Ponseti, Kormos Named to EIPC Committee
The Eastern Interconnection Planning Collaborative has announced the appointment of Tim Ponseti as chairman of the executive committee for 2016 and Mike Kormos as vice chairman.
Ponseti is vice president of transmission operations and power supply for the Tennessee Valley Authority. Kormos is executive vice president and chief operations officer for PJM. Ponseti takes the place of Steve Whitley, former president and CEO of NYISO.
The EIPC was formed by Eastern Interconnection planning authorities to perform interconnection-wide transmission analysis.
More: Eastern Interconnection Planning Collaborative
COLORADO
PUC Affirms Decision on Boulder’s Municipal Plans
The Public Utilities Commission on Wednesday affirmed an earlier decision that rejected the City of Boulder’s application to municipalize Xcel Energy facilities that exclusively serve customers outside city limits, saying the commissioners won’t force the utility to share facilities with the city.
The commission in November partially dismissed an application from Boulder to acquire facilities to create a city-owned utility, including substations and distribution infrastructure outside the city’s boundary. But the commission also will allow Boulder to engage in discovery and permit it to amend its original application after it learns more about Xcel’s system.
City engineers anticipate receiving data needed from Xcel in order to formulate an interconnection plan that works for Boulder customers and those who will remain with Xcel. Boulder is targeting a December 2017 start date for a city-owned utility.
More: Daily Camera
INDIANA
NIPSCO Directed to Resubmit Energy Efficiency Plan
Consumer advocates responded positively to the Utility Regulatory Commission’s order requiring Northern Indiana Public Service Co. to resubmit its overall energy efficiency plan after deciding the utility’s filing did not include adequate goals. The commission ordered the resubmittal by 2017.
The commission’s order was viewed as the first test of Gov. Mike Pence’s 2015 energy efficiency law, which replaced a more aggressive statewide energy efficiency program that the General Assembly killed in 2014. The state law does not place a time limit on surcharges that utilities can impose to recover revenue lost due to greater efficiency efforts, but the commission’s order on NIPSCO imposed a four-year cap on cost recovery.
“This is a big win for ratepayers,” Kerwin Olson, executive director at Citizens Action Coalition, told The Times of Northwest Indiana. “We will see a continuation of efficiency programs from NIPSCO but also caps on how much NIPSCO can collect from ratepayers.”
More: The Times of Northwest Indiana
MAINE
Low Prices Forcing Biomass Plants to Shut Down
Low power prices are forcing two biomass plants to suspend operations in March, raising concerns in the state’s logging industry.
The Professional Logging Contractors of Maine on Thursday said the move will affect up to 2,500 jobs. The two plants buy wood waste from logging operations.
Covanta Holding Corp., the plants’ operator, said this has happened before and operations have resumed when the economy has improved. The Covanta plants are two of six biomass plants in the state. Biomass accounts for 60% of the state’s renewable energy portfolio and 27% of its electricity generation, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
More: Portland Press Herald
MICHIGAN
Consumers Gets OK for New Gas Compressor Station
Local officials in Huron County have approved construction of Consumers Energy’s proposed $9 million natural gas compressor station, which the utility says would improve reliability of its gas distribution system.
The County Planning Commission approved site plans for the 1,900-square-foot compressor building, which will be situated on three acres in the town of Sebewaing. Consumers, which supplies gas and electricity service across most of the state, said the compressor station is expected to only run about two weeks per year, as needed.
More: Huron Daily Tribune
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Radio Station Fined $540,000 for Ads
The Federal Communications Commission has reached a $540,000 settlement with Cumulus Media, the former owner of a radio station that in 2011 broadcast 178 ads supporting the Northern Pass transmission project without identifying the ad’s sponsor — Northern Pass Transmission.
FCC says its settlement is the largest ever involving a single station for violating sponsor identification laws. “Radio and television stations that are paid to air any announcements or other content are required to clearly disclose the payer’s identity,” FCC Enforcement Bureau Chief Travis LeBlanc said.
The Northern Pass is a proposed 192-mile transmission line that would deliver 1,090 MW of Canadian hydropower to New England. About 60 miles of the line would be buried to reduce its visual impact.
More: New Hampshire Union Leader
Bills Filed in Legislature Against Northeast Energy Direct
At least 10 bills have been filed in the state legislature to impede Kinder Morgan’s proposal to build its Northeast Energy Direct gas pipeline across the state’s southern tier.
One bill would prohibit charging residents for the construction of high-pressure gas pipelines, taking direct aim at the Public Utilities Commission, whose staff said it would be legal for utilities to recover their costs from electricity customers. Several bills, anticipating that FERC will approve the project, would allow property owners to require the pipeline company to purchase their entire property, not just a pipeline easement. Another bill would require pipeline companies to pay 300% of fair market value.
Other bills would give a community the right to regulate noise levels for compressor stations, require a royalty on income from gas exported to another country paid to landowners along the pipeline route and mandate owners of gas transmission pipelines to maintain insurance against damages.
More: New Hampshire Union Leader
NEW JERSEY
State Best Poised to Produce Offshore Wind Energy
The state has the highest potential to develop offshore wind energy of any Northeastern state, according to a report by the Environment New Jersey Research Policy Center.
The study was released as the Legislature prepares to vote on an experimental wind farm off the coast of Atlantic City.
The environmental group, which supports the project, says the ability to generate as much as 1,700 MW in wind power could be realized within five years if the state moves quickly.
More: Associated Press
NEW YORK
Smart Meters Coming to Long Island Businesses
PSEG Long Island will roll out a scaled-back smart meter plan aimed mostly at large commercial and solar customers after its initial plan to install 180,000 devices was shelved last year by state regulators.
PSEG’s plan, part of a broader grid-modernizing initiative called Utility 2.0, calls for building a wireless communication system to collect the smart meter data. PSEG also will deploy smart meters for all new solar energy installations for net metering and for some residential customers who have hard-to-reach meters. The cost for the project, expected to be completed by year-end, is $3.9 million.
The utility already has more than 7,000 smart meters deployed around Long Island after several separate smart grid pilot programs.
More: Newsday
State Grant Allows for Cut in Plant Emissions
Modifications to its 350-MW gas-fired power plant will reduce CO2 emissions by 4,000 tons/year, Caithness Long Island Energy says.
The company received a $163,000 grant from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority to pay for the upgrades, which were completed in December. The grant is part of a statewide plan to reduce emissions from traditional plants.
Caithness says the more technically advanced turbine components improve efficiency. The plant has a $1.7 billion, 20-year contract to supply the Long Island Power Authority.
More: Newsday
PENNSYLVANIA
Natural Gas Production from Shale Stalls
Natural gas production from the Marcellus and Utica shales in the state was stagnant last year, as falling prices led companies to defer expansion, demand slumped and a shortage of pipelines remained.
The demand for gas surged in recent years as generators switched from coal-fired plants to comply with tighter air quality standards, but that activity is expected to slow until 2020.
Meanwhile, consumer growth has remained sluggish amid milder-than-usual temperatures.
More: State Impact
SOUTH DAKOTA
PUC Approves Keystone XL Route Through State
Local regulators have once again approved the route of the Keystone XL pipeline through the state, but they made its endorsement conditional on eventual approval of the project by the Obama administration.
The Public Utilities Commission approved the pipeline in 2010, but it had to undergo a review again because the state-imposed four-year statute of limitations had expired.
TransCanada’s project is currently stalled after being rejected by President Obama. The proposed pipeline would run from Canada through parts of Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska and then interconnect through existing pipelines to refineries on the Gulf Coast.
More: Associated Press
TEXAS
Protested Gas Pipeline Closer to Approval with FERC Move
A coalition of state ranchers, environmentalists and disgruntled landowners has suffered a major setback in its battle to block a proposed pipeline that would carry natural gas beneath 143 miles of largely untouched Big Bend land.
FERC staff offered a key endorsement of a stretch of the Trans-Pecos Pipeline, writing that it “would not constitute a major federal action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment” in a draft environmental assessment issued Jan. 4.
The partnership between Energy Transfer Partners and Mexico’s Carso Energy could deliver as much as 1.4 billion cubic feet of gas each day to Mexico, where officials have recently opened up the energy sector to private companies. Supporters say the pipeline will generate construction jobs in the state and local tax revenue. Gas imports could also allow Mexico’s border cities to retire dirtier power plants that burn coal, wood and oil.
More: The Texas Tribune
Solar Power Expected to Jump 6-Fold in 2016
The state leads the nation in wind energy production but ranks 10th in solar production as of September 2015. The state doesn’t match the incentives of some states and has an abundant supply of other cheap energy, including natural gas.
But prices for solar panels have fallen more than 80% since 2009, and the outlook for solar generation is picking up in the state because there’s plenty of sun, a growing population, a huge electric load and a hyper-competitive electricity market.
Last year, solar installations in ERCOT grew almost 50%. This year, solar generation could jump six-fold, according to ERCOT projections, which are based on developer agreements to connect with the grid.
More: The Dallas Morning News
WISCONSIN
Lawmakers Set to Vote on Lifting Nuke Moratorium
State lawmakers are scheduled to vote this week on a bill that would lift the moratorium on construction of new nuclear generating stations. Current law blocks new plants unless a national repository for spent fuel is developed. Current state law also prohibits construction of nuclear plants if costs would burden ratepayers.
The bill’s Republican sponsors say nuclear energy is a possible way to meet new federal emissions standards.
More: Associated Press