By Rich Heidorn Jr.
WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said Wednesday that he and other Senate Democrats will seek to amend a bipartisan energy bill this week to undo FERC rulings on PJM’s minimum offer price rule (MOPR) and NYISO buyer-side market power mitigation (BSM).
Van Hollen told the American Council on Renewable Energy’s Policy Forum that the American Energy Innovation Act introduced by Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), the top members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, was an opportunity to reverse FERC’s Dec. 19 order expanding PJM’s MOPR. (See Murkowski, Manchin Offer Bipartisan Energy Bill.)
Speaking with reporters after his speech, Van Hollen said he, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) will offer an amendment to reverse both the PJM order extending the MOPR to new state-subsidized resources and FERC’s Feb. 20 order narrowing the resources exempt from NYISO’s BSM rules in southeastern New York. The latter order requires the ISO to subject storage and demand response to a minimum offer floor in its capacity market. (See FERC Narrows NYISO Mitigation Exemptions.)
“We should get 51 votes,” said Van Hollen, who last month joined with colleagues in asking PJM CEO Manu Asthana to delay the next Base Residual Auction to give states time to react to FERC’s “rash decision.” (See PJM’s MOPR Quandary: Should States Stay or Should they Go?)
Murkowski said last week her 550-page bill, which incorporates some 50 bills previously approved by the Senate committee, “is our best chance to modernize our nation’s energy policies” since the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act.
In addition to reauthorizing the Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) through fiscal year 2025, the bill could provide new markets for coal and natural gas and add initiatives for carbon capture, ocean energy, next generation nuclear power and advanced vehicles. The legislation is being substituted for a geothermal bill previously introduced by Murkowski and Manchin (S.2657) with a Senate floor vote coming as soon as this week.
House Democrats also hope to put their imprint on the bill, Rep. Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.), a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, told the ACORE forum.
Tonko said the bill is a step in the right direction but that the House of Representatives will seek to make “it even more robust” by seeking to amend it with an extension of the investment tax credit for wind and a standalone storage ITC.
The Senate voted 90-4 Wednesday to begin debate on the bill. Murkowski opened debate with comments on Title II, which includes cyber, grid and mineral security. She cited World Bank estimates that meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement would increase demand for battery storage minerals — lithium, cobalt and nickel — by 1,000%.
She said the bill “will help America become a leader in growing industries like battery and renewable manufacturing, along with the jobs and the economic growth that they represent. I think it also helps put the United States in the driver’s seat to prevent supply disruptions that could quickly derail our efforts to deploy renewables, energy storage, EVs and other technologies.”
