CO2 Emissions down as Coal Plants Used Less
The state is already meeting the carbon dioxide emissions target under the final year of EPA’s Clean Power Plan, thanks to reduced use of coal-fired power generation because of the low price of competing natural gas.
The state’s carbon emissions were 30.1 million tons in 2015, down from 39.7 million tons in 2014, according to an analysis by the Department of Environmental Quality. The state’s target for 2030 is 30.6 million tons.
Southwestern Electric Power Co. said that SPP did not dispatch its Arkansas coal plants as much in 2015 as the previous year. The company said lower natural gas prices and mild weather were the primary factors.
More: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
CALIFORNIA
Regulators Reopen San Onofre Rate Deal, Moody’s Frowns
Moody’s Investors Service took a dim view of a Public Utilities Commission decision to reopen a 2014 agreement that shouldered ratepayers with most of the multibillion-dollar shutdown costs of the San Onofre nuclear plant.
The commission earlier this month decided to reopen the $4.7 billion settlement amid disclosures that secret meetings were held before the deal was approved 18 months ago and complaints from stakeholders. The plant was closed prematurely in 2013 after a radiation leak was discovered during the replacement of a steam generator.
More: The San Diego Union-Tribune
DELAWARE
Delmarva Power Proposes To Raise Rates Post-Merger
Delmarva Power, one of the Pepco utilities recently acquired by Exelon, is asking the Public Service Commission for a $62.8 million electric rate hike and an increase of $21.5 million for its gas services.
President Gary Stockbridge said the money is needed to cover $120 million in upgrades to the gas system and $222 million in improvements to its electricity infrastructure.
For a typical residential customer, the increases would translate to $10.23/month for electricity and $13.55 for gas.
More: Delaware Public Media
ILLINOIS
Future Shaky for Bill to Save Quad Cities, Clinton Stations
The chair of the Senate Energy and Public Utilities Committee said Thursday that it’s unlikely Exelon’s “Next Generation Power Plan,” which would extend state clean power subsidies to nuclear plants, will come to the floor before the legislative session ends May 31.
Exelon has said it will shutter its struggling Quad Cities and Clinton nuclear power plants if the General Assembly doesn’t act, and if Quad Cities doesn’t clear the PJM Base Residual Auction. (See Absent Legislation, Exelon to Close Clinton, Quad Cities Nukes.)
Among other provisions, SB1585 would extend state subsidies for clean power to nuclear plants. It also would allow Commonwealth Edison to shift its billing model from one based on monthly kilowatt-hour consumption to a demand charge assessed on a customer’s peak monthly usage.
More: The Northwest Indiana Times
KENTUCKY
Coal Miner Numbers Hit 120-Year Lows
The amount of employed coal miners in the state has hit a nearly 120-year low, according to a report released this month from the Energy and Environment Cabinet. About 6,900 coal miners are working in the state, the lowest number recorded since 1898.
The cabinet also reported that coal production fell 13% in the first quarter of 2016 to 11 million tons, the lowest level since 1939.
Cabinet Assistant Director Aron Patrick said he anticipates that coal’s decline will bottom out by 2018. “Currently we are supplying coal to power plants that are scheduled to close before 2018,” Patrick said. “So in the near term, i.e., 2016 through 2017, there likely will be continued declines. But 2018 and beyond, there probably will be some sort of stabilization.”
More: WFPL
MAINE
SunEd Wind Farm not Affected by Zoning Change
The proposed 26-turbine Somerset Wind project in the Misery Ridge area won’t be affected by a change in zoning regulations that allow communities to opt out of a fast-track wind development zone, according to the project’s developer.
More than 20 communities have petitioned the state for exemptions from a law providing for an expedited permitting area, which allows for the fast-track development of commercial wind farms in parts of the state’s unorganized and rural areas.
Last week, landowner Weyerhaeuser withdrew its opposition to several townships opting out of the expedited permitting area. SunEdison said that those townships were not part of its plans for the project.
More: Portland Press Herald
MICHIGAN
Senate Proposes Legislation To Regulate Retail Choice Cap
The Senate is considering legislation that would impose a new electric generation service charge on retail customers entering the deregulated market, which advocates of competition say would hinder retail electric choice.
The proposal, which is supported by utilities, would retain a 10% cap on the amount of power the state can receive from alternative generators and out-of-state suppliers. But, along with the additional charge, it would require alternative suppliers to prove future resource adequacy.
“Adding a punitive new capacity charge will all but thwart electric choice,” said Laura Chappelle of the Energy Michigan trade association. Sen. Mike Nofs, the bill’s sponsor, said the new law is necessary to ensure reliability.
More: The Detroit News
MONTANA
State Becoming a Hotbed for Solar Energy Development
Interest in developing solar power is soaring in the state, with out-of-state developers working to lease land to develop solar farms.
“There’s a lot of prospecting in our area for sure,” said Susan Conell, Cascade County planning director. She said at least six different companies from North Carolina, South Carolina, California and Virginia have called the county inquiring about the county’s solar regulations.
NorthWestern Energy, the largest public utility in the state, has signed five 25-year power purchase agreements with California-based Cypress Creek Renewables for 14 MW of solar power from in-state farms. Statewide, two out-of-state developers alone are proposing 43 solar projects, each 3 MW, NorthWestern said.
More: Great Falls Tribune
NEW JERSEY
JCP&L Revives Controversial Transmission Line Project
Jersey Central Power & Light is reviving plans to build a 10-mile 230-kV transmission line in Monmouth County, a project that was canceled 25 years ago after local protests.
The so-called Monmouth County Reliability Project is virtually identical to the old line, but it will cost a lot more: $75 million, compared to $14.5 million in 1991. The company says the demand for power has caught up to what had been forecast for the area back when the line was first proposed.
PJM has called the project necessary for regional grid stability. It would run along an existing railroad right of way.
More: NJ.com
NEW MEXICO
PRC Incumbent Accused of Close Ties with PNM
A race for a seat on the Public Regulation Commission has become hotly contested, as challenger Cynthia Hall has portrayed incumbent Karen Montoya as being deferential to the state’s largest utility company, Public Service Company of New Mexico.
Hall, a lawyer who finished second to Montoya in a three-way race in 2012, says the incumbent has been “far too close” to PNM. She cites the commission’s approval last year of the utility’s plan to close two coal-fired units at the San Juan Generating Station.
Montoya’s website touts her record as commissioner. She said in the last four years, the commission has approved the largest solar array in the state and lowered the universal service fee on residents’ phone bills.
More: The Santa Fe New Mexican
Albuquerque Delays Decision To Increase Renewable Energy
The Albuquerque City Council has delayed voting on a resolution that calls for the city government to obtain at least 25% of its electricity from solar by 2025.
The two council members who introduced the resolution acknowledged they have no idea how much the effort will cost. The resolution calls on the city’s energy council to weigh various options, from retrofitting existing city buildings with solar arrays to constructing a new solar farm. An implementation plan would be due by 2017 and the City Council could decide what path to pursue.
More: The Associated Press
NEW YORK
NYISO Says Summer Supply Adequate
NYISO said a total of 41,874 MW of supply is available to meet summer power demand in the state, well above its forecasted peak demand of 33,360 MW.
The total capacity includes 38,534 MW of generating capacity from power plants, 1,248 MW in demand response resources and 2,092 MW from out-of-state resources.
Last summer’s peak demand of 31,138 MW, recorded on July 29, 2015, was below the 15-year average of 31,540 MW.
More: NYISO
PSC Expands Energy Discount Programs
The Public Service Commission created the state’s first-ever Energy Affordability Policy to provide $248 million in direct relief to low-income residents.
The new policy will limit energy costs to no more than 6% of household income.
The order will immediately increase the number of low-income utility customers receiving monthly discounts by 50%, from 1.1 million customers to 1.65 million. The order also creates a multiagency low-income energy task force to develop new strategies aimed at all of the state’s 2.3 million households at or below 200% of the federal poverty level.
More: New York PSC
NORTH CAROLINA
Duke Ordered to Excavate Coal Ash, but May Get Reprieve
State environmental authorities ruled that Duke Energy must excavate all of its coal ash dumps and ponds, which the utility says would “significantly increase” its estimated $4 billion in coal ash remediation costs. But the regulators said they may later change the ruling to allow the company to make improvements to the storage areas instead.
In response, Duke said it would seek regulatory approval to pass on to ratepayers any additional costs it incurred if it is required to remove all the ash.
Environmentalists said the ruling doesn’t go far enough to protect drinking water of those living near the sites. Gov. Pat McCrory’s administration “is making a mockery of the law and continuing to cower away from taking one iota of meaningful action to clean up leaking coal ash dumps,” said Pete Harrison of the Waterkeeper Alliance.
More: The News & Observer
Bill Would Impose Financial, Safety Regulations on Solar, Wind
A bill introduced by two Republican state senators would impose safety requirements on wind and solar farms that critics say could be stricter than those on coal-burning and nuclear plants.
Sen. Bill Cook, co-sponsor of SB843, said the increase in renewable projects is prompting complaints about safety, appearance and negative effects on property values. Cook represents the area where a Spanish developer is building the Amazon Wind Farm.
Among the provisions, the bill would require that a wind farm could not generate more than 35 decibels of sound, the volume of human whispering, as measured from a neighboring property.
More: The News & Observer
OKLAHOMA
Bill to Phase out Wind Tax Credits Fails in House
A House committee last week defeated a bill that would have begun phasing out the state’s zero-emissions tax credit for the wind industry at the end of 2017 rather than 2020.
Members of the state House Joint Committee on Appropriations and Budget questioned whether it would be fair for lawmakers to renege on a deal made just last year that included a five-year property tax exemption for the wind industry to expire at the end of this year. The bill was defeated by a 13-15 vote.
The state currently is scheduled to end the 10-year tax credit for new wind farms placed in service after Dec. 31, 2020. By moving the deadline up to 2017, the state would have saved $306 million.
More: The Oklahoman
PENNSYLVANIA
Regulators Reject Proposed Net Metering Cap
The Independent Regulatory Review Commission last week rejected a proposal from the Public Utility Commission that would have curtailed net metering at 200% of a customer’s annual consumption.
The PUC has 40 days to amend, withdraw or present to lawmakers its rule.
“I don’t believe the authority exists to create such a cap,” IRRC member W. Russell Faber said in explaining the board’s disapproval. The PUC said it worried that homeowners trying to make money from selling back alternative electricity would drive up the cost of power and prevent utilities from being able to collect enough money to maintain the grid.
More: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
WYOMING
Chokecherry Wind Farm In Doubt over Tax Increases
Power Company of Wyoming said it is reconsidering plans to break ground on the $5 billion Chokecherry Sierra Madre wind farm after two bills moved forward in the State Legislature that would raise taxes on wind energy.
The Revenue Committee advanced a bill to raise the production tax on wind beyond the current $1/MWh and a second bill that would obligate wind companies to hand over to the state some portion of the federal wind energy production tax credits they currently receive.
The bill “has created significant uncertainty and added a huge new risk regarding our plans to construct and operate two new renewable energy businesses in Wyoming,” said Kara Choquette, a PCW spokeswoman. The company has worked for more than a decade to obtain the regulatory clearance for the 1,000-turbine, 3-GW installation.
More: Wyoming Business Report