities are considered together as a single qualifying facility if they are located within one mile of each other, use the same energy resource, and are owned … Continue Reading
On May 3, 2012, The Detroit Edison Company (DTE Energy) issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) seeking approximately 100 megawatts (MW) of nameplate rated capacity or approximately 300 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of annual supply (including associated RECs) from wind energy systems that will have a commercial operation date before December 31, 2013. DTE expects to contract for … Continue Reading
Stoel Rives partner Aaron Courtney will speak about the New Army Corps Nationwide Permits for Renewable Energy Facilities during a one-hour expert analysis telebriefing on Wednesday, April 25. Learning objectives include: How the nationwide permit program works The scope and limitations of the two new nationwide permits for renewable energy facilities Other nationwide permits that … Continue Reading
Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber announced today that he has named Margi Hoffman to serve as his Energy Policy Advisor. She will join the Governor’s office on April 2. Ms. Hoffman has served as Senior Vice President and Director of Oregon Operations with Strategies360, a strategic consulting firm, and has also worked closely with Renewable Northwest Project (RNP) … Continue Reading
I’ll be moderating Energy Storage for the Grid: Watchful Waiting or the Perfect Storm? at the MIT Enterprise Forum Northwest’s May 8, 2012 program at Seattle’s Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI) , 2700 24th Ave East. The event, which includes a networking reception, will be held from 5:00 to 8:30 pm. The evening’s panelists will be: Terry Oliver, Chief … Continue Reading
A controversial bill that would would halt development of industrial wind farms in Idaho for two years narrowly made its was out of the House Local Government Committee by a vote of 6-5 and now goes to the full House. The bill would kill any future wind development in Idaho (at least for two years), and may put the breaks … Continue Reading
In a previous blog, we reported on a proposed decision pending consideration by the California Energy Commission (CEC), which would allow solar photovoltaic project developers to opt-in to the CEC’s permitting process. The CEC has announced that its decision on this matter has been postponed to an as-yet undetermined date.… Continue Reading
On January 31, 2012, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) conditionally accepted additional reforms to the California ISO’s Generator Interconnection Procedures (GIP) that significantly change the rules that apply to developers seeking to interconnect power generation facilities in the California ISO’s balancing authority area. The decision continues the California ISO’s efforts to reform the GIP … Continue Reading
A legal update from our colleagues Steve Hall, Dina Dubson and Jason Johns: On December 7, 2011, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued an order holding that the Bonneville Power Administration violated Section 211A of the Federal Power Act by curtailing wind energy under BPA’s Environmental Redispatch policy and requiring BPA to file a revised transmission … Continue Reading
Through industry presentations and publications as well as through our blog, our energy attorneys are dedicated to helping you stay informed and knowledgeable about legal developments that affect your business. Visit our website for the latest calendar of events. Upcoming highlights include: Distributed Solar Summit 2011 November 30-December 2 – San Diego, CA This event … Continue Reading
On November 3, 2011, the proposed Avenal Energy Project, a 600-megawatt natural gas-fired power plant proposed in the city of Avenal near Kettleman City in Kings County, California, encountered another legal challenge to providing electricity to the southern San Joaquin Valley. Sierra Club, Center for Biological Diversity, and Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice challenged the … Continue Reading
Through industry presentations and publications as well as through our blog, our energy attorneys are dedicated to helping you stay informed and knowledgeable about legal developments that affect your business. Visit our website for the latest calendar of events. Upcoming highlights include: Southeast Biomass Conference & Trade Show November 1-3 – Atlanta, GA … Continue Reading
The CUB Policy Center, in partnership with the University of Oregon School of Law, will be holding its inaugural policy conference: Smart Grid: Today’s Regulation and Tomorrow’s Technology, on Friday, October 21, 2011, at the University of Oregon White Stag Block (70 NW Couch St., Portland, OR 97209). The luncheon keynote speaker will be former FERC Commissioner … Continue Reading
For those who like to pay close attention to developments in the energy storage industry, take a look at Stationary Electricity Storage, which collects and presents articles about storage industry news, noteworthy projects, and other topics. It’s well organized (with articles filtered by category, storage provider, organization and location), offers a free daily newsletter and looks like a good … Continue Reading
On August 15, 2011, Great River Energy (GRE) issued a request for proposals (RFP) for community-based energy development (C-BED) renewable energy resources. Eligible energy technologies include: wind, solar, hydroelectric of less than 100 megawatts, biomass, municipal solid waste, landfill gas and anaerobic digesters, and hydrogen produced from any of the previous resources. In announcing the … Continue Reading
California’s AB 2514 directs the California Public Utility Commission (CPUC) to determine appropriate targets, if any, for load-serving entities to procure viable and cost-effective energy storage systems. If the CPUC decides that targets are appropriate, it is supposed to set dates for achieving those targets. As a follow up to an AB 2514 workshop held … Continue Reading
The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) is developing a new report to define functional requirements for customer energy storage systems (CESS). The project is engaging energy storage stakeholders to collaborate on the development of the functional requirements through a public process. EPRI’s effort is designed to create an understanding between electric utilities and their storage … Continue Reading
