Catherine Morehouse
Utility Dive
Duluth, MN, United States
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Past articles by Catherine:
FERC's Chatterjee laments the politicization of grid resilience in wake of ERCOT, CAISO struggles
The commissioner said he worries his rhetoric that focused on potential plans to save ailing coal plants early in his tenure as chair may have fueled a partisan divide that equates resiliency issues with the use of certain fuels. → Read More
FERC requests more evidence of reliability impacts as Spire STL pipeline seeks temporary approval
Environmental groups, including the Environmental Defense Fund, which brought the pipeline company to court in the first place, say the proposal for temporary certification has "serious deficiencies." → Read More
FERC's Glick names former ratepayer advocate to lead Office of Public Participation
Glick selected Elin Katz, former head of the Connecticut Office of Consumer Counsel, to run FERC’s new division, which aims to increase public involvement in the agency’s decision-making. → Read More
FERC has more questions for Duke, Dominion on Southeast energy market proposal
According to a SEEM spokesperson, the questions "are readily answerable" and the utilities will respond "thoroughly, efficiently, and promptly" in the 10 days the commission provided. → Read More
FERC should expand organized markets across the US, former chairs and commissioners say
Utility industry news and analysis for energy professionals. → Read More
Republicans include $4B for EVs in 2nd counteroffer to Biden infrastructure plan
The Republicans' proposal would spend $928 billion on infrastructure over the next eight years, a $360 billion increase over their previous proposal. But EV advocates say the plan still falls short. → Read More
Duke-supported group launches campaign against North Carolina bill to examine wholesale market reform
The campaign claims to reveal "the ugly truth" about regional transmission organizations, which it calls "a Really Terrible Option," and is the product of a group that received $500,000 from Duke during the state's primary elections. → Read More
Xcel takes nearly $1B fuel cost hit from February storms but still sees Q1 profit rise
The majority of the $965 million incurred net costs came from the gas distribution and generation portions of its subsidiaries, according to the company's quarterly earnings report. → Read More
PJM proposes to end FERC MOPR policy that raised prices for state-subsidized resources
Under the grid operator's plan, the minimum offer price rule would no longer apply to state-subsidized resources in capacity auctions. But some competitive suppliers are calling for a replacement market design. → Read More
States ask FERC to eliminate MOPR, grant more flexibility in pursuing alternatives to PJM capacity market
New Jersey and Illinois are actively considering using the fixed resource requirement as a way to pursue clean energy outside the PJM Interconnection's capacity market. → Read More
Weather-related outages primary cause of Texas blackouts, new ERCOT data finds
At peak, 54% of generator outages in the region were caused by weather-related issues from Feb. 14 through Feb. 19, according to ERCOT's analysis. → Read More
FERC prevents states from blocking demand response in DER aggregations under Order 2222
Commissioner Mark Christie, who formerly served as a Virginia utility regulator, decried the move as a violation of states' rights, and argued that it could unnecessarily raise ratepayer costs. → Read More
FERC boosts small solar, reversing PURPA ruling that had upended 40 years of precedent
Regulators voted to allow qualifying facility status to a solar-plus-storage array that met the law's qualifying facility cap of 80 MW in net-capacity, but that has a gross capacity of 160 MW. → Read More
Indiana strikes down NGO challenge to Duke coal operations, said to cost ratepayers millions
State regulators last year opened up a subdocket in order to examine more closely Duke's coal operations and whether plants were operating unnecessarily during periods when running coal facilities exceeded market costs. → Read More
Taking Charge: Commissioner Clements on FERC's 'make or break' role amid the energy transition
In a comprehensive interview with Utility Dive, Allison Clements laid out her thoughts on FERC's role following the mass outages in Texas, the need for transmission reform and more. → Read More
Texas Senate passes bill requiring ERCOT to reprice multi-billion dollar market 'error'
Texas' head utility regulator cited new evidence from the independent market monitor that prices had not hit $16 billion, but the entity clarified that charge was still accurate. → Read More
FERC to reopen 1999 policy on gas project approvals, add environmental justice considerations
Utility industry news and analysis for energy professionals. → Read More
Congress, Texas should 'rethink' ERCOT's 'go it alone approach': FERC Chair Glick
"Texans would be without electricity for longer than three days to keep the federal government out of their business," former Governor of Texas and Secretary of Energy Rick Perry said earlier this week. → Read More
FERC 'finally' ends PJM MOPR proceeding, paving way for grid operator's next capacity auction
"To have anything but a bright line against the participation of subsidized resources is simply an error and a dereliction of the duty to keep our markets properly insulated," said Commissioner James Danly, the sole dissenting vote. → Read More
FERC closes resilience docket opened in response to DOE coal, nuclear bailout proposal
The decision comes amid rolling outages that have plagued Texas, and Commissioner Neil Chatterjee, in his sole dissent, said the docket was precisely the right place to examine these and other reliability issues. → Read More