November 6, 2024
RTO Insider
Feds Accuse Tenn. Man of Substation Attack Plot
A photo released by the FBI shows Philippi taking the drone that he planned to use to destroy a substation for a test flight. The shirt he is wearing reads "Toten fur Wotan," a German phrase meaning "Death for Odin."
FBI
The FBI accused a Tennessee man of attempting to damage an electric substation using a drone loaded with explosives.
RTO Insider
Manitowoc Public Utilities’ Lakefront coal plant in distance
Manitowoc Public Utilities
MISO: Wisconsin Coal Plant to Stay Online as SSR Unless Stakeholders Offer Solutions
MISO said unless stakeholders can come up with an alternative it hasn’t explored, it will have to renew its sole system support resource — Manitowoc Public Utilities’ Lakefront 9 coal unit — for another year.
NetZero Insider
A map produced by the Department of Energy showing   for the Interagency Working Group on Energy Communities to focus on.
DOE
RFF Report Evaluates Biden Effort to Help Coal Communities
Resources for the Future released a report evaluating the Interagency Working Group on Energy Communities, a Biden administration effort to coordinate federal help to communities that lost jobs and other economic benefits from retiring coal plants and mines.
NetZero Insider
The first turbine installation is completed earlier this year at Revolution Wind off the New England coast.
Ørsted
Ørsted Values Latest Revolution Wind Setback at $175M
A one-in-a-thousand problem with a key foundation component is the latest setback in U.S. waters for Ørsted and is blamed for its latest nine-digit cost impairment.
ERO Insider
The standards are intended to satisfy the second milestone of FERC's Order 901 relating to inverter-based resources like solar and wind generation.
BLM
NERC Submits IBR Standards to FERC
NERC submitted five reliability standards to FERC this week as the first tranche of rules governing inverter-based resources mandated in an order last year.
RTO Insider
FERC has accepted SPP tariff revisions that add a winter season resource adequacy requirement for load-responsible entities.
Shutterstock
FERC Approves SPP’s Winter RA Requirement
FERC accepted SPP’s tariff revisions that add a winter season resource adequacy requirement for load-responsible entities, extending its summer RA requirement.
Eversource Exit from OSW Drives Q3 Loss
Eversource Energy’s exit from the offshore wind business drove a $118 million loss in the third quarter of 2024, offsetting increased revenue from its electric and gas distribution business relative to 2023, the company told investors.
Constellation Pushes Ahead on Co-located Data Centers
Constellation Energy remains bullish on data centers co-located with nuclear power plants, despite FERC rejecting terms for the expansion of one such agreement in a high-profile ruling.
ERO Insider
Parts 2 and 3 of the ITCS include recommendations for prudent additions to transfer capability across North America's transmission planning regions based on the projected resource mix in 2033.
NERC
NERC Releases Final ITCS Draft Installments
NERC released the final draft installments of the ITCS this week, identifying 35 GW of prudent transfer capability additions.
Feds Accuse Tenn. Man of Substation Attack Plot
The FBI accused a Tennessee man of attempting to damage an electric substation using a drone loaded with explosives.
CISA Releases International Strategic Plan
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said building international partnerships is key to combating global cyber threats.
NetZero Insider
Solar panels on Blue Lake Rancheria tribal land
Blue Lake Rancheria
State Funds Support Microgrids on California’s Tribal Lands
Energy projects designed to accelerate decarbonization and strengthen reliability in vulnerable communities are receiving significant investment from a California Energy Commission program.
SE Renewable Energy Conference: Will the Southeast Rise Again?
The Southeast’s traditionally risk-averse vertically integrated utilities are now embracing the clean energy transition, driven by economic development in the form of new industry and data centers.
Wash. Gov. Approves Controversial Wind Farm
Gov. Jay Inslee approved a revised plan for the largest wind turbine farm in Washington, stretching across 24 miles in the Horse Heaven Hills in the southeastern part of the state.
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Former ERCOT IMM Carrie Bivens is joining SPP to lead its Market Monitoring Unit.
© RTO Insider LLC 
Former ERCOT Market Monitor Joins SPP’s MMU
Former ERCOT Monitor Carrie Bivens has been named vice president of SPP’s Market Monitoring Unit, replacing her predecessor after he took an executive position with the Texas grid operator.
SPP Board/Regional State Committee Briefs: Oct. 28-29, 2024
SPP’s Board of Directors has approved the RTO’s 2025 operating and capital budgets and its net revenue requirement following a unanimous endorsement by the Members Committee.
PJM MRC Briefs: Oct. 30, 2024
The PJM Markets and Reliability Committee endorsed two issue charges sponsored by LS Power addressing the transparency and functionality of PJM’s marginal effective load-carrying capability accreditation methodology.
NCUC Approves Latest Duke ‘Carbon Plan’ to Expand Renewable, Nuclear and Gas Generation
The NCUC approved Duke Energy's second Carbon Plan and Integrated Resource Plan, authorizing procurements of renewable energy, nuclear and demand response, while calling for its 8,000 MW of coal to be retired in 2036.
Identified reliability and economic needs by SPP and AECI.
SPP
SPP, AECI Release Draft Joint Study to Stakeholders
SPP and Associated Electric Cooperative Inc. have given stakeholders until Nov. 15 to review a draft study that has identified potential joint transmission projects mutually beneficial to both grid operators.
PSEG's Hope Creek and Salem nuclear plants
Peretz Partensky, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Data Center Opportunity is Strong, Expanding, PSEG CEO Says
On top of its 350 MW of current data center load, PSEG has received formal applications for nearly 400 MW of new data center load and inquiries on over 1,200 MW in data center feasibility studies in new business.
ERO Insider
Entergy services parts of Arkansas, Mississippi, Texas and Louisiana.
Entergy
Entergy to Pay SERC $141K for Standard Violations
FERC approved a settlement between Entergy and SERC Reliability that will see the utility pay $141,000 for violating NERC's reliability standards.
Panelists Discuss Electric, Election Security Intersections
Panelists at GridSecCon agreed that keeping the electric grid secure and reliable is a top priority to ensuring the safety of the upcoming elections.
Weather-security Connections Highlighted at GridSecCon
Speakers at this week's GridSecCon conference discussed the sometimes overlooked connections between weather and grid security.
GridSecCon Speakers Cite Threats, Opportunities of AI
Speakers at NERC's annual grid security conference noted that new technology provides opportunities both for threats to the grid as well as for its defenders.
Iranian soldiers march in Tehran in 2022.
Shutterstock
Agencies Describe a Year of Iran Cyber Attacks
Multiple security agencies in the U.S. and overseas said Iran has been actively targeting U.S. critical infrastructure, including the energy sector, for more than a year.
Six of the 38 Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships awards announced Oct. 18, highlighting the benefits in cost savings and reduced power outages in remote and disadvantaged communities.
DOE
New IIJA Funding Targets Grid Resilience and Demand Growth
The U.S. Department of Energy announced almost $2 billion in new funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act aimed at improving grid reliability and resilience.
MOTUWETHFRSASU
Stakeholder Meetings
Industry Gatherings
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Offshore wind opponents greet people arriving at Offshore WINDPOWER in Atlantic City, N.J., on Oct. 29.
© RTO Insider LLC
WINDPOWER: Industry Brainstorms on Beating Back Misinformation
Opposition to offshore wind is much more widespread than the two dozen or so protesters outside the Atlantic City Convention Center.  
WINDPOWER: Looking for Common Ground in the Water
The friction between the fishing and offshore wind industries was a recurring topic at Offshore WINDPOWER 2024, where multiple discussions examined approaches that have sought to smooth the relationship.
WINDPOWER: Equinor Exec Gives Insight on Empire Wind
The company planning an 810-MW wind farm off the New York coast gave an update on its efforts at Offshore WINDPOWER 2024.
SE Renewable Energy Conference Hears Blunt Talk on Trump
Keith Martin, a specialist in tax and renewable energy policy, said a Republican-led Congress would likely look to "cannibalize" parts of the Inflation Reduction Act.
From left: BOEM Director Elizabeth Klein, Permitting Council Director Eric Beightel, NOAA Fisheries Assistant Administrator Janet Coit and Patty DiOrio of Ørsted hold an Offshore WINDPOWER panel discussion on lessons learned from early offshore wind projects.
© RTO Insider LLC
WINDPOWER: Lessons Learned from Early Offshore Efforts
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has decreased its offshore wind permitting times 20% as it gains experience and works to expedite development of the clean energy sector. 
Resources needed to meet state decarbonization goals
ISO-NE
ISO-NE Study Lays Out Challenges of Deep Decarbonization
Deep decarbonization of the New England grid will pose major challenges related to resource adequacy and market administration, ISO-NE concluded in the final report of its Economic Planning for the Clean Energy Transition study.