Federal Briefs

EPA issued a formal notice amending its 2012 rules governing toxic air pollutants from power plants in response to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling them illegal.

The agency issued a formal notice amending the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, saying that the costs of regulating emissions such as mercury, nickel and arsenic are reasonable and far outweighed by the public health benefits. EPA had issued a similar finding, but while the rules were being written. The Supreme Court ruled that the cost analysis should have been done before.

The court remanded the rules back to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, which declined to halt their enforcement. EPA’s new cost analysis is largely based on its earlier one, with some supplementary material.

More: The Hill

EPA Ups Methane Emissions Estimates

EPA last week increased its estimates of U.S. methane emissions, a change likely to figure in a battle over regulations the agency plans to issue on oil and gas drillers. The change, which increased 2013 emission estimates by 13%, were contained in an annual inventory the agency submitted to the U.N.

The agency said the new data show that the oil and gas sector is the largest source of methane, accounting for a third of U.S. emissions. The agency had said previously that cattle and other livestock were the largest source.

Methane has a much larger effect on global warming than carbon dioxide but dissipates more quickly than CO₂.

More: The Washington Post

Brenner Returns to FERC As Administrative Law Judge

FERC Chairman Norman Bay appointed veteran jurist Lawrence Brenner as senior administrative law judge.

The appointment marks Brenner’s second appointment as a FERC administrative law judge. He also served as an ALJ for the Department of Labor and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Additionally, Brenner has been a Maryland Public Service Commissioner since 2007.

Prior to his appointment, Brenner practiced law in Maryland, D.C. and New York. He earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Brooklyn College and his doctorate from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Brenner also served in the Army in the Vietnam War.

More: FERC

Feds Seek Review of Dakota Access Spill Plan

EPA, the Department of the Interior and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation want the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to take a closer look at the Dakota Access pipeline plan.

The three federal agencies have asked the corps to perform another review of its spill contingency plans for the Energy Transfer Partners project. If constructed, the pipeline will stretch from North Dakota to terminals in Illinois. The corps has a role in the review process because of the pipeline’s multiple waterway crossings.

The pipeline received the final state regulatory approval from Iowa on April 8, but construction cannot begin before all federal approvals are obtained. There are also numerous legal challenges to the proposed pipeline, which could delay the start of construction.

More: The Associated Press; Newton Daily News

Company Proposing Nuclear Waste Storage Facility in NM

Holtec International has filed a letter of intent with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build a $5 billion storage facility for nuclear waste near Carlsbad in Lea County, N.M. The company intends to build a long-term facility, with the idea that it would handle the waste while a permanent solution is found.

Holtec, a major supplier of stainless steel vessels used for dry-cask storage of nuclear waste, said its facility would store waste for up to 100 years, but it plans to initially apply for a license for 40 years.

If approved, it would give federal authorities time to come up with a longer-term solution for storing waste from commercial reactors. The government planned to use the Yucca Mountain repository in Nevada, but opposition led the Obama administration to pull the plug on that facility.

More: The Associated Press

Former NRC Scientist Gets Prison for Hacking Attempt

A former Nuclear Regulatory Commission scientist was sentenced to 18 months in prison for attempting to infect the Department of Energy computer network with malware.

Prosecutors said Charles Harvey Eccleston, a disgruntled, ex-NRC employee, first tried to sell email information to a foreign country at its embassy in the Philippines.

He later met with undercover federal agents in a sting operation, agreeing to upload a virus onto government computers.

More: The Associated Press

FERC Approves Transco Expansion in Jersey

FERC has approved Williams Partners’ Transco Garden State Expansion Project, a series of compression improvements to an existing line aimed at boosting delivery in central New Jersey.

The $116 million New Jersey project will deliver an additional 180,000 dekatherms a day of natural gas to customers of New Jersey Natural Gas, which serves about 500,000 customers in Monmouth, Ocean, Morris, Middlesex, Sussex and Burlington counties.

Opponents complained that FERC’s action is another illustration of the agency’s willingness to side with pipeline operators.

More: Williams Partners; NJ.com

TVA to Seek Early Permit for Small Modular Reactors

The Tennessee Valley Authority plans to apply for an early site permit for building small modular nuclear reactors on its Clinch River site, but federal design approval is expected to take a decade.

TVA’s application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will only evaluate the possibility of constructing an as-yet chosen design at its Clinch River site. It is starting the process with public meetings to discuss environmental and safety aspects.

The NRC review of the early site permit is expected to take three or more years. Design certification of a small modular reactor is expected to take up to five years, so a project could not realistically begin construction until the early 2020s.

More: Oak Ridge Today

Mass. Staffers Say Pipeline Co. Filed Misleading Documents

The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection staff accused Tennessee Gas Pipeline of filing misleading information to FERC in a bid to get permission to begin logging a pipeline right of way in a state forest.

The department says the Kinder Morgan subsidiary told FERC that Massachusetts officials wouldn’t require a water quality certificate before allowing logging operations in a bid to get approval for tree cutting in the Otis State Forest as part of a pipeline construction project.

Tennessee Gas officials mischaracterized statements from state authorities, the department said.

More: The Republican

Forest Service Allows Pipeline Surveying in Va.

The U.S. Forest Service has granted developers of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline permission to survey new routes through the Monongahela and George Washington national forests. The agency previously rejected the planned route for the $5 billion, 500-mile project.

The agency is still requiring developer Dominion Resources to investigate alternate routes that don’t go through national forests. The Forest Service previously criticized surveys done by project contractors, suggesting the surveys were flawed and shouldn’t be used by FERC in determining approval.

More: Augusta Free Press

US Nuclear Workers Allegedly Sold Information to China

An East Tennessee resident who worked as a senior manager in the Tennessee Valley Authority’s nuclear program is one of six Americans workers in the nuclear industry accused of selling information to China’s top nuclear power companies.

None of the workers was named in a federal espionage conspiracy indictment against China General Nuclear Power, Chinese nuclear engineer Szuhsiung “Allen” Ho and Ho’s firm, Energy Technology International. Ho allegedly conspired to solicit information that would allow his country to produce nuclear material based on American technology.

Aside from the Tennessee resident, whose gender was not specified, the Americans referenced in the indictment are engineers. Four work for an unnamed Pennsylvania-based nuclear energy firm, while the fifth works for a Colorado-based firm that supplies technical support to the nuclear industry.

More: Knoxville News Sentinel

Damages Awarded to Nuclear Plant Operators

The Court of Federal Claims has ordered the federal government to pay $76.8 million in damages to three New England nuclear plant operators for failing to create a permanent repository for spent nuclear fuel.

The ruling is the third time that the government has been ordered to pay Connecticut Yankee, Maine Yankee Atomic Power and Yankee Atomic Electric for costs they incurred for on-site storage of nuclear fuel at their decommissioned plants in Maine, Massachusetts and Connecticut. The companies sued in 1998, and the latest order covers costs incurred by the three companies from Jan. 1, 2009, to Dec. 31, 2012.

More: New Haven Register

April 18, 2016

ITP Work Continues as Transmission Planning Improvements Loom for SPP

By Tom Kleckner

SANTA FE, N.M. — Only a few months away from revising its transmission planning process, SPP is continuing to work under the old Integrated Transmission Planning (ITP) format.

The Markets and Operations Policy Committee last week approved the scopes for the final studies to be conducted under the old rules. (See “MOPC Approves TWG, ESWG Recommendations” below.) Members then sat through the Transmission Planning Improvement Task Force’s joint education session for the MOPC and the Strategic Planning Committee, getting an early look at recommendations that will be made in July.

The task force, assigned to develop “progressive, forward-thinking, regional planning processes,” shared its current recommendations, which include:

Implementing an annual ITP planning cycle;
Using a standardized study scope;
Establishing common reliability planning models; and
Creating a staff/stakeholder accountability program by stressing timely data exchanges, reviews and approvals within the planning process.

Brian-Gedrich,-NextEra-Energy-Transmission-&-Harry-Skilton,SPP-at-MOPC ITP SPP — Skilton, Gedrich *© RTO Insider*

“We want to treat this as a process improvement,” said NextEra Energy Transmission’s Brian Gedrich, the task force’s chair.

SPP currently conducts a 20-year assessment focused on a strategic economic study (ITP20) without issuing notices to construct (NTCs); a 10-year assessment that can issue NTCs for mostly 100-kV projects and above; and a near-term assessment aimed at reliability needs and maintaining long-term firm service over a five-year horizon.

Gedrich said the current process winds up creating too many models “that don’t necessarily line up with each other,” and that scope documents can be “a real problem.”

“We recreate a scope every time we start, and that can take a lot of time to get through the approval process,” he said. “What’s key to speeding up the process is [eliminating] slippage that has to be re-evaluated. Today, we basically have a three-year cycle. The [studies] are done sequentially in their own silos. We’ve found the three-year planning cycle to be too long … it can’t be responsive to changes.”

Gedrich said using a “holistic” planning approach and reducing the number of futures in new analyses to three would also speed up the process.

“We need to standardize the scope up front and not recreate the document every time,” he said. “The futures would be more incremental changes.”

The task force is recommending a transition to the new planning process in September 2017. The model builds and scope development would lead to the initial ITP assessment, to be completed in July 2019.

To keep up with the timeline, the current planning cycle will need to be completed and the necessary revisions to the new process would have to implemented. Those changes would include modifying the Tariff and other governing documents and securing the necessary tools and resources.

“The goal is results,” Gedrich said. “We don’t want to fail at the beginning. We want to be ready, so we don’t hit a glitch.”

The task force has a white paper out for review and comment. It will come back to the MOPC and Board of Directors in July for final approval.

MOPC Approves TWG, ESWG Recommendations

The MOPC accepted the Transmission Working Group’s 2017 near-term and 2017 10-year assessments, an assessment of the system’s compliance with NERC transmission planning (TPL) reliability standards, and re-evaluations of the 2016 near-term assessment and NTC evaluations.

The 2016 ITPNT identified 86 proposed upgrades comprising 49 projects and recommended 35 NTCs be issued. Fourteen additional NTCs are to be modified. The assessment will also result in eight NTCs being withdrawn, primarily because alternative projects were identified. The $140 million in withdrawn NTCs leaves the 2016 ITPNT with nearly $230 million in approved NTCs.

The recommended 2017 ITPNT scope will evaluate as potential violations NERC TPL-001-4 planning events that do not allow for nonconsequential load loss or curtailment of firm transmission service.

Stakeholders debated the scope’s use of NERC standards. Antoine Lucas, SPP’s planning director, said staff is seeking to incorporate the new TPL standard into the planning process rather than doing TPL assessments separately as in the past.

“This will be the last ITPNT as we know it,” American Electric Power’s Richard Ross said. “I don’t want staff [spending] a whole lot of time trying to fix problems with a process that’s about to be abandoned.”

The committee also approved the TWG’s recommendation to remove consideration of TPL-001-4 events not already considered in the 2017 ITP10’s original scope. The motion passed with 13 nay votes and five abstentions.

TWG Chair Travis Hyde, of Oklahoma Gas and Electric, said the group’s review of the TPL-001-4 standard revealed the 2017 ITP10 models did not meet SPP’s modeling requirements and that the assessment could not be used for compliance.

The committee also approved the Economic Studies Working Group’s updates to the 2017 ITP10 scope, which will result in using natural gas prices from the ABB reference case rather than NYMEX futures and updating language to allow for a Clean Power Plan and a reference case portfolio.

The ESWG must still complete needs assessments and develop solutions and a portfolio for the 2017 ITP10.

April 18, 2016

PJM: MOPR Could be Improved, but not by BRA

By Suzanne Herel

PJM last week asked FERC not to order changes to the RTO’s minimum offer price rule before May’s Base Residual Auction but agreed the standard should be changed to counter subsidized offers from existing generators. The RTO said revisions could be made for next year.

pjm mopr base residual auction BRA Davis Besse Nuclear Power Plant — Davis Besse Nuclear Power Plant *Source: Wikipedia*

Eleven generating companies had asked FERC to expand the MOPR, which currently applies only to certain new resources (EL16-49).

The complaint was filed before the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio approved power purchase agreements for FirstEnergy and American Electric Power. PUCO unanimously approved modified versions of the PPAs, which the companies said are crucial to keeping underperforming members of their Ohio fleets running, on March 31 (14-1297-EL-SSO and 14-1693-EL-RDR). (See FERC Action Awaited Following PUCO OK on PPAs.)

In their complaint, the generators said they feared such agreements could lead to below-cost offers from existing resources that would suppress capacity clearing prices.

AEP and FirstEnergy told FERC last week that granting the complaint would lead to higher prices for consumers.

PJM: Don’t Rush Changes

In its answer, PJM said FERC should not rush to change the MOPR by next month.

“However, PJM agrees that under certain circumstances and given the existing PJM MOPR, sell offers in [Reliability Pricing Model] auctions submitted by existing generation capacity resources could result in unjust and unreasonable rates when such resources are subsidized by state-approved out-of-market payments,” the RTO said.

FERC could find the MOPR provisions to be “incomplete and unsustainable” and direct PJM to revise the rules in time for the May 2017 BRA, it said.

Delaying changes “would allow the commission to carefully and comprehensively identify the problem raised by complainants and allow an orderly process to consider alternatives through an open stakeholder process,” PJM said. The RTO suggested that FERC keep the issue open so that it could report back with results from its analyses.

“Such a ‘staging’ of this proceeding would provide stakeholders an inclusive role in formulating a rule having widespread application and send the appropriate signal that the issue requires further analysis and focus,” PJM said.

The RTO said that if the commission decides to take action before next month’s auction, it should consider two narrowly drawn, short-term alternatives: PJM could reject a sell offer that it believed would result in an unjust and unreasonable outcome, or FERC could order PJM to require a price floor for the PPA-related resources.

Higher Prices?

In its protest, AEP called the complaint “the latest in a continuing effort by various generators and marketers … to block AEP and FirstEnergy from implementing reasonable measures to benefit Ohio retail customers in a way that does not interfere with wholesale markets.”

There is no “emergency” requiring immediate FERC action, it said, calling “fanciful” the complainants’ notion that “the effect of the AEP PPA will be to dump thousands of megawatts of otherwise uneconomic generation into the upcoming capacity auction and materially suppress prices.”

On the contrary, it said, excluding 6,000 MW from the AEP and FirstEnergy PPA units “for no valid economic reason could cause a substantial unwarranted cost increase to consumers in the PJM region.”

It also said that because the complaint was filed before PUCO ruled, it doesn’t take into account the amendments the commission made to the company’s proposal.

FirstEnergy said the complaint was based on flawed assumptions.

“The complainants create a so-called market solution that is facially discriminatory and preferential and that would penalize and harm the retail customers of FirstEnergy and AEP while likely benefiting the complainants’ shareholders with increased market share,” the company said.

It, too, said there was no reason to address the issue before the May BRA.

April 18, 2016

State Briefs

Constellation, Bloom Energy Begin Microgrid Construction

The City of Hartford, Constellation and Bloom Energy have started construction of an 800-kW fuel cell microgrid that will provide 100% of the electricity for a school, a library, a senior center and a health clinic during nonemergencies. It will also provide emergency power to these locations in addition to a local fuel station and grocery store.

Constellation is providing engineering, procurement, construction and operation services. Bloom Energy is providing the fuel cells. The city will buy the electrical output at or below current market rates through a 15-year power purchase agreement.

The project, the state’s first to be developed through a public-private effort, is scheduled for completion in the third quarter of 2016.

More: Constellation

State’s Clean Energy Budget at Risk

Environmentalists, union leaders, solar company executives and several lawmakers condemned a proposal by lawmakers to divert $22 million in clean energy funding to help close a state budget gap.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has proposed an alternative budget proposal that would close the budget shortfall without tapping into the funds. The state is facing a budget shortfall of $933 million.

More: Hartford Courant

IOWA

MidAmerican Energy to Build 2,000-MW Wind Farm

MidAmerican Energy says it will spend $3.6 billion to build a 2,000-MW wind farm in the state. Gov. Terry Branstad called it the largest economic development project in the state’s history.

The cost of the project will be recovered through federal wind energy subsidies over 10 years, MidAmerican CEO Bill Fehrman said. When completed in 2018, it will bring the amount of wind energy produced by the company to 85% of its total annual sales, he said.

Fehrman would not say where the wind farm would be located. Negotiations are ongoing with state property owners, he said.

More: The Gazette

MAINE

New Solar Bill Passage Longshot Without Support

A bill aimed at boosting the state’s solar industry passed the House 81-69 but faces a likely veto from Gov. Paul LePage. Opponents say the measure would saddle customers with higher electricity prices to pay for solar subsidies.
The bill would replace the current net metering system with hourly metering and a 20-year price guarantee on the rate that businesses and homeowners are compensated for producing electricity. Proponents say it would help create jobs in the solar industry and reduce reliance on fossil fuels.

State officials are sharply divided on the benefits, or lack thereof, of the bill, however. Public Utilities Commission Chairman Mark Vannoy has said it would cost ratepayers $22 million in the fifth year of the plan; Public Advocate Tim Schneider, meanwhile, says the bill would save consumers $122 million over the 20 years.

More: Portland Press Herald

MICHIGAN

Groups: Enbridge Violating Mackinac Pipeline Pact

A group of environmental organizations and Native American tribes are calling on state officials to terminate the flow of oil through Enbridge’s Line 5, alleging the twin pipelines’ advanced corrosion violates terms of a 1953 easement.

The groups cited data posted on Enbridge’s website from a 2013 inspection that shows the pipeline suffers from corrosion in nine places, two dents and 35 weld cracks. One area of corrosion shows a 26% loss of pipeline wall thickness; the original easement agreement called for the pipes to be at least 0.812 inches thick.

“The law and this easement agreement are clear: State leaders cannot wait another year or more while Enbridge continues to violate safety conditions it agreed to and withholds safety inspection and other data from the public and the state,” said environmental attorney Liz Kirkwood.

More: Detroit Free Press

Michigan State Now Coal-Free

Michigan State University’s T.B. Simon Power Plant has switched from coal to natural gas, ending the university’s use of coal. President Lou Anna Simon announced the transition on April 14.

Bob Ellerhorst, the university’s director of utilities, said that the coal plant would have required expensive emissions controls to continue operating.

MSU first announced its coal-free intentions in 2012 as part of the university’s Energy Transition Plan, which also stipulates that 40% of campus power will come from renewable sources by 2030. Currently, 15% of MSU’s electricity is sourced from renewables.

More: Lansing State Journal

Entergy’s Palisades at Center of Public Forum

A public forum concerning the relicensing of the Palisades nuclear plant is scheduled for April 21 in Kalamazoo.

The Sierra Club of Southwest Michigan, Michigan Safe Energy Future and D.C.-based Beyond Nuclear will lead a discussion on whether Palisades’ operating license should be renewed. At 45 years old, the Entergy-owned plant is one of the oldest in the U.S. with one of the most brittle reactor vessels.

Kalamazoo is one of many cities in the state within a 50-mile secondary radiation zone of Palisades, which is situated on Lake Michigan.

More: MLive

MONTANA

DEQ to Keep Studying Suspended Coal Mine Project

State environmental officials will continue to study the potential effects of the proposed 20-million-ton-per-year Otter Creek coal mine near the Wyoming border, even though its sponsor, bankrupt producer Arch Coal, suspended the project.

The Department of Environmental Quality said it wants to determine the extent to which streambeds need to be protected at the site near Ashland. The work would prove valuable if the mine is revived or another proposal takes its place, a department official said.

A filing in Arch’s federal bankruptcy case reveals the company lost a key coal lease for Otter Creek more than three months before the St. Louis company announced it was suspending its application.

More: Billings Gazette

NEBRASKA

Lawmakers Pass Wind, Climate Change Resolutions

The state Legislature passed a bill boosting wind energy development by a 34-10 vote, which proponents said will reduce regulatory obstacles for wind developers and make the state competitive with neighbors that produce more wind power.

Lawmakers followed up that tangible support for wind power by approving a non-binding resolution calling for official recognition of climate change. The resolution, passed by a vote of 28-3 in the nonpartisan body, calls for a special panel of legislators to examine climate change. “I think that’s progress,” sponsor Sen. Ken Haar said.

Wind power appears to be gaining support in the state. “Our customers are demanding a certain mix of renewables, and we have to recognize that,” said Sen. Dan Watermeier, who previously opposed wind energy.

More: Lincoln Journal Star

Pipeline Regulator Agrees to Recuse Self from Keystone Issues

The new director of the Public Service Commission’s division overseeing national oil and gas pipelines, a former engineer for Keystone XL pipeline sponsor TransCanada, said he will recuse himself from working on any issues related to the pipeline.

Scott Coburn made the promise before he was hired by the PSC by a 4-1 vote. Commissioner Crystal Rhoades opposed, saying the hiring gives the appearance of a conflict of interest.

TransCanada has withdrawn its plan to build the pipeline to existing lines leading to Gulf refineries, but the company has reserved its right to reapply.

More: The Associated Press

NEW HAMPSHIRE

North Country Chamber Drops Northern Pass Opposition

The North Country Chamber of Commerce has halted its opposition to the Northern Pass transmission project, which would import Canadian hydroelectric power. The chamber switched its position to neutral, citing a divided membership.

“We represent members who are both in favor and opposed to the Northern Pass project,” the group said in a press release. “Therefore, we would like to be listed as neutral interveners and be the conduit for sharing information to our members.”

Two chamber board members resigned in protest and a third said the board was pressured by developer Eversource Energy. The chamber voted three times over a five-day period in March and April until it finally changed its position from “opposed” to “neutral.”

More: New Hampshire Union Leader

NEW JERSEY

Officials, Customers Blast Jersey Gas Rate Hike

Local elected officials and customers of New Jersey Natural Gas held a media event in front of a pizza joint to denounce the company’s proposed 24% rate increase, which came after its executive compensation in 2015 increased about 40% from the previous year.

“What makes the 24% increase really outrageous and unacceptable is when you juxtapose it to the excessive increases in compensation for the executives at New Jersey Natural Gas,” Belmar Mayor Matt Doherty said. “We’re talking about Wall Street-type salaries to manage the smallest gas utility in the state of New Jersey.”

The company defended the request, saying it is the first rate filing since 2007. The filing is now undergoing review by an administrative law judge.

More: NJ.com

NEW MEXICO

Anti-Coal Advocates Protest As PNM Rate Hearings Begin

About 50 climate change activists protested outside the state’s Public Regulation Commission offices last week at the start of three weeks of hearings over Public Service Company of New Mexico’s $123.5 million rate case. The protesters are calling for the utility to reduce its reliance on coal generation.

PNM’s proposal involves a contract with Navajo Mine Coal Company to supply fuel to the Four Corners Power Plant. The company has defended its continued use of coal, calling the fuel an “affordable and reliable option” and contending that rates would be pushed even higher without it.

PNM says the 15.8% rate boost, its first in five years, is required to recover more than $650 million the company has spent improving its distribution network. The commission last year rejected a rate-increase request by the company.

More: Santa Fe New Mexican

Commission OKs Complaint Against PNM

The Public Regulation Commission voted unanimously to require Public Service Company of New Mexico to respond to a complaint by a clean-energy advocacy group over its loan to another company for the purchase of the San Juan Coal Mine.

PNM revealed earlier this year it formed a subsidiary, New Mexico Capital Utility, to loan Westmoreland Coal $125 million to purchase the mine on property adjacent to the San Juan Generating Station.

The PRC last month voted against a request by New Energy Economy, an anti-coal nonprofit, to investigate PNM’s dealings in the mine purchase. But last week, the commission decided to allow a new complaint by New Energy to move forward and gave PNM 20 days to answer the complaint.

More: Santa Fe New Mexican

NORTH CAROLINA

State to Require ‘Environmental Justice’ Reviews of Landfills

The state will begin requiring “environmental justice” reviews of any landfills that it permits in response to objections that low-income residents and racial minorities are disproportionately affected by Duke Energy’s statewide coal ash cleanup.

While the reviews are still being developed, advocates say they are expected to exceed state and federal health requirements. They will evaluate adverse socioeconomic, environmental and health risks associated with the facilities.

Coal ash, the byproduct of coal-burning generators, contains substances including mercury, cadmium and arsenic that can be harmful to people. An attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center said people of color and low-income residents live closest to some of the state’s coal ash waste sites.

More: North Carolina Health News

OKLAHOMA

Commission Rejects OG&E Solar Billing Plan

The Corporation Commission voted 3-0 against an Oklahoma Gas & Electric plan to change the way it calculates the bills for rooftop solar users and directed the utility to fully explore the issue in its pending rate case.

The order came almost two weeks after the commission indicated it wasn’t happy with its options in OG&E’s distributed generation tariff. The utility filed the case under a state law that allows regulated utilities to charge a different rate to rooftop solar users if they aren’t paying their fair share of grid costs.

OG&E proposed a demand charge for the first time on residential and small commercial customers. The typical solar residential customer using 6 to 8 kW would pay $16 to $21 per month in demand charges.

More: The Oklahoman

PENNSYLVANIA

Judge: Sunoco May Build Pipeline Without Landowners’ Permission

A Lebanon County judge has ruled that Sunoco Logistics may bury a natural gas liquids pipeline across the properties of three landowners who refused to sign easement agreements.

The Mariner East 2 pipeline will run 350 miles from the Marcellus Shale to a Delaware River terminal near Philadelphia.

The residents say they will appeal the ruling. They say Sunoco should not be considered a public utility, as the Public Utility Commission deems it, because most of the product flowing through the new line is expected to be shipped overseas.

More: Lebanon Daily News

SOUTH DAKOTA

County Officials Approve Brady II Wind Farm’s Construction

Hettinger County officials have approved a permit for a second phase of the 72-turbine Brady Wind Energy Center project. The Planning and Zoning Board and the County Commission voted unanimously to approve the conditional-use permit, but it must still receive Public Service Commission approval.

Brady Wind II is technically a separate project with a separate power purchase agreement than the nearby Brady Wind I project. Developer NextEra Energy Resources has said that if Brady Wind I is denied by the PSC, it may not move forward with Brady Wind II.

Combined, the two phases of Brady Wind call for 159 turbines generating about 300 MW of power. SPP member Basin Electric Power Cooperative has signed a PPA with NextEra for Brady II’s energy.

More: The Bismarck Tribune

TEXAS

Tribes Protest Coal Mine on Mexico Border

Members of several Native American tribes joined long-running attempts by environmentalists and local activists to shut down the Eagle Pass coal mine near the Mexican border, which they say threatens ancestral burial grounds. The tribes say transporting the high-sulfur coal, which is shipped to Mexico, would release hazardous particles into the air, and that the discharge from the operations would run off into a creek that ends in the Rio Grande.

Members of the Lipan Apaches, the Pacuache Band of the Cohuiltecan Nation and the Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe have teamed with the Comanche Nation of Oklahoma to criticize Dos Republicas, a company owned by Mexican companies partnered with the North American Coal Corporation and its subsidiary Camino Real Fuels.

More than 100 activists marched 9 miles from the Rio Grande to the mine on Saturday.

More: The Texas Tribune; San Antonio Express-News

VERMONT

Hearings Contentious on Renewable Energy Siting

The state’s process for deciding where solar and wind energy projects can be located were the subject of contentious hearings before two House of Representatives committees.

Margaret Cheney, a member of the Public Service Board, criticized several aspects of a Senate-passed bill now under consideration in the House, which would give the public more leverage over siting decisions. She said the bill called for the board to reopen a study of wind turbine noise complaints that would require a new case to be brought to the board.

Cheney said the vast majority of projects draw no complaints, but of those that do, “I think that some of it is growing pains in a changing world.”

More: The Associated Press

WYOMING

Developer Says Wind Farm To be Operational by Year-End

SPower says construction has begun on the controversial 46-turbine Pioneer Wind Park, the first new wind farm in the state since 2010. The 80-MW project could provide as many as 179 temporary construction jobs.

Pioneer’s power purchase agreement with Rocky Mountain Power requires it to be in commercial operation by the end of 2016. The project also faces a legal challenge. The Northern Laramie Range Alliance is appealing state regulators’ decision last year to amend its permit after sPower acquired the project from Wasatch Wind.

The NLRA has challenged Pioneer at the state Supreme Court, FERC and in federal court, losing in each venue.

More: Casper Star-Tribune

April 18, 2016

SPP to Cut Planning Reserve to 12%, Reduce Capacity Needs by 900 MW

By Tom Kleckner

SANTA FE, N.M. — Capitalizing on their $5.6 billion transmission buildout, SPP members voted last week to reduce the RTO’s planning reserve margin to 12% from the current 13.6%.

Mike Wise, Golden Spread Co Op SPP planning reserves capacity needs — Wise © *RTO Insider*

The Markets and Operations Policy Committee approved a recommendation by the Capacity Margin Task Force that members said will reduce SPP’s capacity needs by about 900 MW, saving about $1.35 billion over 40 years. The Strategic Planning Committee endorsed the task force’s recommendations, contained in four white papers, as well.

The culmination of almost two years of work by the task force left SPC Chairman Mike Wise almost giddy with excitement. Wise said the reduced margin was made possible by SPP’s transmission expansion.

“We’ve tied all of the real old legacy balancing authorities together in a substantial way,” said Wise, senior vice president of commercial operations and transmission for Golden Spread Electric Cooperative. “One example of that is the old [Southwestern Public Service] area in SPP. That only had 59 MW [of] import capability. Now that capability is approximately 2,300 to 2,500 MW. … No longer is it an island.”

The white papers captured the task force’s work related to load-responsible entities (LREs), the planning reserve margin (PRM) and PRM assurance policy, and included a deliverability study. (See SPP Capacity Margin Task Force Shares ‘How Low’ Reserve Margin Can Go.)

The MOPC approved the policy package with one no vote and four abstentions. If approved by SPP’s Board of Directors next week, the capacity margin policies would become effective next summer.

“These policies identify who is responsible for resource adequacy, what the resource adequacy requirement is, and how and when the resource adequacy requirement can be and should be met,” said Sunflower Electric Power’s Tom Hestermann, the task force’s chair.

Tom Hestermann, Sunflower Electric SPP planning reserves capacity needs — Hestermann © *RTO Insider*

He said the policies are dependent on each other to balance economic and reliability benefits, and said they should be approved and implemented collectively.

The reserve assurance policy addresses concerns that current mechanisms to ensure sufficient reserve margins are inadequate. The policy incents LREs to correct planning reserve deficiencies.

Hestermann said the deliverability policy recognizes the Integrated Marketplace’s successful performance and the expected adoption of the assurance policy. It would allow SPP to determine the deliverability of generating units within its footprint, enabling entities to purchase capacity on a short-term basis through bilateral contracts to meet the PRM requirement.

The Nebraska Public Power District’s Paul Malone said he couldn’t support the use of non-firm resources in transmission planning.

“You’re putting firm resources on par with non-firm resources,” he said. “I don’t see how you can do that.”

“The task force was very adamant that firm transmission be necessary in order to deliver to resources to serve load,” responded Lanny Nickell, SPP’s vice president of engineering. “You could still use the transmission services process, with the added benefit of getting [transmission congestion rights].”

Malone offered a motion directing staff to evaluate the use of coincident peaks in determining the reserve margin. The motion was amended to add an evaluation of other regions that include non-firm resources in their reserve margin calculations and passed unanimously.

As it has done during every step of the process, Oklahoma Gas and Electric abstained from the vote. Greg McAuley, OG&E’s director of RTO policy and development, said his company wouldn’t stand in the way, but it would voice its concerns.

“The deliverability issue, to us, is a theoretical exercise. It sounds good on paper, but it hasn’t been tested,” he said. “We’re not convinced this has been vetted enough to the extent we’ll be comfortable with it. If this turns out to be a bad decision, it’ll be difficult to go back. We urge caution and a methodical approach to this … we would like to see more thought and more study go into it.”

Changes will need to be made to SPP’s Tariff and planning criteria, as the policies would replace “capacity margin” terminology with “reserve margin” terminology.

The task force will now turn its attention to developing a resource-adequacy workbook and guidelines with SPP staff.

April 15, 2016

MISO’s 4th Capacity Auction Results in Disparity

By Amanda Durish Cook

MISO’s annual capacity auction again produced disparate, roller coaster results, with prices in three zones more than quintupling compared to last year while results in Zone 4 dropped by half.

MISO said unit retirements and capacity exports throughout its Midwest region led to six of the 10 zones clearing at $72/MW-day in the fourth annual Planning Resource Auction. In contrast, the entire MISO South region cleared at just $3/MW-day. Zones 2-7 relied more heavily on imports from other zones, driving an uptick in clearing prices:

Zone 1 cleared at $19.72/MW-day, almost six times last year’s $3.48;
Zones 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 each cleared at $72/MW-day, a nearly 21-fold increase for zones 2-3 and 5-7, and a 50% drop for southern Illinois’ Zone 4; and
Zones 8, 9 and 10 each cleared at $2.99/MW-day, a 9% drop for zones 8 and 9. This was the first year for Zone 10, which covers Mississippi.

Save for Zone 4, all of the zones cleared below $3.50/MW-day last year.

MISO said 135,483 MW cleared for the planning year June 1 to May 31, 2017, a 1% drop from last year. The cleared resources include 122,379 MW of generation resources, 3,462 MW of behind-the-meter generation, 5,819 MW of demand resources and 3,823 MW of external resources.

The dip in available capacity in the 2016/17 planning year reflected data collected on the 2015 OMS-MISO Survey, the RTO said.

“The generation fleet across MISO is rapidly changing,” said Richard Doying, executive vice president of operations and corporate services in a statement Thursday. “While more generation is retiring, resulting in a tighter supply across the MISO region, the auction results show that there are sufficient resources to maintain reliability for this planning year.”

MISO said the creation of Zone 10 in Mississippi had no impact on capacity auction results.

MISO said the results were affected by FERC’s Dec. 31 order requiring the RTO to make several changes in its auction rules (EL15-70, et al.). (See MISO Seeks Adjustments on Capacity Import Limits.)

MISO’s rules allow mitigation of offers that exceed “conduct thresholds” that indicate potential economic withholding. MISO’s threshold equals 10% of the cost of new entry (CONE) plus the applicable “reference level.” Any resource desiring to offer above the threshold had to convince the RTO’s Independent Market Monitor that it had costs that warranted a higher offer.

Previously, MISO had based its reference level on opportunity costs — what a capacity resource could earn by exporting to PJM. FERC said the $155.79/MW-day maximum bid MISO used in last year’s auction was too high, because transmission constraints and PJM’s heightened Capacity Performance rules meant exporting was not an option for all capacity resources. The order required MISO to set the initial offer reference price level to $0.

In press conference Friday, Doying said most units in this year’s auction offered at prices below the conduct threshold.

The Dec. 31 order also said MISO’s approach to determining capacity import limits didn’t take into account counter-flows. MISO said the changes required “generally expanded import capability” into local resource zones and decreased local clearing requirements for most zones.

“I want to point out that supply is getting much tighter. … We expect to see further reductions in the future, so we may see more volatility in the future,” Doying said.

He also said he didn’t know where prices would have cleared without the new auction rules. “We don’t run ‘if’ scenarios,” he said.

Doying pointed out that Zone 4’s local clearing requirement was not binding this year, which contributed to it clearing uniformly with Zones 2-7. Regional constraints also were not binding, so zones were able to import and export freely with each other, and a single generator was able to set prices in multiple zones, Doying explained. On the other hand, Zone 1 had a limitation on exports, so capacity remained trapped in the zone and kept prices low.

The auction used a transfer limit of 876 MW between MISO South and MISO North/Central regions — down from 1,000 MW — as a result of the RTO’s settlement with SPP over the use of its transmission.

MISO’s Monitor has reviewed the offers and certified that the auction was conducted properly.

In a stakeholder conference call Friday, DTE Energy’s James Czech asked if stakeholders can expect changes to capacity import limits every year. Laura Rauch, MISO’s manager of resource adequacy coordination, said the limits would be recalculated for next year’s auction and were changed this year to include PJM pseudo-ties. At a Thursday Resource Adequacy Subcommittee meeting, MISO said it expects to make a CIL compliance filing by Monday.

David Sapper of Customized Energy Solutions asked MISO to explain the disparity between the pre-auction supply data and what was actually offered in the auction. “I think it’s important to understand the delta there,” he said.

Ron Ryckman, also with Customized Energy Solutions, asked for details on which facilities asked for facility-specific reference levels.

John Harmon, MISO manager of resource adequacy, said those issues would be discussed at the May 5 Resource Adequacy Subcommittee meeting.

The results were released as MISO is proposing rule changes that would result in a separate forward capacity procurement for deregulated areas such as Zone 4 and the addition of seasonality and external zone constructs. (See Stakeholders React to MISO Proposed Auction Design.)

MISO officials had hoped for an unremarkable auction after last year’s nine-fold price increase in Zone 4. Watchdog organization Public Citizen claimed Dynegy improperly withheld capacity in southern Illinois after the company acquired four Zone 4 generators from Ameren. Public Citizen, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, the Illinois Industrial Energy Consumers and Southwestern Electric Cooperative filed complaints against MISO last May and June.

The issue was also the center of a FERC technical conference in October, and FERC’s Office of Enforcement is conducting a nonpublic investigation into whether last year’s auction clearing prices in southern Illinois were manipulated. Dynegy officials insist they did nothing wrong.

April 11, 2016

FERC’s Artful Balance: Price Formation and Consumer Protection that Works

By Joel Yu and Christopher Hargett

A $1,000/MWh energy market offer cap in organized wholesale electric markets regulated by FERC has served as an effective customer protection for more than 15 years.[1]

Only once has an operational constraint resulted in legitimate energy offer spikes to levels near or above $1,000/MWh in some regions: the polar vortex in winter 2013-14.

In response, regional market operators scrambled to initiate measures modifying the existing cap so that generators could recover legitimate costs if it happened again.

When FERC initiated proceedings to improve price formation in organized electric markets, with due consideration of the $1,000/MWh cap, stakeholders began debating. Almost two years later, they still are, raising numerous concerns over any changes to the existing offer cap.[2]

In a September 2015 “Stakeholder Soapbox,” Consolidated Edison highlighted two principles to consider in reforming this important customer protection. First, the $1,000/MWh energy market offer cap plays a critical role in mitigating potential market power abuse. Second, the markets must also appropriately compensate generators for their performance in extreme conditions.

FERC’s Offer Cap Rulemaking is Responsive to Stakeholder Concerns

In its January 2016 proposed rule, FERC strikes a balance giving careful consideration to customer interests in the pursuit of uniform, transparent and efficient energy market pricing.

The proposed rule allows energy offers in excess of $1,000/MWh to set market clearing prices only when underlying costs have been verified before the start of the market clearing process. Offers not verified before the start of the market clearing process would be ineligible to set market clearing prices, though legitimate costs could be recovered through out-of-market payments based on an after-the-fact review.

Over the past two years, Con Edison has advocated that the $1,000/MWh offer cap is a critical “fail-safe” consumer protection against potential market power abuse when markets may not be functioning competitively, due to either high load or other system conditions.

Likewise, NYISO’s Market Monitor states that “prices are generally more sensitive to withholding and other anticompetitive conduct under high load conditions” due to the scarcity of marginal suppliers.[3] Experience has demonstrated this when both electric and gas systems are experiencing high demand conditions.

FERC addressed this concern by proposing to maintain the $1,000/MWh offer cap on market-based offers. By requiring pre-verification of underlying costs when offers exceed the cap, the proposed rule should help protect consumers against high energy prices due to anti-competitive supplier conduct.

Specifically, this proposal protects consumers from potential attempts to exercise market power in either the electric or natural gas markets. This is especially so because natural gas is an increasingly dominant fuel for electric production and typically marginal when electric demand exceeds base load. With its robust enforcement authority for both commodities, FERC can provide additional customer and market power protection.[4]

Con Edison and others have supported out-of-market payments for generators needing to recover marginal costs in excess of $1,000/MWh, while acknowledging FERC’s goal of making energy market pricing more transparent and efficient.

By allowing cost-based offers to exceed $1,000/MWh subject to verification, FERC provides generators with assurance that even during rare circumstances, such as the polar vortex, costs can be recovered through market clearing prices or out-of-market payments.

Thus, the proposed rule strikes an appropriate balance between customer and supplier interests.

FERC Establishes an Effective Framework for Organized Markets to Develop Regional Implementation Rules

Con Edison, along with numerous other stakeholders, also cautioned against any proposal that would create disparate offer caps among neighboring organized markets given potential unintended and harmful impacts across seams.

Sensitive to this concern, FERC’s proposal will apply the new offer cap construct uniformly across the markets. While specific regional implementation may vary to address regional differences, FERC’s proposed framework provides for regional price differences driven by system constraints, not by variations in regional offer cap rules.

FERC’s proposal sets out clear policy objectives and rationale for the revised offer cap construct. It is a good and fair solution. Con Edison encourages FERC to adopt its proposal without significant alteration or delay.

Christopher Hargett and Joel Yu are senior policy advisors at Con Edison. Subsidiaries Con Edison Company of New York and Orange and Rockland Utilities are transmission owners within NYISO. A subsidiary of Orange and Rockland Utilities, Rockland Electric, is a transmission owner within PJM.

[1] See FERC’s NOPR, Docket RM16-5, 154 FERC 61,038 (January 21, 2016) at p. 55.

[2] Currently, the energy market offer cap does not allow offers exceeding $1,000/MWh to set market clearing prices, except in PJM where the offer cap was recently raised to $2,000/MWh.

[3] 2014 State of the Market Report for the New York ISO Markets, Potomac Economics, May 2015, p.17.

[4] See Energy Policy Act of 2005, Pub. L. No. 109-58, 119 Stat. 594 (2005).

April 11, 2016

Massachusetts Raises Net Metering Cap, Cuts Payments

By William Opalka

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker signed a bill Monday that raises the net metering cap for solar energy systems while cutting payments to some solar owners by 40%.

The caps were raised from 4% to 7% of peak load for privately owned systems and from 5% to 8% for municipally owned installations. Single-phase systems below 10 kW and multiphase systems below 25 kW — such as residential rooftop arrays — will be exempt from the cap and reduced payments. Government systems will continue to receive full payment.

The increase comes as one local distribution company, National Grid, has already met its cap and another, Eversource Energy, was approaching its limit.

The bill grandfathers those systems connected under the lower cap for 25 years. Going forward, owners of new projects will be paid at 60% of the retail rate.

The bill also allows utilities to apply to state regulators for “a monthly minimum reliability contribution” — a fixed charge from the owners of solar systems.

The level of payments has been a sticking point for various stakeholders. (See New England Stakeholders Debate Solar Subsidies.)

The state’s business lobby blasted the compromise, saying it will continue to raise costs and that the exemption for public systems is merely an example of “taking care of your own.”

“The bill will not save ratepayers money and will not bring our program in line with other states. In fact, the bill will add $8 billion to the cost of energy over the next 10 years — 2 cents/kWh for residential customers and 1.6 cents/kWh for commercial and industrial customers,” the Associated Industries of Massachusetts said.

The Sierra Club also found fault with the bill, especially the lower payments that will be made to community solar or similar projects meant to benefit lower-income residents. “The bill as it stands sends a clear message that Massachusetts is not a safe place to invest in solar, even though it’s a clean energy resource that has brought increased economic investment and jobs to the state,” it wrote.

The solar industry claims 15,000 employees in Massachusetts, many of whom were laid off after legislators and the governor were unable to agree on a bill at the end of last year.

“The [bill] will put solar workers back on the job and enable more families and communities to save with solar, and for that we thank the hard work and perseverance of House and Senate leadership and all the Conference Committee members. However, we are concerned about some of the tough choices in this short-term compromise and hope to remedy them in future sessions,” said Sean Garren, Northeast regional manager for Vote Solar, an organization that promotes solar power as a way to fight climate change.

Garren and other advocates expect the higher cap to be reached as soon as the end of this year, forcing legislators to address the issue again.

April 11, 2016

Federal Briefs

FERC auditors say Duke Energy improperly classified up to $130 million in costs from its merger with Progress Energy, calling for the company’s wholesale customers to get refunds of up to $1.3 million.

The auditors say the refunds are due only to wholesale customers, including other electric utilities or those that used Duke’s transmission system. Retail customers are not affected, according to the company.

Although the company disputed three of the auditors’ eight findings, it will not challenge the audit. A company official promised a “refund analysis” within 60 days and will then issue the rebates.

More: Greensboro News & Record

Inhofe Calls for NRC Chief To Cut Agency Inefficiencies

Sen. Jim Inhofe invoked 20th century history lessons when he called for Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Stephen Burns to cut waste and inefficiency, just as former Chairman Shirley Ann Jackson did during her reign in the 1990s.

“It appears that many of the inefficiencies that plagued the NRC in the 1990s have returned,” Inhofe said during a hearing on NRC’s fiscal year 2017 budget request. He said Jackson, back in her day, held stakeholder meetings to help identify areas that needed improvement.

“The nuclear industry once again faces challenges in the market place and, once again, the need for the NRC to be an objective, safety-focused and responsive regulator is imperative,” Inhofe said.

More: Morning Consult

McCarthy: Tougher Regs Will Drive Sustainable Development

EPA Director Gina McCathy says that new rules governing methane emissions in the oil and gas industry will help drive development in those sectors and not retard exploration.

“Moving on [methane] will reaffirm our leadership on climate,” she said in a speech in Canada. “It also will happen to make sure that our ability to continue to rely on fossil fuel will be done in a way that is sustainable as well.”

EPA has formulated rules to cut methane emissions by up to 45% from 2012 levels. The new rules covering oil and gas development are due out this spring.

More: The Hill

Virgin Islands AG Subpoenas CEI Records

USVirginIslandAGWalkerSourcegov — Walker

As part of an expanding investigation into whether fossil fuel companies illegally worked to undermine climate change research, the attorney general of the U.S. Virgin Islands is subpoenaing records of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank.

Attorney General Claude Walker is seeking 10 years’ worth of communications, emails, statements and drafts from 1997 to 2007. Several states and other parties are seeking similar documents from energy companies to determine whether they undermined climate science.

Walker’s subpoena is among the first directed at a third party such as CEI. The institute said it will fight the subpoena.

More: Inside Climate News

Solar Farm Planned for NJ Naval Weapons Station

The U.S. Navy plans to erect 32.8 MW of solar panels on six sites across 227 mostly forested acres at Naval Weapons Station Earle in New Jersey.

Environmentalists oppose the project because trees will need to be cleared. The activists also recently fought a 21-MW solar facility approved for 90 wooded acres at an amusement park in central New Jersey.

The project does not require an environmental impact report, nor does it need to be approved by the local planning board, because it is at a federal military facility. The Navy aims to procure or produce half of its land-based energy from alternative sources by 2020.

More: Asbury Park Press

US Civil Rights Commission To Join NC Coal Ash Fray

civilrightschaircastrosourcegov — Castro

The chairman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights told a crowd in Walnut Grove, N.C., that he supports their fight against Duke Energy’s plans to dispose of coal ash.

“It’s happening in North Carolina, it’s happening in Alabama, it’s happening in Waukegan, [Ill.,] it’s happening in Chicago,” Martin Castro said about coal ash storage and disposal issues. “There’s something wrong with the system, and we need to figure out how we can change that system.”

Castro’s comments came during an advisory panel hearing on the possible dangers of coal ash on community water supplies. Walnut Cove is near Duke’s largest coal ash basin, which holds 12 million tons of coal-combustion byproduct.

More: Winston-Salem Journal

April 11, 2016

NRC Backs Indian Point in Dispute with NY

By William Opalka

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission last week approved Entergy’s request to extend the time between leak tests at the Indian Point power plant to 15 years instead of 10.

Indian Point Source NRC — Indian Point Nuclear Plant *Source: NRC*

NRC on Tuesday affirmed a decision by the federal Atomic Safety and Licensing Board to extend the time between tests of the containment buildings surrounding Indian Point’s reactors. The commission approved a methodology for such extensions in 2008.

Entergy requested an extension for Indian Point’s Unit 2 in December 2014, prompting the state to intervene in May 2015.

The state had said Entergy’s petition “should be denied because it involves a significant safety and environmental hazard … and fails to demonstrate that it will provide reasonable assurance of adequate protection for the public health and safety as required by … the Atomic Energy Act.”

The ASLB denied New York’s petition, saying the state had failed to demonstrate that the commission ignored its own safety requirements. “We find that New York has not demonstrated that the board either made an error of law or abused its discretion in declining to admit New York’s contentions,” NRC wrote.

The last test at Unit 2 was done in 2006 and, under prior NRC schedules, was to be performed last month. However, following the NRC ruling, the test will now be done in 2021.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has said the plant should be closed due to its proximity to New York City. He has also ordered multi-department investigation of the plant after a series of incidents in recent months, including two unplanned outages and the discovery of elevated levels of tritium in test wells at the plant. (See NRC: No Further Leakage at Indian Point.)