Govs. Speak Against Artificial Island Cost Allocation
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan and Delaware Gov. Jack Markell stepped up their complaints that the cost allocation for New Jersey’s Artificial Island nuclear project disproportionately affects customers in their states.
The two held a news conference at a waterfront restaurant on their states’ border, insisting they’ll do “whatever it takes” to reverse the cost allocation scheme.
FERC has agreed to rehear its decision approving the cost allocation for a stability fix at the complex that houses the Hope Creek and Salem nuclear reactors. (See FERC Taking Second Look at Cost Allocation for 2 PJM Projects.)
More: The News Journal
CALIFORNIA
State Renews Diablo Lease Through 2025
The State Lands Commission has given Pacific Gas and Electric permission to lease the site of the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant through 2025 without an environmental review.
Until the recent announcement of a settlement to retire the plant, environmental organizations and labor leaders had been urging the state to deny the company a lease beyond its previous 2018 expiration. As part of the settlement, the groups said they would back a move by the state to extend the lease. The plant’s operating license with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission ends August 2025.
The land commission unanimously approved extending the lease after staff assured it that an environmental review was not required for extension. The threat of a review, first raised by state officials last year, was one of the factors that pushed PG&E to seek an agreement.
More: San Francisco Chronicle
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Pepco Seeking 5.25% Residential, Business Hike
Two weeks after the Public Service Commission denied a final challenge to Exelon’s $6.8 billion acquisition of it, Pepco has asked for a 5.25% rate increase for its 282,000 customers in the district. (See District, OPC Ask PSC to Reconsider Exelon-PHI Merger.)
Pepco said it needs the $85.5 million increase to help pay for the $658 million it has spent on reliability improvements over the past three years. The increase would cost district customers about $50 a year when it takes effect next summer.
More: The Washington Post
INDIANA
IPL Files for Rate Hike For Coal Plant Clean Up
Indianapolis Power & Light has filed for a rate hike to pay for the installation of $100 million in emissions-control technology at its coal-fired Petersburg Generating Station.
The utility filed petitions with the Utility Regulatory Commission to increase customer bills by 20 cents a month in 2017. The amount would rise until 2021, when customers would pay $1.40/month more for the pollution-control measures at Petersburg, which are aimed at reducing sulfur dioxide emissions and coal ash.
IPL has financed $450 million in pollution controls at Petersburg in recent years, but some environmentalists say continued investment is wasted as environmental regulations become more stringent. “IPL continues to throw good money after bad,” said Jennifer Washburn, an attorney at utility watchdog Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana.
More: Indianapolis Business Journal
MASSACHUSETTS
Edgartown Tidal Project Drifts Closer to Reality
A plan to install a pilot tidal energy project in the Cape Cod Canal is gaining momentum with a collection of grants, including funding from the state Seaport Economic Council.
The Marine Renewable Energy Collaborative is gathering the funds, permits and technology to install a tidal generator capable of producing up to 5 MW from the swift currents in the canal. The collaborative has identified a site, in the Muskegat Channel off Wasque Point, which has already received a preliminary permit from FERC.
The project has garnered more than $2 million in state and federal funds, and now needs about $300,000 to complete the final permits and conduct an underwater archeological study of the site. It would be the first of its kind in the U.S.
More: Vineyard Gazette
MICHIGAN
MSU 13-MW Solar Project To Go Forward with Tax Deal
A $24 million, 13-MW solar project at Michigan State University will go forward after the East Lansing City Council approved an 80% tax abatement for 10 years, 15 years fewer than the developer was seeking.
Inovateus, the developer, said the 10-year abatement will save it $2.6 million.
Some council members saw the tax subsidy as a win-win for the city by providing some tax revenue in the long run and increasing the renewable energy needed to help the city and the university meet their sustainability goals. Opponents decried the loss of tax revenue.
More: Midwest Energy News
Report Offers Ways State Can Develop Clean Energy
The state’s Agency for Energy has released a new report, “Clean Energy Roadmap,” recommending approaches the state can use to foster private competition in its clean energy industry.
The $702,500 report, funded primarily by the U.S. Energy Department, advises the state to strengthen research and development by partnering with universities, hosting regular technology contests and finding more sales and export opportunities for clean energy manufacturers in the state. It also encourages the state to use its business networking program to link technology developers with builders and architects.
The report also recommends the state “umbrella” all utility energy efficiency programs into a single program so customers have similar incentives.
More: Crain’s Detroit Business
MISSOURI
Clean Line Submits New Application for Grain Belt
Clean Line Energy Partners has submitted a new application for the Grain Belt Express transmission project to the Public Service Commission. The move came after recent high-profile endorsements from the public and private sector.
The PSC scuttled the project’s initial application last year amid concerns from farmers and other landowners in the transmission line’s path. Gov. Jay Nixon last week endorsed the project, and it has also won support from a number of state municipalities and businesses. The state’s approval is the last needed for the project to go forward.
More: St. Louis Post-Dispatch
MONTANA
PSC Suspends QF Rate For New Solar Projects
The Public Service Commission narrowly approved suspending the $66/MWh qualifying facility rate for new small-scale solar facilities, instead requiring NorthWestern Energy to negotiate prices for solar projects ranging from 100 kW to 3 MW.
The state has recently seen a flood of solar energy developers looking to take advantage of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act’s QF provision, which requires utilities to obtain some of their power from smaller sources. The commission said the suspension was necessary to ensure that customers pay a reasonable price for solar power.
Commission Vice Chair Travis Kavulla dissented, saying the PSC should have devised a new rate and questioning the legality of the commission’s action. Commissioner Kirk Bushman also dissented, but he said that the suspension should apply to all QFs, not just solar facilities.
More: Sidney Herald
NEW MEXICO
Regulators Question PNM’s Nuclear Energy Purchase
The Public Regulation Commission resumed a hearing last week on Public Service Company of New Mexico’s proposed rate increase of as much as 15.8%, which would add between $5 to $13 to customer utility bills.
PNM says it needs the money to offset the purchase of electricity from a nuclear power plant and its investments in alternative energy. Regulators and lawyers questioned whether PNM had taken into account the decline in the market for nuclear energy and the electricity needs of the state, as well as what is fair to customers.
The company purchased 64.1 MW from two units at the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station for a cost of $163.3 million in early January. The purchase was meant to replace the power lost in the shutdown of two coal-burning units at the San Juan Generating Station.
More: Santa Fe New Mexican
NEW YORK
Groups Send Cuomo Letter Opposing Nuclear Bailout
More than 100 environmental organizations urged Gov. Andrew Cuomo to reject a proposed plan to provide economic support to struggling New York nuclear generating stations, calling nuclear “dirty and dangerous.” They urged Cuomo to support renewable energy projects instead.
Sen. Joseph Griffo, chairman of the Senate and Telecommunications Committee, last month urged the state Public Service Commission to implement a nuclear subsidy in the pending Clean Energy Standard. Entergy has already announced plans to shutter its James A. Fitzpatrick plant, and Exelon has threatened the same for its Nine Mile Point Unit 1 while also saying Unit 2 and R.E. Ginna are also economically threatened.
More: Alliance for a Green Economy
NORTH CAROLINA
Coal Ash Bill Passes House, Heads to McCrory’s Desk
State legislators crafted a compromise that allows Duke Energy to close seven coal ash pits without excavation and does not reinstate an independent coal ash commission that Gov. Pat McCrory disbanded.
Legislators said the new bill, which is ready for McCrory to sign, will allow the company to spend less on cleaning up seven of its pits while ensuring that residents living near the coal ash pits will have clean drinking water, a large concern for many of the lawmakers.
More: The Associated Press
PENNSYLVANIA
IDT Customers Get Rebates From Polar Vortex Settlement
IDT Energy customers will receive $2.4 million in rebates under a settlement approved last week by the Public Utility Commission regarding electricity overcharges during the 2014 polar vortex.
IDT already has provided more than $4.1 million in rebates, refunds and rate adjustments voluntarily, the company said. Under the terms of the settlement, consumers who were on a variable-rate plan from January to March 2014 will be contacted by the settlement administrator if they qualify.
The refunds are part of a $6.75 million settlement IDT agreed to after Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane and Acting Consumer Advocate Tanya J. McCloskey leveled charges of deceptive marketing practices against the company. IDT will also pay a $25,000 civil penalty.
More: IDT Energy; The Philadelphia Inquirer
TEXAS
Legislators Seeks Limit on Turbines near Military Bases
Two state legislators are drafting proposals that would exclude wind energy projects in a 25-mile radius of military installations from getting state tax abatements, though the measures will not be considered until the Legislature reconvenes in January.
Two potential wind farm developments could threaten flight training missions and radar operations at nearby Sheppard Air Force Base, according to base officials and wind energy opponents. The worst-case scenario, they say, is that Sheppard’s missions are moved elsewhere and Wichita Falls loses an estimated $750 million in annual economic impact.
Representatives of Horn Wind, the developer of the projects, and Alterra Power, the Canada-based owner, have repeatedly said they want to minimize any potential impact the facilities have on the air bases. They also have contracted with an aeronautics consulting firm to determine whether projects in Bluegrove and Byers would interfere with base operations.
More: Times Record News
PUC Seeks Comments On Ratemaking Rules
The Public Utility Commission is seeking comments on its recently released report on alternative ratemaking mechanisms.
The report, which surveys and analyzes 11 ratemaking rules and methods, was commissioned by the PUC in response to state legislation passed last year. The methods that may be of most interest to the state are ones focused on streamlining the regulatory process, according to the report.
The PUC is requesting comment on whether the report is “sufficiently comprehensive” and any other recommendations it should make to the legislature.
More: Public Utility Commission of Texas
VIRGINIA
Gov. Creates Climate Change Task Force
Gov. Terry McAuliffe signed an executive order creating a work group to address climate change, drawing complaints from both Republicans, who said the governor is overstepping his bounds, and environmentalists, who criticized the move as “vague and uncertain.”
The governor charged the group with recommending how the state can combat climate change. The move is seen as an attempt to get around language in the Republican-controlled legislature that blocks any actions by the state to comply with the Clean Power Plan.
Environmentalists pointed to the Democratic governor’s support of two planned natural gas pipelines that would cross the state, which they say show he is not serious about fighting climate change. Republican House Speaker William J. Howell criticized McAuliffe’s use of an executive order, saying it was “another deliberate attempt to circumvent the legislature and the will of Virginia voters.”
More: The Washington Post