August 28
Duke’s Carolinas Resource Plan Targets 18.5 GW New Solar
This week's top smart energy news, curated by the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative (SECC).
Member News
Duke Energy on Monday filed its 2026 Carolinas Resource Plan with the regulators in South Carolina, including a recommended portfolio of supply-side additions that includes 18.5 GW of solar, 14 GW of gas generation and 13 GW of energy storage over the next 15 years. The utility’s dual state service territory “continues to experience significant growth, with both South Carolina and North Carolina ranking among the fastest-growing states in the nation.”
Arizona Public Service said it would continue to make protecting customers one of its main principles as it faces infrastructure growth. Speaking to the 2026 League of Arizona Cities & Towns Conference, APS President & CEO Ted Geisler pledged the company reaffirms its Pledge for Responsible Energy Growth, while providing services for new companies and industries investing in Arizona.
Affordability has moved from a background worry to the defining issue in the electricity provider-consumer relationship. According to a report from the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative (SECC), the crisis is real, unequal and poorly understood, and the tools to address it already exist but are not reaching the people who need them most.
Ameren Illinois is working with Illinois State University to advance energy workforce development through the development of a small-scale Microgrid Learning Lab. The learning lab is designed to give students hands-on experience with technologies shaping the future of the electric grid. The lab will feature a fully functional microgrid, which is a localized energy system that can operate independently from the electric grid using power generated from its own energy resources.
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Industry News
Eligible customers of Atlantic City Electric, Jersey Central Power & Light, Public Service Electric & Gas and Rockland Electric could receive up to $200/kW per year over a 10-year term to dispatch energy stored in small-scale batteries during periods of grid stress under a procurement proposed by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities. The proposal targets up to 150 MW of behind-the-meter energy storage capacity that can reliably discharge during dispatch events.
Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) is expanding its Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) program, adding new vehicles and charger options through partnerships with Bidirectional Energy and PowerFlex. V2X technology allows compatible EVs to be used as mobile batteries. PG&E’s V2X program offers customers financial incentives to install new bidirectional EV charging technology.
California and Texas have led the charge on America’s grid battery revolution. Now, a third state is racing to catch up: Arizona. The Grand Canyon State installed more battery capacity than every state besides Texas over the first half of 2026, per a Canary Media analysis of U.S. Energy Information Administration data. It’s the continuation of a trend from last year, when Arizona also edged out California in both storage and utility-scale solar additions.
Successful virtual power plants are reliable distributed resource aggregations that deliver targeted, predictable benefits for distribution or bulk power grids, a group of experts said Tuesday during a webinar organized by the Regulatory Assistance Project. Utilities increasingly see VPPs as affordability levers, too, said Kevin Brehm, who manages RMI’s carbon-free electricity practice.
