Researchers at the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have developed a tool to make it easier for utilities to interconnect residential solar panels to the grid.

Lawmakers should appropriate $1 billion this year for implementation of the Defense Production Act (DPA) to specifically address the supply chain crisis for electric distribution transformers, the American Public Power Association (APPA), the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), Edison Electric Institute (EEI), National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), Leading Builders of America (LBA), and Associated General Contractors of America (AGC), said in a Nov. 18 letter.

The retirement of aging coal-fired plants combined with the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act has created an opportunity for public power utilities looking to secure long-term, reliable supplies of clean energy, according to advanced nuclear firm NuScale Power.

The City of Columbus, Ohio’s Department of Public Utilities recently put into operation its first-ever solar-powered microgrid.

By the end of the year, eight natural gas-fired combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) plants have either come online or are scheduled to do so, reversing a four-year decline in CCGT start-ups, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).