Kevin Luo

The good and the bad of PSEG's new Gridsmart Battery Program The good: $5,000 rebate and $25,000 in interest free financing for residential battery installations The bad: it's a pilot to evaluate the benefits of residential energy storage and VPPs. It's bizarre and quite sad that in 2026 a utility, let alone a major one, needs a pilot to evaluate the benefits of residential energy storage and VPPs They have been studied to death and the benefits are thoroughly documented and well understood since they were obvious from the outset Time to get on board and get on with full scale adoption and integration with the grid #EnergyStorage #ResidentialEnergyStorage #EnergyTransition #VPP https://lnkd.in/eVw6CVCc

2

California Community Power recently visited the 75 MW / 600 MWh Tumbleweed Energy Storage Project in Kern County, CA to meet with the REV Renewables team and the great people working on site to bring our contracted long duration storage project online. With a commercial operation date targeted for June 1, 2026, it was exciting to see the progress firsthand and confirm the project is on track to commence operations. Once operational, we expect Tumbleweed to be the first utility-scale, 8-hour lithium-ion battery in California ISO, supporting reliability and helping integrate more renewable energy into California’s grid.  We’re proud to play a role in bringing this innovative resource online to meet the reliability and compliance goals for our CCA members, including Peninsula Clean Energy, Redwood Coast Energy Authority, San Francisco Public Utilities Commission via CleanPowerSF, San José Clean Energy, Silicon Valley Clean Energy, Sonoma Clean Power, and Valley Clean Energy. 🔋⚡ #EnergyStorage #CleanEnergy #CaliforniaEnergy

56

1 Comment

State utility regulators are urging the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to direct the Midcontinent Independent System Operator to hold a stakeholder process to determine how to allocate costs from power plants the U.S. Department of Energy orders to run past their planned retirements. At the same time, the Sierra Club and five other groups asked DOE to reconsider its “emergency” orders directing Northern Indiana Public Service Co., a division of NiSource, and CenterPoint Energy to continue running three coal-fired units in Indiana totaling more than 950 MW. In the rehearing request — a possible precursor to a lawsuit — the groups contend MISO doesn’t face a resource adequacy emergency as DOE claims. Operating NIPSCO’s Schahfer units 17 and 18 and CenterPoint’s Culley unit 2 for 90 days under the DOE orders will cost at least $20.6 million, according to a report Synapse Energy Economics prepared for the Sierra Club, the Environmental Law and Policy Center and Earthjustice. If DOE extends its 90-day orders, the units will require about $34 million in maintenance and environmental upgrade costs, the consulting firm said.

9

We are honored to share that SolarAPP+ has been awarded a $3.99M grant from the California Energy Commission‘s EPIC BRIDGE 2024 program. This grant will fund the expansion of SolarAPP+ to modernize digital permitting for residential EV chargers and implement artificial intelligence-enabled virtual inspections. This project will lead to reduced permitting costs and delays and expand access to clean-energy savings for households and installers across California. Learn more https://lnkd.in/gKsTNAf7

27

LBNL's "Queued Up: 2025 Edition" report is now available here: https://emp.lbl.gov/queues This report analyzes proposed power plants (both generation and storage) that had requested to connect to the electric transmission grid as of the end of 2024. We examine things like interconnection volume, signed interconnection agreements, completion and withdrawal rates, duration (timeline) metrics, and more. At the same link, you will also find an Excel data file, which includes: (a) the full project-level interconnection queue dataset through 2024, (b) a codebook (data dictionary) describing each data field, and (c) 35+ additional tabs featuring tables summarizing a range of interconnection metrics and associated charts. We collaborated with interconnection.fyi to compile, aggregate, and clean interconnection queue data from >50 transmission grid operators (7 ISO/RTOs and 49 non-ISO balancing areas), which collectively represent ~97% of currently installed U.S. electric generating capacity. I'll highlight some of the key findings in additional posts over the next couple of days. Please help us spread the word!

98

2 Comments

January’s winter storm underscores the critical role transmission plays during grid emergencies—both in maintaining reliability and shielding customers from the price shocks that accompany severe weather.  Over the first storm weekend, strong winds in Kansas and Oklahoma drove power prices sharply lower while neighboring Midwestern states faced sky-high prices because they did not have access to these cheap resources. At 8:20 a.m. on Saturday, January 24, real-time electricity prices in Nebraska—typically averaging $30-50 per megawatt-hour (mWh) annually—spiked to about $108 per megawatt-hour (mWh). Nearby Missouri saw prices skyrocket to nearly $2,000/mWh. Affordable power was available just across the border, but insufficient transmission capacity prevented it from reaching the customers who needed it most at a time when electricity was essential for survival.  “Each additional gigawatt of transmission connecting the Texas grid (ERCOT) and the Southeast could have saved nearly $1 billion while keeping the heat on for hundreds of thousands of families.” The Midwest and Great Plains regions weathered that same storm with far fewer outages precisely because they had more robust transmission ties to neighboring regions—importing over 13,000 megawatts (MW) of power when they needed it most. Texas, by contrast, could only import about 800 MW. The difference was catastrophic. The combined impacts on civilians, business, and the military are unacceptable—and entirely preventable.  Winter Storm Elliott was a similar story. A single gigawatt (GW) of additional transmission capacity between Texas and the Tennessee Valley Authority would have provided nearly $95 million in value over just five days. One GW of additional transmission from the mid-Atlantic into the Carolinas—where families experienced Christmas Eve blackouts—could have delivered over $80 million in value by helping keep the lights on. Across the board, modest investments in interregional transmission would have yielded tens of millions of dollars in savings during that single storm.  https://lnkd.in/ebAKzCtq #gridreliability #transmission #interregionaltransmission #ercott #energysecurity #poweroutages #nationaldefense

3

Today, SVLG CEO Ahmad Thomas testified before the California Senate Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee on SB 978 as one of the two invited opposition witnesses. He emphasized the need for a reliable, predictable energy framework to support California’s innovation economy – especially as demand for large-scale infrastructure continues to grow. SVLG expressed opposition, noting the bill’s prescriptive approach could make it harder to sustain investment, scale essential infrastructure, and support the services powering California’s global competitiveness.

5

Korean policy analyst focusing on solar power plant siting and permitting, Daun Kim, reported on her recent trip to India’s Bhadla Solar Park. The analyst highlights how clear siting policies and streamlined permitting helped India scale renewables, something that South Korea can learn as it pursues a 100 GW renewable energy target by 2030. Read more: https://lnkd.in/ddSZmd5X #SolarPolicy #RenewableEnergy #IndiaSolar #SouthKoreaEnergy

2

Unlocking the Future of DC’s Energy Grid ⚡🏙️ Electrify DC, in partnership with Synapse Energy Economics, Redwood Energy, with funding from Department of Energy & Environment (DOEE) and in collaboration with Pepco, has released a critical new analysis on grid hosting capacity and interconnection barriers in the District of Columbia. This comprehensive report highlights: 🔋 The explosive growth and potential of distributed energy resources (DERs) like solar, batteries, and EV integration. 🚫 The current challenges residents face, from high interconnection fees and delays to unhelpful hosting capacity maps that hinder DER adoption. 🗺️ The urgent need for modernized grid codes, smart grid investments, and dynamic hosting capacity maps to unlock flexibility and resilience. ☀️ Recommendations that can enable residents to become energy prosumers (consumers and producers of energy thanks to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission), reduce energy burdens, and help DC meet its clean energy goals. As electricity costs rise and demand surges—especially from data centers—DC has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform its grid into a more equitable, reliable, and sustainable system. Explore the full report here to understand the barriers and how smart improvements will empower DC’s energy future: https://lnkd.in/ezaW6AH3 Together, we can power a cleaner, smarter, and more affordable energy system for all Washingtonians! Look out for in-depth insights from the study over the next couple of weeks. #ElectrifyDC #DER #HostingCapacity #CleanEnergy #GridModernization #Sustainability #WashingtonDC #FERC2222 #EnergyAffordability #Equity

9