The Colorado Public Utilities Commission at an Oct. 15 public hearing explored options for regulating resource planning for Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, the state's wholesale power supplier serving 43 rural distribution cooperatives in Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming and …
Arizona utilities reported millions of dollars in overdue customer bills linked to a summer moratorium on residential disconnections that ended Oct. 15 [E-00000A-19-0128 and RU-00000A-19-0132].
Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association of Colorado will revise and resubmit its July rate and tariff filings to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission "as quickly and expeditiously as possible," a company spokesman said [ER19- 2440, -2441, -2442, -2443, -2444, -2470 and -2474].
A global solar-development company that received a $737-million loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy in 2011 and $4 million in subsequent awards is now suing DOE and its own subsidiary for interfering with its "right to participate in the management" of Tonopah Solar Energy, the…
The New Mexico Supreme Court on Oct. 3 denied without comment a petition filed by Public Service Company of New Mexico that had asked the court to make clear that the state's newly passed Energy Transition Act applies to its application for abandonment, financing and replacement resources fo…
The New Mexico Public Regulation Commission at its Oct. 2 meeting unanimously approved Public Service Company of New Mexico's purchase of the 140-mile, 345-kV-capacity Western Spirit transmission line from Pattern Development and the New Mexico Renewable Energy Transmission Authority. The de…
Regulators and stakeholders discussed permanent rules limiting utility disconnections for nonpayment during extreme weather at a special meeting of the Arizona Corporation Commission Sept. 30.
Three Arizona cities have adopted fire codes with specific provisions for battery energy storage systems at both residential and commercial sites following a fire and explosion at an Arizona Public Service battery facility in April that remains under investigation.
Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association will have to wait until early November for its status as a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission-jurisdictional public utility to become official.
The Colorado Public Utilities Commission on Sept. 18 joined four other Western utility commissions in signing a memorandum of understanding that addresses climate change through cooperation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The Arizona Corporation Commission voted against reinstating restrictions on new natural gas projects in the state after considering amendments to its previous "moratorium" Sept. 19 at a special open meeting focused on resource planning and procurement. Representatives from the regulated Ari…
Unit 1 of the largest coal plant in the western U.S. has ceased to hum. The 2,250-MW Navajo Generating Station in Page, Arizona, shut down the first of its three 750-MW units Sept. 20.
The Public Utilities Commission of Nevada at a special session Sept. 18 voted to open an investigation and rulemaking docket to consider increasing safety regulations for gas utilities that would involve annual leak-detection surveys of all distribution pipelines [Docket Nos. 19-08021 and 19…
A federal Bureau of Land Management geothermal lease sale in Nevada on Sept. 17 attracted more than three times as many bidders as a similar auction held last year. The auction was the largest, by acreage, of any geothermal lease sale BLM has ever held, according to a news release.
The U.S. Department of Energy on Sept. 13 awarded $55.4 million in federal funding for cost-shared research and development to nine projects that will receive grants for front-end engineering design, or FEED, studies of carbon-capture systems across the country.
The 100-MW Nucla Station coal-fired power plant in Colorado closed Sept. 19, just two months after Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association announced its retirement by early 2020 to meet the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's implementation plan for regional haze visibility.
The Southwest Power Pool on Sept. 9 announced commitments by three regional utilities to join its Western Energy Imbalance Service Market as charter participants.
The Arizona Corporation Commission will not reinstate its moratorium on new natural gas-fired generation facilities—yet. At its monthly meeting Sept. 10, the commission opted to consider the moratorium, which expired Aug. 1, during a special open meeting to be held in conjunction with a Sept…
New Mexico and Colorado are pursuing and updating methane rules for their states as the Trump administration rolls back federal regulations adopted in 2012 and 2016 (see CEM No. 1554 [19]).
Executives for Arizona Public Service offered their perspectives on company policies regarding disconnection for nonpayment at a special open meeting of the Arizona Corporation Commission on Sept. 4. APS disconnection policies are being eyed as playing a role in the September 2018 death of a…
Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association of Westminster, Colorado, on Sept. 3 announced the identity of the new member that will bring the wholesale power provider under Federal Energy Regulatory Commission jurisdiction for the first time in its history. In a filing to FERC, Tri-Sta…
New Mexico's newest wind farm, the 220-MW Grady Wind Facility in Curry County, began operation Sept. 4 according to a press release from San Francisco-based Pattern Development, an affiliate of Pattern Energy, which is likely to acquire the facility. Grady completes a 544-MW suite of New Mex…
An environmental and consumer advocacy organization on Aug. 26 filed suit at the New Mexico Supreme Court challenging "unconstitutional provisions" of the state's flagship Energy Transition Act, signed by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham March 22 [S-1-SC-37875]. The law includes a mandate for 100…
Colorado and New Mexico regulators filed protests at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission regarding Westminster, Colorado-based Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association's recent application to come under FERC jurisdiction.
The City of Farmington, New Mexico, on Aug. 16 signed an agreement with Enchant Energy to transfer a 95-percent ownership interest in the 847-MW San Juan Generating Station to Enchant when the plant's remaining owners exit in 2022.
Don Brandt, CEO of Arizona Public Service, the state's largest utility, will retire this fall as the company he leads comes under increasing regulatory scrutiny.
Colorado is implementing a new zero-emission vehicle standard aimed at bringing ZEV sales in the state to more than 5 percent of the total sold by 2023, which increases in 2025.
Navajo Nation leaders and other tribal delegates made clear to the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission that they are anxious for a decision on whether regulators will apply the state's newly passed Energy Transition Act to Public Service Company of New Mexico's abandonment of the San Jua…
Tucson Electric Power will replace coal-burning units with new natural gas generators as it brings 446 MW of renewable resources and a 30-MW battery to its system in 2020.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said she intends to work with legislators to reform the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission prior to next year’s legislative session.
The Arizona Corporation Commission at its Aug. 6 meeting approved changes to regulated utilities’ disconnection policies, flowing from the commission’s June 20 decision that adopted emergency rules to prevent shut-offs for nonpayment during the hottest months of this year.
The Public Utilities Commission of Nevada on Aug. 1 approved an agreement among its regulatory operations staff, NV Energy and the state Bureau of Consumer Protection that will result in a $21.9-million rate decrease for northern Nevada residential electric customers and a $15.7-million rate…
NV Energy filed a complaint seeking slightly more than $45 million in damages and demanding a jury trial with the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada against a bushings manufacturer with operations in France and Canada.
Arizona regulators on July 30 and 31 participated in a thorough discussion of retail electric competition with stakeholders from within the state and around the country at the first of several likely workshops at the Arizona Corporation Commission in Phoenix.
Western environmental organizations want Arizona to join its neighbors in adopting a plan that will bring the state to 100 percent clean energy in the coming decades.
A group of Colorado agencies and automakers reached an agreement on a proposed zero-emission vehicle standard, which they are jointly submitting to the Colorado Air Quality Control Commission for its consideration.
Delta-Montrose Electric Association will end its power-purchase agreement with Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association next spring, ending a saga that has embroiled both parties and other entities over the future of rural electricity in Colorado and elsewhere in Tri-State territory.
A Colorado-based environmental organization wants clarity from New Mexico regulators about which law they plan to utilize in the abandonment proceeding for the San Juan Generating Station.
Arizona regulators have begun paving the way for wider adoption of electric vehicles in the state, suggesting that the state’s utilities create sweeping EV implementation plans.
Climate goals, national security threats and grid reliability in a landscape defined by increasing load and an expanding population were hot topics at Law Seminars International’s annual Electric Power in the Southwest Conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on July 15 and 16.
Wyoming’s great wind potential has been recognized by academics, energy developers and politicians; however, whether that potential will be fully developed depends on many factors, including whether state officials will increase wind production taxes.
The impact of expanding renewable-energy development in the Southwest is changing laws, regulatory policy and the economy in many states. But building the transmission infrastructure needed to deliver wind and solar power generated in rural parts of the region to its load centers and to Cali…
Renewable-energy production in New Mexico is experiencing a “boom,” according to the New Mexico State Land Office, which recently announced the awarding of a bid for state land to a wind developer.
Westminster, Colorado-based Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association will close the 100-MW coal-fired Nucla Station power plant in southwestern Colorado two years early as part of the wholesale cooperative’s new commitment to reduce fossil-fuel usage and pursue a Responsible Energy Plan.
New Mexico regulators, in an apparent attempt to do an end run around recently enacted legislation, voted July 10 to oversee Public Service Company of New Mexico’s abandonment of the coal-fired San Juan Generating Station via a docket established prior to passage of the state’s landmark Ener…
The Arizona Corporation Commission at its July 10 meeting voted to dismiss a complaint against Arizona Public Service brought by customer Stacey Champion in January 2018, having launched a new APS rate case last month.
Nevada regulators might fine NV Energy for its failure to reserve $10 million in incentive funds for energy storage projects as required by the passage of SB 145, 2017 legislation.
Tri-State Generation and Transmission’s board of directors on July 9 voted to take action that will place the 43-member wholesale cooperative under the rate-regulating authority of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
Public Service Company of New Mexico filed with state regulators on July 1 an application for abandonment of the 847-MW, coal-fired San Juan Generating Station in June of 2022 [19-00195-UT]. The filing, expected as part of PNM’s compliance with the state’s Energy Transition Act passed in Mar…
The Arizona Corporation Commission’s June 20 decision to enact a statewide moratorium on summertime power disconnections for nonpayment is stirring up controversy within the commission and among utilities it regulates.
