Energy Law: A Comprehensive Guide to Regulation Markets and Project Development

73 questions on energy law, answered and cited by the UpLaw editorial team.

• Are grid reliability standards mandatory?
• Are state renewable energy programs vulnerable to dormant Commerce Clause challenges?
• Can a lessee deduct post-production costs from an oil and gas royalty?
• Do I have to seek rehearing at FERC before going to court?
• Do oil pipelines have federal eminent domain power?
• How are merchant and storage projects financed without a traditional PPA?
• How are transmission costs allocated among regions?
• How did Seven County Infrastructure Coalition change NEPA review?
• How did the 2025 tax legislation change clean energy credits?
• How does a gas pipeline get approved and built?
• How does Clean Water Act section 401 certification affect energy projects?
• How do states correct for the rule of capture?
• How is a utility's revenue requirement calculated?
• How is battery storage regulated?
• Is a utility constitutionally entitled to recover the cost of a cancelled power plant?
• Is hydraulic fracturing regulated by the federal government?
• Is PURPA still relevant today?
• Is Smyth v. Ames still good law for utility ratemaking?
• Should a wholesale power contract specify the standard of review for modifications?
• What are the essential clauses of an oil and gas lease?
• What are the federal tax credits for renewable energy projects?
• What are the implied covenants in an oil and gas lease?
• What are the key terms in a power purchase agreement?
• What are the main workstreams in developing a utility-scale renewable project?
• What did FERC Order No. 1000 change about transmission planning?
• What did FERC Order No. 2023 do to fix the interconnection queue?
• What did FERC Order No. 888 do?
• What did FERC v. Electric Power Supply Association decide about demand response?
• What did Hughes v. Talen Energy hold about state support for new generation?
• What did PennEast Pipeline Co. v. New Jersey decide?
• What did West Virginia v. EPA hold about regulating power plant emissions?
• What does a developer need for site control on a renewable project?
• What does "beginning of construction" mean for energy tax credits?
• What does it mean for an oil and gas lease to be held by production?
• What does "just and reasonable" mean in utility ratemaking?
• What emergency authority does FERC have over the grid?
• What endangered species and wildlife laws affect wind and solar projects?
• What federal agencies besides FERC regulate energy?
• What is a legally enforceable obligation under PURPA?
• What is an RTO, and why is ERCOT different?
• What is a renewable energy certificate and how does the double-counting rule work?
• What is a renewable portfolio standard?
• What is a test year in a rate case, and what is regulatory lag?
• What is a virtual PPA and how does it differ from a physical PPA?
• What is avoided cost under PURPA?
• What is elective payment or "direct pay" for energy tax credits?
• What is FERC Order No. 2222 and what does it do for distributed energy resources?
• What is FERC's authority over energy market manipulation?
• What is locational marginal price and what are its components?
• What is market-based rate authority and how does a generator get it?
• What is prudence review and who bears the burden?
• What is PURPA and what is a qualifying facility?
• What is tax credit transferability under IRC section 6418?
• What is the Averch-Johnson effect?
• What is the capital stack for a US renewable energy project?
• What is the difference between FPA section 205 and section 206?
• What is the doctrine of trapped costs?
• What is the filed rate doctrine?
• What is the Mobile-Sierra doctrine?
• What is the rule of capture in oil and gas law?
• What is the single most important rule to remember in energy law?
• What is the used-and-useful principle and how does it create stranded costs?
• What options does a developer have when network upgrade costs are too high?
• What products does a generator sell in an RTO market?
• What should be negotiated in an EPC contract for a renewable project?
• What was the Attleboro gap and why does it matter?
• When does NEPA apply to an energy project?
• Where do renewable energy projects most often fail?
• Who regulates electricity in the United States — FERC or the states?
• Who regulates net metering for rooftop solar?
• Who sites interstate transmission lines and who sites interstate gas pipelines?
• Why does a solar developer need to worry about the mineral estate?
• Why does it take so long to interconnect a new power project?