The election of a Democratic president intent on addressing climate change through federal policy drove some of the biggest utility stories of the past year.
The Biden administration secured a major legislative victory in 2021 with passage of the infrastructure bill, with billions in funding for grid infrastructure and climate resilience, among other items.
Biden also is pursuing new measures to deal with rising cybersecurity threats in the power sector and elsewhere, with the Colonial Pipeline hack in May showing the ongoing vulnerability of critical infrastructure.
In a step considered key to the administration’s clean energy goals, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is considering updates to its transmission policies. The agency’s review comes as it gained a Democratic majority in November with the confirmation of its latest commissioner, Willie Phillips Jr.
At the state level, Winter Storm Uri and its impacts on Texas and other states reinforced the need for regulators, grid operators, utilities and others to increase the reliability and resilience of the power sector.
Robust activity in the states also continued on clean energy, with new mandates on solar, wind and other resources as well as major legislation approved in Illinois and elsewhere.
The stories below reflect these and some of the other biggest developments of 2021, including a growing focus for power companies around the electrification of the transportation sector and how to move that forward.
Are there any topics you'd like us to cover more? Let us know!
Happy holidays, and we look forward to providing you more insight on the key news driving the power sector in 2022.
Larry Pearl
Senior Editor, Utility Dive
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Biden also created a task force to be run by former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu to help coordinate the spending.
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The confirmation comes as the agency is considering a range of policy issues that could affect the clean energy transition.
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Gas-electric coordination, the Texas wholesale market, communication protocols and regulatory authority all came under fire during the state's first hearing on the blackouts that left millions without power last week.
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States want to work collaboratively to develop new transmission, but some commissioners fear that a federal requirement to consider energy goals "will impair the ability to get transmission built."
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President Joe Biden has signed an executive order aimed at shoring up the nation's cybersecurity posture. It includes a software transparency initiative the utility sector has been involved with launching.
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The action is a victory for state clean energy policies, but power generators are eyeing avenues to fight PJM’s plan to lift bidding limits on subsidized resources.
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The legislation also provides a road map for sunsetting the state’s coal-fired plants while setting a target of 40% renewable power for the state’s power sector by 2030.
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Observers say it is possible the deal can be salvaged, but for now concerns over reliability and the development of renewable resources have scuttled the proposed $8 billion merger.
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As the storage market booms, firms like ESS, Stem and Energy Vault have all gone public.
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Within a decade, more than 100,000 fast-charging stations will be needed to support adoption of electric vehicles, according to the Edison Electric Institute. But some areas face significant barriers to growth, say experts.
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