Reports: Solar Jobs Increased in 2015
The Solar Foundation, a D.C. solar power advocacy nonprofit, has released its annual Solar Jobs Census for 2015. The report details the number of people working in the solar industry in each state. Overall, the workforce experienced rapid growth over the past year, increasing by 20.2% and at 12 times the overall U.S. economy, according to the report. And the organization expects it to continue to grow.
California has the nation’s largest solar workforce by far, with 75,598 workers. The runner up is Massachusetts, with 15,095. New York, New Jersey and Texas ranked in the top 10.
The organization also projected how much the solar workforce in each state would grow in 2016. Missouri (21.4%), Minnesota (20.5%), Ohio (20.2%) and Pennsylvania (19.9%) all ranked in the top 10. The only state in the country that is projected to lose jobs in the industry is Louisiana (-2.6%).
More: The Solar Foundation
INDIANA
Fixed-Rate Charge Increase Battle Heads to IURC
Northern Indiana Public Service Co.’s requested 82% increase in its monthly fixed-rate charge has drawn flak from consumer advocates and solar energy supporters in the state. Clean energy advocates say the increase is a punitive measure on the state’s solar power sources, while NIPSCO says it simply wants ratepayers to fund their fair share of grid upkeep.
Along with NIPSCO’s requested jump from $11 to $20 per bill, the Utility Regulatory Commission is also currently considering allowing Indianapolis Power & Light Co. to raise its monthly fixed charge from $11 to $17.
“This conversation is getting underway in Indiana and the NIPSCO case is on top of the list because of the language they used and their stated intent that, ‘This is just the beginning folks, we’ll be back for more every few years,’” said Kerwin Olson, executive director of consumer group Citizen Actions Coalition. “It’s something we’d like to nip in the bud.”
More: Midwest Energy News
IOWA
IUB Ends Dakota Access Hearings Without Decision
The Utilities Board conducted hearings last week on the proposed $3.8 billion Dakota Access pipeline project, which would deliver crude oil from North Dakota to terminals in Illinois. Regulators in North Dakota, Illinois and South Dakota have already approved the 1,168-mile pipeline.
Much of the testimony during the four days of hearings focused on the use of eminent domain authority to acquire the pipeline’s rights of way. The pipeline’s operator, Energy Transfer Partners, still needs to sign up 265 landowners who have refused to grant an easement.
“I don’t know how you hold it all in your mind,” said Dick Lamb, 73, one of holdout landowners. “Iowa being the last state, it’s just an enormous decision. It comes down to three people weighing this $3 billion class project.”
More: Cedar Rapids Gazette
KANSAS
CURB Releases Email from Fired Consumer Counsel
The Citizens’ Utility Ratepayer Board released a controversial email that prompted it to fire Consumer Counsel Niki Christopher, who had bluntly advised the board to reverse a December decision to strip her office of authority over cases and prohibit her from talking with lawmakers and reporters about utility issues.
Christopher, an agency lawyer for 15 years, was fired Jan. 25 after she told the board that its actions would damage the agency’s standing and credibility with lawmakers and the media. The board released the email after The Wichita Eagle requested it under the Kansas Open Records Act.
CURB Chairwoman Ellen Janoski said she thought Christopher’s email made unsolicited demands and was “very disrespectful” to the board.
More: The Wichita Eagle
MASSACHUSETTS
Solar Incentives Fade Out, Put Solar Projects on Hold
Two incentives for solar generation have reached their limit for participants, putting the brakes on the incipient solar boom in the state.
“The industry’s on hold, basically,” said John DeVillars, of Boston solar developer BlueWave Capital. “Until there’s clarity on the next incentive program, very little activity will take place.”
Project developers have locked up the available 1,600 MW of solar renewable energy certificates, which compensate generators for electricity they produce. The state’s net metering program, which allows customer generators to sell their excess power to utilities at retail prices, has also reached its maximum number of participants.
More: The Boston Globe
MICHIGAN
DTE Requests $344M Rate Hike for Grid Improvements
DTE Electric is asking the Public Service Commission for a $344 million rate increase to pay for infrastructure upgrades.
If the hike is approved, average residential customers would see a 7.5% increase in their monthly bills. Commercial customers could expect a 0.4% decrease, and industrial consumers’ bills would be cut an average of 5.6%.
The commission in December agreed to allow DTE to raise its overall electric rates by 5.3%.
More: Crain’s Detroit Business
MONTANA
Ballot Initiative Calls for More Renewables
Organizers have begun seeking signatures for a ballot initiative requiring investor-owned utilities in the state to incrementally supply more renewable energy to reduce carbon emissions.
The initiative will appear on the November general election ballot if 24,175 people sign a petition. MTCARES, a nonprofit formed last fall to promote the ballot initiative, was given permission to begin gathering signatures after the ballot language was certified by the attorney general and secretary of state.
The state’s current renewable portfolio standard, enacted in 2005, requires public utilities and competitive electricity suppliers with more than 50 customers to obtain 15% of their retail electricity sales from renewable resources. The ballot measure would bump the renewable requirement to 19% by 2018, followed by increments that would total 50% by 2030 and 80% by 2050.
More: Great Falls Tribune
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Legislators Want to Intervene in Power Line Review
Four state senators and 64 state representatives want to intervene in the Northern Pass transmission project now before the state’s Site Evaluation Committee.
Senators signing the petition said they represent residents who are concerned about the project’s overhead lines and the impact on the scenic views. The $1.6 billion, 192-mile transmission line would deliver Canadian hydropower to New England.
The lawmakers maintain that the project would primarily benefit southern New England population centers while its impact “would be borne by New Hampshire communities, unless the line is buried.”
More: New Hampshire Union Leader
NEW JERSEY
Senate Passes Bill to Resurrect Fishermen’s Offshore Project
A bill aimed to breathe new life into a proposed offshore Fishermen’s Energy wind project passed the Senate by a vote of 23-11 on Thursday. Gov. Chris Christie vetoed a similar bill last year that called for approval of the 24-MW wind project.
The new bill, which still needs to pass in the lower house, calls for the Board of Public Utilities to open a 30-day window for qualified wind projects of 20 to 25 MW, and authorizes the BPU to issue renewable wind credits to offshore wind projects.
Fishermen’s has reconfigured its project to address concerns about cost and viability. It now calls for six 4-MW turbines installed 3 miles offshore. The $220 million project has already garnered $50 million in U.S. Energy Department funding.
More: ReNews
NEW MEXICO
Commission Eyes PNM Customers’ Fuel Savings
The Public Regulation Commission voted 5-0 to open a new regulatory case to examine whether large electricity customers are receiving undue fuel savings as a result of Public Service Company of New Mexico’s investments in renewable energy.
The vote effectively separates the issue from approval of PNM’s renewable energy procurement plan for 2016. The commission had approved that plan in November, but in the vote, the commission included a recommendation by a hearing examiner to force industrial and governmental energy users to repay fuel savings generated by the utility’s renewable investments back to PNM.
The PRC will now review how PNM manages its “fuel clause” with regard to renewable energy. The fuel clause allows the utility to automatically pass on to consumers the costs and savings for purchasing fuel.
More: Albuquerque Journal
NEW YORK
New Plant Owner to Develop Land
The new owners of the Somerset coal-fired power plant outside Buffalo told local officials they want to develop 1,800 acres around the facility.
The Niagara County Industrial Development Agency board on Wednesday also granted a revised tax break to the soon-to-be-former owners of the plant, Upstate New York Power Producers, reducing the plant’s property tax bill by $500,000 next year and again in 2018. The tax breaks will transfer to the new owners, Riesling Power.
Despite the tax breaks, the power plant remains the largest property taxpayer in Niagara County, IDA Chairman Henry M. Sloma said.
More: The Buffalo News
NORTH CAROLINA
State Fines Duke Energy $6.6M for Dan River Coal Ash Spill
The Department of Environmental Quality has fined Duke Energy $6.6 million for the 2014 Dan River spill, in which 39,000 tons of ash and 27 million gallons of water flowed unchecked from a failed pipe under a 27-acre coal ash pond.
The fine comes after a $102 million settlement in May related to federal criminal charges over the incident. The February 2014 spill wasn’t stopped for six days.
Federal prosecutors said Duke ignored warnings about the faulty 48-inch stormwater pipe.
More: The Charlotte Observer
NORTH DAKOTA
PSC Approved $2B in Energy Projects in 2015
The Public Service Commission said it approved almost $2.1 billion worth of siting permits for energy-related projects last year. That number is slightly down from more than $2.7 billion in 2014, but still significantly higher than the $1 billion approved in 2013.
The projects included approximately 245 MW of gas-fired generation, two new electric transmission lines and two wind farms with about 250 MW of generating capacity.
More: North Dakota Public Service Commission
OHIO
Companies Conducting Ad War for Guaranteed Income Plans
American Electric Power, FirstEnergy and their opponents are conducting a television ad war over the utilities’ guaranteed income plans currently before the Public Utilities Commission.
FirstEnergy began its ad campaign last week, in response to a spot from the Alliance for Energy Choice, a group of independent power producers, including Dynegy, NRG Energy and Talen Energy. The alliance has enlisted former PUCO chairman Todd Snitchler to its cause.
Both utility companies have asked for eight-year power purchase agreements for their power plants, saying that they are needed to protect ratepayers from volatile natural gas prices and the reliability risks of plant retirements.
More: Columbus Business First
OKLAHOMA
Commission Reviewing OG&E Billing Change
Solar industry supporters in the state say Oklahoma Gas & Electric’s proposed demand charge for customers with rooftop solar panels would harm the nascent industry.
An OG&E attorney said the utility had provided enough evidence to show a subsidy existed for distributed generation customers under current rates. The Corporation Commission is currently considering the utility’s request to implement the demand charge.
Administrative Law Judge Jacqueline Miller recommended in December the commission prospectively approve the utility’s proposal but said the rates could be subject to a refund if the commission did not ultimately approve the demand charge. She suggested the issue of potential cross-subsidization should be fully vetted under OG&E’s pending $92.5 million rate case.
More: The Oklahoman
PENNSYLVANIA
Wolf Wants to Tax Marcellus Shale Production
Gov. Tom Wolf is proposing to tax natural gas drillers 6.5% on Marcellus Shale production. He estimates the assessment would bring in $217.8 million in the upcoming fiscal year.
Detractors of the plan say it flies in the face of market reality, in which production has slumped because of record low gas prices.
The state already charges a per-well impact fee but is the only state not to impose an extraction tax on natural gas.
More: State Impact
PUC Finalizes Pa. Gas & Electric Polar Vortex Penalties
The Public Utility Commission accepted a settlement that directs Pennsylvania Gas & Electric to pay $6.8 million in customer refunds, a $25,000 civil penalty and a $100,000 contribution to a customer Hardship Fund as a result of alleged deceptive business practices after the Polar Vortex in 2014.
According to the settlement, reached with the Office of Consumer Advocate and the commission’s Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement, the supplier engaged in “slamming,” or enrolling customers in more expensive plans. Investigators also alleged that PG&E mishandled complaints, failed to provide accurate pricing information and charged prices other than those in its disclosure statements.
The OCA and the attorney general’s Bureau of Consumer Protection will determine who is due a refund. A third party will be designated to distribute the refunds.
More: Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission
SOUTH DAKOTA
Wind Farm Rejected in Davison County
Davison County commissioners, expressing concerns about neighboring property values from 446-foot-tall wind turbines, rejected a $40 million wind project proposed by Juhl Energy in Beulah Township. The project would have featured up to 11 turbines.
“Once this precedent is set, we could have these all over the county,” Commissioner Denny Kinder said. Commissioner John Claggett said he also was concerned with setting a precedent. “I think it would be presumptuous for us as a county commission to rule on something that is a new industry,” he said. The measure failed on a 4-1 vote.
Juhl Energy Vice President Corey Juhl said he didn’t think the company would try to appeal the ruling. “It seemed like they still don’t have a full grasp of the project, unfortunately,” he said. “And that’s sad, because you’re going to miss an opportunity here.”
More: The Daily Republic
Legislators Deciding Support for State’s Fossil Plants
State Rep. John Wiik is sponsoring a resolution asking EPA to reconsider its Clean Power Plan. The Republican’s resolution argues that EPA “has proposed several regulations that would enact a de facto ban on the construction of new, efficient and cost-effective coal-fired power plants, and threaten the continued operation of existing coal-fired power plants.”
Wiik’s constituency includes Otter Tail Power’s Big Stone plant. The plant’s owners spent $384 million on its new air-quality control system that was completed in December.
The state House of Representatives voted 65-3 in favor of the resolution Feb. 4. At the same time, the state’s Department of Environment and Natural Resources is building a compliance plan for EPA’s approval, while the state’s attorney general has joined several dozens of other states in challenging in federal court EPA’s authority on the new regulations.
More: The Daily Republic
VIRGINIA
SCC Approves Dominion 230-kV Tx Expansion
The State Corporation Commission approved Dominion Virginia Power’s plan to build out its system with several 230-kV lines in Fauquier and Prince William counties.
The SCC authorized Dominion to build the Vint Hill-Wheeler and Wheeler-Gainesville transmission lines, the Remington CT–Warrenton 230-kV double-circuit transmission line, the 230-kV Vint Hill switching station and the 230-kV Wheeler switching station.
The authorization comes after the SCC considered several routes. There was some issue about whether Dominion had issued public notice about one of the proposed routes, but the SCC indicated that it believes the selected route best serves the needs of the area. The order mandates that Dominion build and put into service the lines and substation by July 1, 2017.
More: Transmission Hub