Author

Robert Zullo

Robert Zullo

Robert Zullo is a national energy reporter based in southern Illinois focusing on renewable power and the electric grid. Robert joined States Newsroom in 2018 as the founding editor of the Virginia Mercury. Before that, he spent 13 years as a reporter and editor at newspapers in Virginia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Louisiana. He has a bachelor's degree from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va. He grew up in Miami, Fla., and central New Jersey. He can be reached at [email protected].

Budding U.S. offshore wind industry facing rough seas

By: - July 17, 2023

BOSTON – Just as the U.S. is plunging into the deep end of offshore wind energy development, the nascent domestic industry is facing major supply chain problems, surging costs, permitting delays, and other headwinds that could affect the aggressive installation timelines state and federal governments have targeted. Those obstacles, chiefly triggered by the pandemic, inflation, […]

Decarbonization ambitions ignite debate over mining, permitting  

By: - June 1, 2023

The decarbonized, electrified future envisioned by the Biden administration, state governments, automakers, utility companies, and corporate sustainability goals depends to a huge degree on minerals and metals. Lots more lithium will be needed for car and truck batteries, as well as the big banks of batteries that are increasingly popping onto the electric grid to […]

A climbing thermometer

With summer coming fast, regulator issues electric reliability warning

By: - May 19, 2023

As much as two-thirds of North America could face shortages of electricity this summer in the event of severe and protracted heat, according to the regulator in charge of setting and enforcing standards for the electric grid.  “Increased, rapid deployment of wind, solar, and batteries have made a positive impact,” said Mark Olson, manager of […]

EPA again proposes power plant carbon rules

By: - May 12, 2023

The Obama administration’s 2015 Clean Power Plan – intended to cut carbon emissions from power plants – was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court.  The Trump administration’s much-criticized replacement, the Affordable Clean Energy rule, derided as a “tortured series of misreadings” of the U.S. Clean Air Act, was also tossed by a federal court. […]

EPA sued over failure to set, update pollution limits

By: - April 13, 2023

More than a dozen environmental groups are suing the federal Environmental Protection Agency over its failure to set water pollution limits for some industrial contaminants as well as its reluctance to update decades-old standards for others, arguing that the agency’s inaction amounts to a “free pass to pollute” for hundreds of chemical and fertilizer plants, […]

Inside the battle over who gets to build the grid of the future

By: - April 5, 2023

This story was updated on April 5 at 6:05 p.m. to correct the spelling of  Sharon Segner’s name and again on April 7 at 7:55 a.m. to correct the cost of the St. Charles gas power plant. The U.S. Department of Energy issued a draft report in February that found a “pressing need” for new […]

Here’s where renewable power is increasing (and where it’s not)

By: - April 3, 2023

Despite supply-chain problems amid the lingering effects of the pandemic, 2022 saw major increases in solar and wind power in the United States, though that growth varied by state, according to a report released this year by a nonprofit focused on climate change. Nationally, electricity generated from solar and wind grew 16 percent from 2021, […]

Wind and whales: ‘No evidence’ links projects to deaths

By: - March 1, 2023

The U.S. offshore wind power industry is in its infancy, with just a handful of turbines installed along the Atlantic coast. But they’re already being blamed for the deaths of whales that have washed up on beaches in New Jersey, New York, Virginia, and elsewhere.  A Fox News story on Feb. 13 made strenuous attempts […]

After a series of winter storms, regulators approve new standards for power plants

By: - February 24, 2023

Two years after Winter Storm Uri, which caused a massive power failure in Texas that caused more than 200 deaths, and just two months after another storm, Elliott, forced blackouts in parts of the South, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has approved new extreme cold reliability standards for power plants.  However, the vote last week […]

Across the country, a big backlash to new renewables is mounting 

By: - February 20, 2023

BUCYRUS, Ohio – In four terms as a county elected official in northern Ohio, it was the most contentious issue Doug Weisenauer had ever seen. The state legislature had newly empowered county governments to drastically restrict wind and solar power development, a process formerly overseen by the Ohio Power Siting Board, and the meetings of […]

Offshore wind will need major investments in transmission, supply chain, reports say

By: - January 27, 2023

Achieving the aggressive offshore wind power goals of the federal government and individual states will require billions of dollars in spending on transmission infrastructure, “unprecedented” cooperation between grid operators and federal and state agencies, and would be aided by major buildout of a domestic supply chain, per a pair of reports released this week.  Coastal […]

Utility trucks work on power lines

Affordable, reliable, and sustainable: Report compares utility performance 

By: - January 20, 2023

A nationwide comparison of electric utility performance by an Illinois consumer advocacy group found that customers in states that are heavily reliant on fuel oil and natural gas, as in the Northeast and South, tend to pay more than those with larger amounts of carbon-free generation, among other findings.  The report by the Illinois-based Citizens […]