New Mexico's largest utility will partner with a national laboratory to advance clean-energy goals and improve grid resilience in an effort to achieve emissions-free electric power and enhance national security.
Nevada regulators on Sept. 23 voted to approve Southwest Gas' general rate case application, but not without ordering a number of changes, including disallowance of cost recovery for luxury items and an adjustment to salary rates.
Colorado's attorney general on Sept. 18 filed a motion in Denver District Court to remove Gov. Jared Polis' name from a lawsuit alleging the state missed a July 1 deadline to propose rules for reducing statewide greenhouse gas emissions.
Disagreement between conservationists and a mining company over the stewardship of a rare plant—found only on a small stretch of land in western Nevada that is also home to a sizable deposit of lithium and boron—ramped up after it was discovered that a substantial portion of the plant's popu…
Citing a desire to "refocus on core issues," members of the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission during a Sept. 16 meeting via web conference voted 3-2 to remove Teresa Becenti-Aguilar as chair. Becenti-Aguilar and the commission's lone Republican, Jefferson Byrd, opposed the move. The co…
Development of an integrated Western energy market received a boost during the fourth and final interim meeting of the Nevada Legislative Committee on Energy Sept. 16. Legislators during the meeting approved issuing a letter to state agencies and the state's regulated electric utility voicin…
Arizona utilities, after responding to questions from stakeholders regarding their ability to avoid power shortages that could subject the state's electricity consumers to rolling blackouts, this week asked for more time to respond to a regulator's questions seeking more detailed information…
Arizona's regulated utilities are extending their suspensions of service disconnections for nonpayment and waiving late fees through the end of 2020 in response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic challenges that many customers continue to face.
Arizona Public Service ratepayers are using multiple tools to protest the utility's current rate case, and at least one regulator is pressing to open APS' service territory to retail electric competition.
Colorado utilities have shown increasing interest in joining regional markets since regulators in the state began studying the issue, but the Colorado Public Utilities Commission has yet to weigh in on whether coordinated market participation is in the public interest.
The coronavirus pandemic and other events in 2020 have brought unexpected challenges worldwide, but the future is about to get brighter for hundreds of families on the Navajo Nation before the year is over. The Navajo Tribal Utility Authority plans to connect more homes to its electric grid …
Federal regulators on Aug. 28 reversed an earlier decision regarding whether state or federal agencies have jurisdictional authority over a Colorado-based wholesale power cooperative, but the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's refusal to weigh in on the legality of decisions that brought…
Arizona utility executives at an Aug. 21 emergency workshop pointed to market strain and poor planning as factors that led California's grid operator to institute rolling blackouts during a heat wave on Aug. 14 and 15.
Arizona Corporation Commission member Lea Márquez Peterson in a Sept. 1 letter asked Arizona Public Service to prioritize certain programs in its pending energy-efficiency budget as part of a $50-million customer relief package in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Home weatherization for li…
NV Energy's general rate case application has hit a snag over disagreements on how and when to return $60 million from a regulatory liability account to consumers.
Community groups in Arizona would like the state's largest utility to forgive the debt racked up by its residential customers during a moratorium on nonpayment disconnections that began in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A quasi-governmental Utah power and transmission provider will continue to pursue the development of a next-generation, small-modular-reactor nuclear power plant in Idaho, despite the recent withdrawal of two members that had previously signed on to the project.
Xcel Energy, Colorado's largest utility has proposed to state regulators a five-year wildfire mitigation plan that could allow its subsidiary Xcel-Colorado to recover $344 million in rates. The plan was discussed at the Colorado Public Utilities Commission's Aug. 26 meeting as fires raged in…
Public comments during online comment sessions held recently by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission mostly showed opposition to a consolidated interim spent-fuel storage installation in southeastern New Mexico, with earthquakes, inequity and possible corruption among the reasons given.
The City of Boulder, Colorado, is one step closer to finalizing its franchise agreement with Xcel Energy and ending a nearly decadelong municipalization effort. The Boulder City Council on Aug. 20 approved a settlement package with Xcel, Colorado's largest investor-owned utility, leaving to …
The Public Utilities Commission of Nevada on Aug. 26 opened an investigation into resource adequacy and planning in light of rolling blackouts that recently occurred in California [20-08014]. The California outages had utilities across the West requesting energy-conservation measures to stab…
Uncertainty at the federal, state and climate levels will likely define energy policy and procurement in the coming years, especially in Southwestern states facing political and climate upheaval, new technologies and the impact of sweeping new laws passed in 2019, panelists at Law Seminars I…
Rolling blackouts that began unexpectedly Aug. 14 in California because of limited resources during a heat wave seemed to sound an alarm for regulators and utilities in neighboring states.
The future of a proposed lithium and boron mining project in Nevada has been thrown into question due to the presence at the project site of a rare species of buckwheat that environmental groups say should be protected under state and federal law. Ioneer USA, the project's developer, maintai…
The transition to clean energy in the electric generation sector and recent legislation targeting oil and natural gas operations have put Colorado on track to meet its economywide carbon emissions-reduction goals, analysts said during an Aug. 18 meeting of the Colorado Air Quality Control Co…
The battery manufacturer of Arizona Public Service's McMicken Substation battery energy storage system has taken exception to the findings of the utility's investigative report concerning a 2019 fire and explosion that injured four firefighters at the facility.
Projects in development in Western states could change the outlook for lithium availability sooner rather than later, thanks in part to an effort to streamline permitting at what may become the nation's second—and largest—lithium mine.
Nevada regulators on Aug. 12 approved the first natural disaster protection plan in NV Energy history. Steep cuts, however, reduced the plan's budget by nearly a third from the amount originally proposed by the utility.
Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy on Aug. 12 announced a new target of powering 1.5 million electric vehicles across its service territory by 2030. The company says that customer programs and buildout of EV charging infrastructure would enable it to serve 20 percent of the total number of vehicl…
A committee established in 2019 Colorado legislation laid out a series of recommendations it says will help the state fulfill its “moral commitment” to coal-dependent communities and the approximately 2,200 workers in the industry who are set to lose their jobs by 2030.
The question of whether to leave the membership of one of the West’s largest wholesale cooperative power providers—and at what price—remains unanswered for two Colorado electric distribution cooperatives as proceedings at multiple commissions and two courts move slowly along.
The Navajo Nation Council on July 31 approved more than $69 million to support residential solar installations by the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority and Native Renewables and more than $44 million for six power-line projects.
The Arizona Corporation Commission at an Aug. 5 meeting heard another update from executives at Arizona Public Service on the utility’s effort to make good on problems stemming from the use of an online rate comparison tool that directed customers to sign up for plans that were not their mos…
One of the West's largest remaining coal-fired power plants will be replaced with renewable resources and battery storage.
Technology infrastructure company Switch of Las Vegas and asset-management firm Capital Dynamics on July 23 announced the groundbreaking for three new solar-plus-storage projects, including a 127-MW/240-MWh facility that will be the world's largest behind-the-meter project, according to the …
An explosion that occurred at Arizona Public Service's McMicken Substation was most likely the result of a flawed battery cell that initiated a fire leading to a thermal runaway event, a 15-month investigation into the incident concluded.
A nearly 600-mile transmission line and more than 800 MW of new solar-plus-storage resources could be coming to Nevada if regulators there approve a July 20 proposal from NV Energy.
Arizona Corporation Commission staff on July 17 filed proposed rules that if adopted would bring the state into the stable of those seeking to abandon fossil-fuel generation resources by midcentury.
There is no shortage of opinions and controversy surrounding the future of Public Service Company of New Mexico's coal-fired San Juan Generating Station, due to close in 2022.
The New Mexico Environment Department together with the state's Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department's Oil Conservation Division on July 20 released draft rules for ozone precursor emissions and comprehensive methane regulations.
Market uncertainties and a short timeline for the state's greenhouse gas emissions-reduction targets make the role of retail natural gas in Colorado's decarbonization efforts worth further investigation, the Colorado Public Utilities Commission concluded at its July 22 meeting.
The City of Boulder, Colorado's decadelong effort to leave Xcel Energy's service and form a municipal utility took a step forward July 17 with the release of a request for proposals for utility supply and financing options.
The U.S. Department of Justice and a collection of climate and energy conservation groups filed briefs in support of Arizona rooftop-solar customers appealing a January U.S. District Court of Arizona decision that dismissed accusations of discrimination by Salt River Project and allegations …
Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association's refusal to provide exit charge amounts to member cooperatives La Plata Electric Association and United Power is unjust, unreasonable and discriminatory, an administrative law judge for the Colorado Public Utilities Commission ruled.
Meeting carbon-reduction targets could be politically divisive and expensive as states across the country continue to reel from the coronavirus pandemic, Colorado officials said as they evaluated the state's efforts to meet greenhouse gas-reduction goals.
NV Energy, the Energy Web Foundation and Sparks, Nevada-based Blockchains on July 15 filed an update to the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada regarding a pilot project that would leverage blockchain technology to track portfolio energy credits. PECs allow renewable-energy producers to ea…
Hearing examiners at the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission on July 15 presented their case for replacing Public Service Company of New Mexico’s stake in the coal-fired San Juan Generating Station, scheduled to close in 2022, with all renewable resources and battery storage.
A coalition of groups, including tribal communities in Nevada and California, on July 7 launched a campaign aimed at protecting a 350,000-acre swath of land in Clark County, Nevada, from any human interferences. The Honor Spirit Mountain campaign hopes to designate the area a national monume…
Arizona's top regulator says the state's electricity consumers have an opportunity to benefit both from more clean energy and from a potential conversion away from the "overly expensive captured consumer monopoly model."
New Mexico and Colorado officials cite COVID-19 and complexity as factors in the delay over developing new methane and emissions rules as required by legislation passed in 2019.
