Page 1581 – RTO Insider

February 6, 2015June 15, 2023

Entergy Retail Sales Up 2.3% in 2014; Higher Growth Forecast Through 2017

By Chris O’Malley

Entergy yesterday reported a drop in fourth-quarter earnings, but executives gave an upbeat outlook, citing stronger-than-expected growth in retail sales and forecasts of increasing demand as a result of the “industrial renaissance” in the Gulf.

The company posted fourth-quarter net income of $120.1 million, or 66 cents a share, down from $146.9 million, or 82 cents a share, for the same quarter in 2013. Entergy cited higher taxes and increased operating costs as a cause for the drop. But revenue grew by 5% to $2.83 billion, beating estimates of $2.7 billion.

For the year, retail sales grew by 2.3% versus a forecasted 1.9%. “Industrial sales led the way with 5% growth, beating our estimates of 2.8% by a wide margin,” Entergy CEO Leo Denault told analysts during a Feb. 5 conference call. Chemicals, petroleum refining and pulp and paper were responsible for nearly 60% of the industrial growth.

While most of the increases came from existing customers, Entergy said it is also seeing increasing numbers of new customers, forecasting that retail sales will grow by 3.25 to 3.75% annually through 2017. “We continue to believe that Entergy has some of the best growth fundamentals in the business,” Denault said.

Lake Charles Tx Project

Entergy cited that growth in a filing with MISO in December for out-of-cycle approval of a $187 million transmission project near Lake Charles, La., which the company says will be “one of the largest transmission projects in Entergy history.”

News of the project, which will include new substations and 25 miles of 500-kV and 230-kV lines, sparked controversy among MISO transmission developers. Entergy requested expedited approval of the project, saying it needed to be started in the first half of 2015 for completion by summer of 2018, meaning that it would be built by Entergy and not considered for a competitive solicitation under the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s Order 1000.

At MISO’s Planning Advisory Committee meeting last month, several transmission developers questioned why Entergy had not announced the need sooner. (See Entergy Out-of-Cycle Transmission Request Draws Competitors’ Ire.)

Entergy’s footprint in the Gulf Coast includes fast growing petroleum refining, industrial gases and wood products.

Declining petroleum prices and cutbacks in drilling portend some reduction in growth among certain petrochemical customers, but the outlook for Entergy’s core industrials remain robust, Entergy executives said.

Entergy Wholesale

Company executives said reduced drilling could increase natural gas prices, improving the margins for the company’s nuclear power plants, which operate in competitive markets in New York and New England.

Executives said the Entergy Wholesale Commodities group also will benefit from ISO-NE’s Forward Capacity Auction this week, which saw prices increase by about one-third. “We are seeing some positive changes in capacity markets,” Denault added. (See Prices up One-Third in ISO-NE Capacity Auction.)

MISO Integration

Reviewing 2014 trends, he also pointed to Entergy’s first year as part of MISO’s new southern region. “Although the numbers are still estimates, it now appears that customers across the utility will in fact realize more MISO-driven savings than we had originally expected.”

Arkansas Rate Structure

Entergy recently said it intends to file a new rate case in Arkansas, likely in March or April. It has been seeking regulatory changes from the state legislature that could boost earnings. “I would expect that we would [back] some legislation around this” soon, said Theo Bunting, group president of utility operations.

February 4, 2015June 15, 2023

Prices up One-Third in ISO-NE Capacity Auction

By William Opalka

ISO-NE’s ninth Forward Capacity Auction saw prices increase by about one-third as 1,400 MW of new resources cleared to replace retiring coal plants.

While the RTO exceeded its six-state requirement of 34,189 MW by more than 500 MW, the Southeastern Massachusetts-Rhode Island zone failed to meet its obligation.

Monday’s auction was held to meet demand for the capacity commitment period from June 1, 2018, to May 31, 2019.

A preliminary estimate of the total cost is about $4 billion, compared to the 2014 auction that resulted in a total cost of about $3 billion.

The 24,447 MW of new and existing capacity resources that cleared the auction outside of SEMA/RI will be paid $9.55/kW-month. In FCA 8, most resources cleared at $7.025/kW-month.

The increase was expected. (See ISO-NE Opens FCA 9 amid Expectations of High Prices.)

New Capacity

The auction results included 1,400 MW of new capacity to help make up the shortage of generation created by the announced or pending retirements of more than 3,000 MW. New resources include three power plants — two in Connecticut and one in Southeastern Massachusetts — and 367 MW of new demand-side resources.

The resources include a 725-MW combined-cycle resource in Oxford, Conn., under development by Competitive Power Ventures. Two 45-MW combustion turbines in Wallingford, Conn., and a 195-MW CT in Medway, Mass., also cleared.

The auction started with 5,432 MW of new resources qualified to compete, according to the RTO.

“The capacity market is working as designed. The price signals from last year’s auction helped spur investment in new resources, including more than 1,000 MW of new generating capacity, which will help address the region’s resource shortage and meet peak demand in 2018-2019,” ISO-NE CEO Gordon van Welie said in a statement.

He credited the Pay-for-Performance incentive that rewards the best performing resources — an innovation being used for the first time in FCA 9 — a sloped demand curve, a seven-year price lock-in for new resources and the ability to defer a capacity obligation for one year under extraordinary circumstances.

The region was divided into four zones: Connecticut; Northeast Massachusetts/Greater Boston (NEMA/Boston); Rest of Pool (ROP); and a new zone, Southeast Massachusetts/Rhode Island (SEMA/RI).

Shortfall

In SEMA/RI — home of the 1,517-MW Brayton Point generating station, which is set to close in 2017 — 7,241 MW qualified, falling short of the 7,479 MW needed to meet the zone’s local sourcing requirement.

The shortfall meant the zone was not opened to bidding. Instead, administrative pricing rules were triggered: 353 MW of new resources will receive the auction starting price of $17.73/kW-month, while the 6,888 MW of existing resources will receive $11.08/kW-month, which is based on the net cost to build a new resource.

February 3, 2015June 15, 2023

Patton: M2M, Real-Time Gas Prices to Aid Operations in MISO

CARMEL, IND. — Independent Market Monitor David Patton told the MISO Board of Directors’ Markets Committee last week that the RTO should see significant benefits from its market-to-market coordination with SPP and the ability to adjust gas reference prices in real time.

Patton said the market-to-market coordination should reduce the impact of SPP’s transmission loading relief (TLR) actions on MISO.

About 20% of the congestion pricing at MISO generator locations in December resulted from SPP TLRs, Patton said.

“While congestion costs for SPP constraints remain low, dispatch and pricing effects of these constraints were significant in December,” Patton said in a presentation to the committee.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the SPP-MISO M2M rules last month. (See SPP, MISO Move Ahead on Flowgate Rules.) They will take effect March 1.

“When SPP issues TLRs, we generally price these constraints at vastly higher levels than in SPP,” Patton said. “Market-to-market should help.”

Real-Time Feed on Gas Prices

Patton said his office has implemented new procedures for adjusting reference prices during volatile gas pricing periods. Patton said MISO’s access to real-time data on gas prices is “a huge step forward. We’ve already implemented it and it works well.”

The new tools have been used only once because the winter has thus far not been “stressful,” Patton said.

February 3, 2015June 15, 2023

Bill Would Revamp Massachusetts Energy Landscape

A Massachusetts state legislator whose district includes the soon-to-be shuttered Brayton Point generating plant has filed legislation that would revamp the state’s energy landscape.

The bill was proposed by Rep. Patricia Haddad, a Democrat and an ally of Massachusetts Speaker Robert DeLeo.

The sweeping bill would require the state’s utilities to enter into long-term contracts with offshore wind developers. It also seeks to clear obstacles to gas pipeline and electric transmission construction by, among other methods, creating a siting board to more easily locate energy infrastructure.

It proposes a tax that would fund natural gas infrastructure, attempting to revive a proposal last year by the six New England governors that failed to gain traction. Environmental groups told The Boston Globe last week they object to the use of public subsidies for pipeline expansions and would like to see incentives for energy efficiency and storage.

It also encourages utilities to submit proposals for competitively bid transmission lines to deliver Canadian hydropower. Another proposal for that purpose bogged down in the legislature last year.

It would make conversion from coal-fired power plants to natural gas easier as well, which could aid efforts to repower the 1,517-MW Brayton Point plant. Brayton Point, the largest taxpayer in Haddad’s hometown of Somerset, is scheduled to close in mid-2017.

Massachusetts has the eighth-highest residential electric rates of any state, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Each of the other New England states also ranks in the top 10.

Former Gov. Deval Patrick released a study last month that said the state needed significant investment in natural gas pipeline capacity to preserve electric system reliability. (See Gas Price Spikes Likely Through 2019, Study Says.)

ISO-NE also chimed in recently saying that grid reliability is threatened by the region’s inadequate pipeline capacity, which is unable to fully supply heating and power generation during the winter. (See ISO-NE CEO: Despite Mild Winter, Region Still Needs Infrastructure.)

February 3, 2015June 15, 2023

MISO Seeks to Ease Coal Retirement Conundrum

By Chris O’Malley

MISO is proposing to modify its Tariff so that generation owners retiring coal plants to meet looming environmental rules can avoid capacity deficiency penalties.

The Tariff revision (ER15-918) filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Jan. 28 would apply to generation operating during the Planning Resources Auction offer window that will retire or suspend operations between the March 31 end of the window and the end of the 2015-2016 planning year on May 31, 2016.

Last year, several generators asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for a waiver from MISO’s Tariff. They complained there was no clear mechanism within the MISO Tariff that would permit them to buy replacement capacity through the auction to cover the six-and-a-half-week period between the planned retirement of the coal units and the end of MISO’s planning year.

Only Where SSR is not Necessary

The proposed Tariff revisions would allow generators the option of not making offers into the PRA without facing liability for physical withholding.

It would apply only to the 2015-2016 planning year and only to generators for which MISO has determined a system support reliability agreement (SSR) is not necessary.

In testimony included with its filing, MISO said the proposal will not cause reliability concerns, explaining that a “critical condition” of the proposed change includes a determination by MISO that the retiring or suspending unit is not needed for reliability.

Also, the Tariff change will not relieve load-serving entities from obligations to meet the planning reserve margin requirements for a full year.

The proposed change “will allow market participants greater certainty and flexibility by providing a clear option to avoid risk by not being forced to make the difficult choice between making [zonal resource credit] offers for generation resources that MISO has determined may retire or suspend during the 2015-2016 planning year or being faced with the potential of physical withholding mitigation,” MISO said.

MISO’s Independent Market Monitor had expressed concerns that the change would “limit retrospective physical withholding mitigation” for generation resources.

MISO said the change is appropriate to provide certainty to market participants regarding generating units for which the RTO has determined that retirement or suspension does not present reliability issues.

Different Fates

One utility that was successful in obtaining a waiver was Indianapolis Power & Light. FERC approved its request last October after MISO said its analysis showed that Zone 6, in which IPL is located, has sufficient planning reserve margins even after accounting for the planned retirement of the company’s Eagle Valley coal-fired units.

FERC denied a similar request from Consumers Energy, however. The company plans to retire its “Classic Seven” coal units on April 15, 2016, due to the Environmental Protection Agency’s Mercury and Air Toxics Standards.

Consumers told FERC that purchasing replacement capacity for the entire year could cost up to $84.8 million. MISO opposed Consumers’ waiver request, saying it could cause MISO’s north and central regions to fall below the planning reserve margin. FERC denied Consumers’ request in November.

February 3, 2015June 15, 2023

FERC Upholds ISO-NE New Entry Pricing; Rejects Challenges by Generators

By William Opalka

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last week dismissed challenges to three ISO-NE market rules that generators had wanted tossed in advance of this week’s Forward Capacity Auction.

The commission upheld ISO-NE’s pricing rule for new generation, its administrative pricing provisions and its Peak Energy Rent Adjustment.

New Entry Pricing Rule

The New Entry Pricing Rule allows new resources to lock in the price at which the resource clears in its first FCA for up to six subsequent delivery years.

A Nov. 28 complaint by Exelon and Calpine alleged the rule suppresses prices for other capacity providers because it results in new resources entering the equivalent of zero-price offers in the six additional years. The companies noted that the commission had rejected zero-price offers in PJM.

ISO-NE opposed the complaint, saying that the price stability provided by the lock-in allows a new resource to be offered with a smaller risk premium, making it closer to its true competitive cost of entry.

In a Jan. 30 order, the commission sided with the RTO (EL15-23). “Complainants have not demonstrated why it is unjust and unreasonable for a new resource electing the price lock-in to be treated as a price-taker in the ISO-NE market for the remainder of the lock-in period,” the commission said.

“ISO-NE’s treatment of those resources simply reflects the design and efficiency advantages that a resource that recently cleared an FCA as a new resource would be expected to have over the rest of the New England fleet. In fact, even if such a resource does not have a price lock-in, it would typically submit a zero-price offer in the ISO-NE market, consistent with its low going-forward costs and in order to ensure that it is taken in the auction.”

PJM Rules

The generators had asked FERC to address the price suppression by allowing a lock-in option for existing resources or implementing corrective rules used in PJM.

Under PJM’s New Entry Price Adjustment rule, a new resource may lock-in the clearing price for two additional years. PJM addresses the price suppression effect of the rule by requiring a price-locked resource to offer its capacity into the second- and third-year auctions at the lesser of either its first-year price or 90% of the net cost of new entry for that year.

The commission acknowledged the companies’ contention that “under certain limited circumstances, PJM’s NEPA rules may result in higher prices than those under ISO-NE’s zero-price offer requirement.” That, however, does not make ISO-NE’s zero-price offer requirement unjust and unreasonable, the commission said.

Administrative Pricing

In a related ruling last week, FERC denied a request for rehearing by the New England Power Generators Association, which had asked the commission to reconsider its 2013 challenge to administrative pricing provisions in ISO-NE’s Tariff (EL14-7).

NEPGA challenged provisions governing the prices paid to existing capacity resources when there is inadequate supply or insufficient competition in an FCA or when capacity that clears in one FCA is carried forward into a subsequent FCA.

The commission’s initial ruling in January 2014 found that the Tariff was unjust and unreasonable because it could result in prices that were not reflective of supply conditions. But the commission rejected NEPGA’s proposed Tariff revisions, saying they would leave consumers vulnerable.

In its rehearing request, NEPGA reiterated its call for a change in the pricing rules, saying the current administrative prices were at least 40% too low.

In its Jan. 30 ruling, the commission again rejected the generators’ request.

“Absent sufficient evidence that a rate increase of such significant magnitude is necessary to incent new entry and retain existing capacity resources … NEPGA’s proposal does not appropriately protect consumers and the market from sudden, significant price increases.”

Peak Energy Rent Adjustment

FERC also dismissed a NEPGA complaint that sought to roll back the Peak Energy Rent Adjustment, which it said would threaten reliability (EL15-25).

FERC said the trade group had failed to show the PER Adjustment was unjust and unreasonable, so it did not address alternatives sought by NEPGA, including raising the PER strike price by $250/MWh.

NEPGA sought to have ISO-NE modify the PER for Capacity Commitment Periods 5 through 8 — from now until early 2018 — and then eliminate it altogether for FCA 9. The auction covers delivery year 2018/19, when the ISO will implement its Pay-for-Performance program, which will tie capacity revenues to real-time performance.

“A supplier still has the obligation and the incentive to operate its resource, and therefore not changing the PER strike price will not create a disincentive for suppliers to provide energy, as NEPGA suggests, and is thus unlikely to cause reliability problems of insufficient resources to meet load demand,” FERC said.

Moeller, Clark See ‘Valid Concerns’

However, Commissioners Philip Moeller and Tony Clark, while denying the complaint, were unsatisfied with the end result.

“NEPGA and other parties have raised valid concerns regarding the continued application of the existing PER Adjustment in light of the increases in the reserve constraint penalty factors in ISO-NE’s energy market put in place in 2014,” they wrote in a separate statement.

FERC’s order noted that the stakeholders will continue to discuss the issue and it suggested further review would be done in advance of FCA 10 a year from now.

February 3, 2015

Virginia Bill Would Halt SCC Reviews of Dominion Rates

By Michael Brooks

A Virginia Senate subcommittee has passed a bill that would freeze Dominion Virginia Power customers’ base rates and bar state regulators from reviewing the utility’s revenue until after 2020.

The bill, SB1349, is among the most controversial in a group of bills introduced by Virginia lawmakers in reaction to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed rule on carbon emissions from existing power plants.

The bill’s sponsor, Republican Sen. Frank Wagner, says it is designed to protect Dominion customers from rate increases that they would incur as a result of coal plant retirements due to compliance with the EPA’s Clean Power Plan.

But critics, such as state Attorney General Mark Herring, aren’t so sure. They point to a projected $280 million earnings surplus in the utility’s Integrated Resource Plan. If the State Corporation Commission finds through its biennial review that the company earned too much money for the past two years, it can order the utility to lower its rates or issue refunds to customers.

Under the bill, Dominion would be able to keep any earnings surpluses. Although base rates would be frozen, the utility would be able to seek surcharges for new technology and infrastructure, subject to SCC approval.

“We’re pretty confused as to why Dominion is introducing this bill,” said Dawone Robinson, Virginia policy director for the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. “This indicates to me that Dominion believes that rates would actually go down under the Clean Power Plan.”

Wagner has said the bill is a work in progress, according to The Daily Press. The original version of the bill, which Wagner said that Dominion helped him write, would have prevented the SCC from conducting its reviews beginning this year. The version of the bill that passed the subcommittee Thursday will allow this year’s review of Dominion’s revenue in 2013 and 2014 to go forward as scheduled.

“I will vote to move it along, but I would just say this has a long way to go,” Senate Minority Leader Richard L. Saslaw (D-Fairfax) said, according to The Washington Post. “I’m somewhat concerned about not having this biennial review.”

The bill was scheduled to go before the full Senate Commerce and Labor Committee yesterday.

“The reason we support the proposed legislation is simple,” Robert M. Blue, president of Dominion, said in a statement. “We want to be able to continue that record of low rates, high reliability and environmental stewardship. We believe it is in the best interest of both our customers and Dominion.”

No Fans of EPA

Wagner isn’t the only Virginia legislator who is not a fan of the Clean Power Plan.

On Jan. 20, Republican Sen. John Watkins introduced SB1365, which would require the state’s Department of Environmental Quality to submit its compliance plan for approval from the General Assembly before sending it to the EPA. Another Wagner-sponsored bill, SB1202, would prohibit the DEQ from submitting a plan until the SCC essentially approved the Clean Power Plan. The commission’s staff gave the plan a scathing review in October. (See Va. SCC Staff Blast EPA Carbon Rule.)

On Friday, the House Committee on Rules passed HJ608, introduced by Republican Del. Terry Kilgore. Under the resolution, the state would voice its opposition to the EPA’s emission rules because they “infringe on the commonwealth’s sovereign powers to regulate electricity for the benefit and welfare of its citizens.” The resolution passed the committee by a 12-3 vote.

February 3, 2015June 15, 2023

PSEG: PJM Broke the Rules in Artificial Island Solicitation

By Suzanne Herel

Public Service Electric and Gas last week accused PJM of breaking its own rules in refereeing the competition for the Artificial Island stability fix, suggesting the RTO should scrap the process and start again.

PJM did not follow its process in two respects, PSE&G said in a Jan. 29 complaint with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (EL15-40).

Unilateral Modifications

“First, PJM unilaterally modified each proposal, rather than, as required, evaluating them and selecting the best proposal or, if none qualified as such, reposting the solicitation. Second, PJM allowed LS Power to modify its proposal more than one year after the proposal window closed and after PJM staff had recommended another proposal,” PSE&G said.

PJM staff had selected PSE&G as the winning bidder after eliminating two 500-kV lines from its proposal. The change reduced the project’s cost by more than three-quarters to a range of $211 million to $257 million, making it equal to a 230-kV proposal from LS Power that was the cheapest among the finalists.

PJM’s selection was criticized by environmentalists and spurned bidders, including LS Power, which offered to cap its project cost at $171 million — at least $40 million less than the PSE&G project.

In response, the PJM Board of Managers delayed action on planners’ recommendation and offered PSE&G and finalists Transource Energy and Dominion Resources to “supplement” their proposals in response to LS Power’s reduction. (See PJM Puts the Brakes on Artificial Island Selection.)

Artificial Island, home to the Salem and Hope Creek nuclear reactors, is the second largest nuclear complex in the country. Historically, according to PSE&G, special operating procedures have been employed to maintain stability in the area.

PJM issued a solicitation for a stability fix — its first competitive transmission project under FERC Order 1000 — in April 2013.

Independent Evaluator

In its filing last week, PSE&G noted that PJM has stressed its role in the process as an independent evaluator and the importance of not allowing bidders to modify their proposals after the window for entries has closed.

“PJM said this would ‘chill’ the competitive process and give one bidder an ‘unfair advantage’ over the others,” PSE&G said. “If PJM believes that none of the proposals submitted in 2013 represents the more efficient or cost-effective solution, PJM can re-post the Artificial Island solicitation and provide any additional guidance to prospective sponsors that PJM deems appropriate based on the experience it has gained over the last two years.

“PSE&G understands that granting this relief will delay the process somewhat, but the process has already languished for nearly two years, there is no other Tariff-based remedy for the violations that have occurred and the remedy is nondiscriminatory because it does not favor one bidder over another.”

More Delays

PJM planners intended to have a recommendation ready for the Board of Managers’ meeting in February after the four finalists squared off at a meeting of the Transmission Expansion Advisory Committee in December. But at the Jan. 7 TEAC meeting, officials said consultants were still studying various aspects of the plans, including sub-synchronous resonance issues involved in Dominion Resources’ proposal. (See Further Study Delays PJM’s Artificial Island Decision.)

Critics, including PSEG Nuclear, the operator of the nuclear plants, have said Dominion is employing untested technology that could damage turbine shafts and cause widespread outages.

Steve Herling, PJM vice president for planning, said that a recommendation should be ready to present to the committee this month, and that plans were underway to call a special Board of Managers meeting in March to review it.

February 3, 2015June 15, 2023

SPP Board Elects Ross, See as Officers

The SPP Board of Directors elected Mike Ross as senior vice president of government affairs and public relations and Malinda See as vice president of corporate services.

CEO Nick Brown said the two “bring unique perspectives and leadership experiences” to the RTO’s executive leadership.

Ross, a former six-term congressman who served on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, oversees the RTO’s external affairs, media relations and corporate communications. Ross (D-Ark.) was defeated by former Rep. Asa Hutchinson (R-Ark.) in Arkansas’ gubernatorial race in November.

See, SPP’s longest serving employee, is responsible for human resources, payroll, facilities and administrative services.

February 3, 2015June 15, 2023

Federal Briefs

A federal court in California will hear arguments Feb. 26 in a case pitting the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission against Barclays that could result in the British bank having to pay penalties and disgorge profits of up to $470 million.

FERC alleged that Barclays and four of its traders engaged in so-called swap trades between several western energy hubs from 2006 to 2008. FERC cited the bank in 2012. Barclays had the option of defending itself before a FERC administrative law judge or to have the case heard in U.S. District Court.

More: Reuters

Obama Administration Working to Open Up East Coast to Offshore Drilling

The Department of the Interior last week said it was working on a plan to open up vast offshore tracks to oil and gas exploration in the Atlantic Ocean off Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, while declaring 9.8 million acres in Alaskan waters off limits indefinitely.

The plan, which would open the Atlantic to offshore drilling for the first time, drew protests from New Jersey Democrats. “Opening up the Atlantic coast to drill for fossil fuel is unnecessary, poses a serious threat to coastal communities throughout the region and is the wrong approach to energy development in this country,” Sen. Cory Booker, Sen. Robert Menendez and Rep. Frank Pallone of New Jersey said in a joint statement. The Atlantic leases are for areas more than 50 miles offshore.

Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski said the withdrawal of the Alaskan offshore tracts amounted to a war against her home state. The Obama Administration said the environmentally sensitive areas in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas, as well as a shallow 30-mile shelf in northwestern Alaska, were important to Alaska natives.

More: PennEnergy

NRC Board Denies Vermont’s Request to Force Entergy to Maintain Emergency Monitoring

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board rejected Vermont’s request to order Vermont Yankee owner Entergy to maintain various emergency monitoring systems on the shut-down nuclear plant. The board said Vermont’s petition challenged an NRC regulation and was therefore inadmissible.

Entergy closed the plant last year, and asked to reduce on-shift and Emergency Response Organization staff due to the decreased risk. The board said the plant’s Emergency Response Data System requirement was put in place after the 1979 Three Mile Island incident but that plants being decommissioned were exempt.

“Expressly excluded from the proposed rule were those nuclear power reactor facilities that are permanently or indefinitely shut down,” the board’s ruling stated.

More: Nuclear Street

Department of Energy to Pay $44K Fine on Hanford Violations

The Department of Energy signed a consent agreement agreeing to pay $44,772 in fines assessed by the Environmental Protection Agency for hazardous waste storage violations at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington.

The EPA cited the Energy Department for two incidents in 2013 when the department moved 136 drums of waste to an unapproved site and when it submitted a plan to close eight storage sites without required information.

More: KGW.com

Energy Information Admin’s Short-Term Outlooks Already Out of Date Due to Oil Slowdown

The Energy Information Administration’s short-term energy outlook was out of date less than two weeks after it was released, thanks to the volatile energy markets.

The administration, part of the Department of Energy, is having trouble keeping up with fast-changing energy markets. Its recent forecasts of rig counts and oil and gas operations failed to predict the decline in new drilling operations because of the rapid plunge in energy prices.

More: Roll Call

DOE Releases $59 Million for Solar Energy Innovation Projects

The Department of Energy last week announced it was releasing $45 million in funding for solar manufacturing and putting up $14 million more for 15 new community solar deployment projects.

“As President Obama noted in his State of the Union address, the U.S. brings as much solar power online every three weeks as we did in all of 2008,” Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said. “As the price of solar continues to drop, the Energy Department is committed to supporting a robust domestic solar manufacturing sector that will help American business meet growing demand and help American families and businesses save money by making solar a cheaper and more accessible source of clean electricity.”

The department said the new round of funding is aimed at helping the country reach the administration’s goal of doubling renewable energy by 2020.

More: PennEnergy

Lawrence Livermore Lab Signs 20-Year Solar Deal with juwi

In what is billed as the Department of Energy’s largest solar purchase from an on-site facility, the department’s National Nuclear Security Administration signed an agreement with a solar developer to provide 6,300 MWh per year for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, Calif.

The facility, to be developed by juwi solar subsidiary Whitethorn Solar, will be a 3-MW ground-mounted photovoltaic system. The Whitethorn facility will sell into the Western Area Power Administration through a 20-year power purchase agreement with the department.

More: EIN News