ADEQ Begins Gathering Feedback on CPP Compliance
The Department of Environmental Quality conducted the first of four conference calls Nov. 18 for stakeholders to submit data and feedback for the department’s final comments on the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan. (See MISO, SPP Join in as Ark. Begins Crafting CPP Strategy.)
The first call, which was hampered by poor sound quality, focused on the regulatory framework and the CPP’s impact. Several public speakers indicated they had not yet formed a position.
Future calls will discuss the federal plan’s structure, the mass-based implementation approach and the rate-based implementation approach. A face-to-face meeting will be scheduled in early January.
More: Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality
CONNECTICUT
Woodbridge Microgrid to be Ready in a Year
United Illuminating will start work next spring on a microgrid that will allow municipal buildings in the Town of Woodbridge to operate independently of the grid, powered by a 2.2-MW fuel cell.
The centerpiece of the microgrid is a fuel cell that under normal conditions will generate power for the regional electric market. But if the grid fails, the generator will provide power to town hall, the library, the fire station, the police department, the public works department, a senior center and a high school.
The fuel cell, to be owned by UI, will be manufactured by Danbury-based Fuel Cell Energy and will be located on the grounds of Amity Regional High School. Waste heat from the fuel cell will be captured to produce domestic hot water and to heat the school.
More: New Haven Register
ILLINOIS
Probe: Did Execs Mislead ICC About Ballooning Project Costs?
The Commerce Commission will investigate whether executives involved in the $5.7 billion buyout of Peoples Gas failed to disclose the escalating costs of a massive pipe-replacement program during merger proceedings.
The probe grew out of a Sept. 30 auditor’s report that said Peoples Gas executives knew in January, well before they testified before the commission in May, that the estimated cost of replacing 2,000 miles of aging Chicago gas mains had nearly doubled to more than $8 billion.
While the commission dismissed Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s petition asking for a wide-ranging investigation, it will permit her to present other evidence of suspected misrepresentations. The gas utility’s new owner, WEC Energy Group, is expected to propose cost-cutting measures to the ICC this month.
More: Crain’s Chicago Business
IOWA
Rock Island Line Stalls as Landowners Turn down Easement Offers
The proposed Rock Island Clean Line that would transmit 3,500 MW of wind power has hit a roadblock after the developer failed to secure easements from a large number of landowners along its route.
Clean Line Energy Partners told the Utilities Board to halt its technical review of the project while the company considers “whether and how to proceed.” Clean Line has secured easements from just 176 of the 1,540 parcels needed for a route that crosses 16 counties, according to the Preservation of Rural Iowa Alliance, an opposition group.
Landowners say delays in the transmission line’s progress has cast a cloud over potential real estate deals and development along the proposed route. A lawmaker says he intends to introduce a bill to establish a deadline for completing the collection of voluntary easements. The bill will also stipulate that a transmission developer cannot exert eminent domain until at least 80-85% of affected landowners voluntarily grant easements.
More: Midwest Energy News
KENTUCKY
Construction to Begin on State’s Largest Solar-Powered Site
Construction is expected to begin this month on the state’s largest solar-powered generating facility, according to Louisville Gas & Electric and Kentucky Utilities.
The 10-MW solar farm will consist of about 45,000 photovoltaic panels erected on 50 acres at the E.W. Brown Generating Station, a Mercer County coal and gas plant owned by the two utilities, which are subsidiaries of PPL.
The $36 million facility is expected to generate 19 GWh of energy, enough to power 1,500 homes, when it starts operating in the late spring.
More: Lexington Herald-Leader
Toyota Plant Supplements Power with Methane from Dump
A Toyota manufacturing plant in Georgetown is tapping into the energy trapped in a landfill to generate power. Toyota officials said the system that captures and burns landfill methane is capable of producing 1 MW currently but can be upgraded to produce 10 MW.
The automaker has installed a generator at the Central Kentucky Landfill that will send power to its plant via a 6-mile transmission line.
There are 645 landfill methane projects operating across the nation with a capacity to produce 2,066 MW, according to the Environmental Protection Agency’s Landfill Methane Outreach Program.
More: Lexington Herald-Leader; EPA
New EV Charging Stations in the Works
Kentucky Utilities and Louisville Gas & Electric have filed requests to each install 10 new electric vehicle charging stations. Under the filing with the Public Service Commission, the utilities propose that the full cost of charging stations will be borne by those who request the stations or who use the charging service.
More than 15,000 EVs have been registered in the past five years in Kentucky, where there are about 30 public charging stations. The Electric Power Research Institute recently published a report that indicates interest in EVs is growing.
MAINE
Retail Power Prices Drifting Lower
Home and small-business customers of Central Maine Power who buy electricity through the utility’s standard offer will see slightly lower rates in 2016. The Public Utilities Commission has accepted a bid for energy supply that is 3.7% lower than last year’s average, which will translate to savings of $1.35/month on a typical residential bill.
According to the commission, energy supply rates will dip to 6.46 cents/kWh next year from 6.71 cents currently. About 40% of the utility’s customers receive the standard offer rather than buying power from a competitive supplier.
“The standard offer prices set this week reflect the best bids received in a strongly competitive auction process,” said Mark Vannoy, PUC chairman. “We are pleased that prices remain stable or slightly decreasing, allowing retail customers and businesses to benefit from recent downward trends in energy markets that have been reflected in New England wholesale prices.”
More: Portland Press Herald
MARYLAND
Enviros: Cut the Chicken Crap out of RPS
The environmental group Food & Water Watch has launched a campaign to force legislators to remove chicken manure as a resource from its renewable portfolio standards.
Poultry farms in the state produce more than 650 million pounds of chicken manure annually. As an incentive to keep the waste out of the Chesapeake Bay, legislators in 2011 added the waste to the RPS, in the same top-tier category as solar and wind.
However, few chicken-manure methane capture projects have materialized, and environmentalists say that burning the manure produces toxic chemicals.
More: Think Progress
New PSC Regs Promote Community Solar Pilot Plan
Public Service Commission staff have drafted regulations that would allow residents to subscribe to a community solar energy generation system through a pilot program.
The public may submit comments until Dec. 4. The commission will consider the regulations at its Dec. 14 meeting.
Community solar projects, which may appeal to customers who are unable to install rooftop solar, would be permitted up to 2 MW in size.
More: Maryland Public Service Commission
MASSACHUSETTS
House, Senate at Stalemate on Solar Incentives, Caps
Lawmakers failed to complete a deal to update the state’s solar incentives before wrapping up for the year. Leaders appointed a conference committee to hammer out a deal that could delay any agreement at least until formal sessions resume in January.
The sticking point is cost. The House’s proposal would significantly curb the state’s net metering credits once the state hits a target of 1,600 MW, while a Senate bill was considered to be more generous to the solar industry.
The law now caps the amount of net metering credits allowed in a particular utility’s system. Those caps have already been reached in National Grid’s territory for non-residential projects, delaying a number of installations. Both the House and Senate bills would increase the caps.
More: Boston Globe
MISSOURI
Clean Line to Appeal for Approval on Grain Belt Express
Clean Line Energy will again try to convince the Public Service Commission to approve the Grain Belt Express transmission line that would carry wind-generated electricity from Kansas through Missouri and Illinois to Indiana.
State regulators, who rejected the a certificate of need for the project in July by a 3-2 vote, are the last remaining hurdle for the $2 billion 780-mile transmission line, which was recently approved by Illinois utility regulators. A certificate of need would allow Clean Line to acquire property through eminent domain.
Landowners who oppose the line are also seeking to block the project.
More: Columbia Daily Tribune
Group Tries Using Farming Law to Stop Mark Twain Tx Line
Opponents of Ameren’s proposed 100-mile Mark Twain transmission line are challenging the project on the grounds that it would allegedly violate the state’s recently enacted “right-to-farm” amendment. The line would deliver wind power from the Iowa border to the grid, according to Ameren.
The group, called Neighbors United Against Ameren’s Power Line, contends that the project would “permanently remove citizens’ property from production and prevent these citizen farmers and ranchers from engaging in farming and/or ranching practices.”
The Public Service Commission rejected the group’s motion to dismiss Ameren’s application for a certificate of necessity, but it said the amendment could still potentially be used in a court challenge. Ameren told the commission that the argument advanced by the activists is “patently absurd” because it would potentially outlaw “every single new electric line, gas line, water line, sewer line” that would “take any farm land whatsoever out of production.”
More: St. Louis Post-Dispatch
NEW JERSEY
Gas Utility Files for $148M Rate Boost
New Jersey Natural Gas has asked the Board of Public Utilities to increase rates by $148 million, which it says it needs to upgrade its infrastructure.
The increase would boost a typical customer’s bill by about 24%, or about $236 more a year.
The utility says that wholesale natural gas prices are dropping, so it needs to increase delivery rates to make up the difference in revenue. The rate-increase request is the company’s first since 2007.
More: Energy Manager Today
NEW MEXICO
Wind Farm Generating Electricity for Xcel Energy
Two wind farms being built for $430 million are nearing completion. Construction was delayed because of excessive winds.
Contractor Cielo Wind Power, which manages the projects, said the wind created some problems in the last two months for construction crews, but employees have been able to make up for most of the setbacks by working weekends and other off days.
The Roosevelt Wind Project’s 125 turbines are already energized. The Milo Wind Project, which includes 25 wind turbines, is not yet operating. Roosevelt’s 250 MW is committed to Xcel Energy and Milo’s 50 MW of energy will be sold on SPP’s open market.
More: Portales News-Tribune
NEW YORK
Cuomo Pushing NRC to Shutter Indian Point
The Cuomo administration is urging the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to deny Entergy’s applications to extend the licenses of two reactors at the Indian Point Energy Center.
“Allowing Entergy to operate these facilities for another 20 years puts the lives of too many New Yorkers at risk,” wrote Jim Malatras, director of state operations. He said the plant’s location near New York City “makes it absolutely impossible to have an effective safety and evacuation plan.”
The administrative law judges of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board are currently hearing testimony on the request.
More: Cuomo Administration
NORTH DAKOTA
Bald Eagles Given Consideration in Wind Farm Development
The Public Service Commission has approved a 100-MW, 59-turbine wind farm on 15,000 acres near the Canadian border. The $175 million project’s developer, Rolette Power Development, agreed to several concessions to minimize the wind farm’s impact on bald eagles.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service determined that there were no eagle nests in the project area, but it did find nests nearby. Rolette amended its application “to allow for various stipulations to minimize impact on the birds.” The company pledged to remove dead livestock and roadkill from the site so as not to attract eagles.
More: The Bismarck Tribune
PENNSYLVANIA
Grant Supports Shifting Grid from AC to DC
The University of Pittsburgh has received a $2.5 million grant to research ways to shift the grid from alternating current technology to direct current, reviving the 19th Century “War of Currents” between George Westinghouse and Thomas Edison over which type of power transmission would dominate.
“Very few items today require three-phase alternating current,” said researcher Greg Reed, who founded and runs the university’s Direct Current Architecture for Modern Power Systems program.
“The use and development of today’s evolving energy mix, which includes more DC resources such as solar photovoltaics, as well as electric vehicles and battery storage systems, also makes transition to DC more sensible and viable for future power-delivery needs.”
More: TribLive
SOUTH DAKOTA
PUC Approves 103-MW Willow Creek Project
The Public Utilities Commission does not consider many new wind projects, as a state law exempts wind farms that produce less than 100 MW from having to get a permit.
So the PUC on Nov. 12 had the rare opportunity to approve the 103-MW Willow Creek wind farm. It was the first wind project for the two newest commissioners, Chris Nelson and Kristie Fiegen. They joined the remaining commissioner, long-time member Gary Hanson, in approving the proposal by Colorado-based Wind Quarry.
Wind Quarry intends to erect 45 turbines, each 440-feet tall, across three townships in Butte County. The project would connect with a Western Area Power Administration transmission line.
More: Rapid City Journal
VIRGINIA
ODEC Moves Forward with Two Solar Projects
Old Dominion Electric Cooperative selected Hecate Energy to build two solar projects in Northampton and Clarke counties.
The Cherrydale project, in Northampton, is expected to deliver about 20 MW. The Clarke County project will produce about 10 MW. They are expected to be in service by the end of 2016.
More: Work It, SoVa
Entrepreneur Building Community-Based Solar Farm
Leesburg entrepreneur Karen Schaufeld is developing what is thought to be the state’s largest privately funded solar array on her 63-acre farm in an effort to create a community-based grid.
She wants to develop a model of solar power that is less expensive and more efficient than the power offered by Dominion.
The practice is called Agriculture Net Metering, and Schaufeld’s project is expected to generate more than 450 kW.
More: Loudoun Times-Mirror
Dominion to Spend $11.7B on Infrastructure
Dominion Resources said last week it plans to invest $11.7 billion over the next six years in capital projects, including new generating plants, transmission lines, a gas pipeline and environmental cleanup.
About half the spending is targeted for the state, where the projects are expected to make an economic impact of $1.68 billion annually.
Only one project on the list, a gas-fired generator in Brunswick County, has been approved. Others are at various stages of development.
More: Bacon’s Rebellion
WISCONSIN
PSC Considers WPS Hike Request, Cuts Rates for Electric and Gas Instead
Wisconsin Public Service may regret the day it filed a request with the Public Service Commission to raise electric rates by 9.7% and natural gas rates by 2.7%.
On Thursday the commission voted to cut the utility’s electric rates by 0.7% and to reduce gas prices by almost 2%. An average residential electric bill will decrease from $80.93 to $80.80, and the typical gas bill will drop from $53.93 to $52.84.
The commission did approve a $2 increase in the utility’s fixed monthly charge for electric customers, bringing it to $21 from $19. WPS had asked the customer charge to be set at $25.