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By Rich Heidorn Jr. PHILADELPHIA — Has weather become so extreme that utilities should end the universal service model and stop serving at-risk locations? It’s something that should be considered, Margaret Peloso, a partner in Vinson & Elkins’ Environmental & Natural Resources practice, told the Edison Electric Institute 2019 meeting...

PHILADELPHIA — Cybersecurity was the subject of two panels at the Edison Electric Institute’s 2019 conference this week. Here’s some highlights of what we heard. Connie Lau, CEO of Hawaiian Electric Industries | © ERO Insider Hawaiian Electric Industries CEO Connie Lau, who moderated a June 10 panel on grid...

By Rich Heidorn Jr. FERC Chairman Neil Chatterjee’s suggestion that incentives may be needed to encourage investments in infrastructure security received mixed reaction in comments filed with the commission this week (AD19-12). At a March 28 technical conference by FERC and the Department of Energy, Chatterjee said he wanted to...

FERC OKs SERC’s Expansion into Florida By Rich Heidorn Jr. FERC on Wednesday approved the dissolution of the Florida Reliability Coordinating Council as a regional entity and SERC Reliability’s expansion into the Sunshine State (RR19-4). FRCC agreed in October 2018 to relinquish its role following NERC’s determination that its...

By Rich Heidorn Jr. A utility-funded study has concluded a high-altitude nuclear explosion could cause a multi-state electric outage but not the nationwide, months-long blackout some observers have warned of. The findings are contained in a three-year study by the Electric Power Research Institute on the impact of a high-altitude electromagnetic pulse...

FERC OKs NERC Violation Settlements By Rich Heidorn Jr. FERC last week accepted settlements with Duquesne Light Co. and an unnamed municipal utility in the Western Electricity Coordinating Council for violations of NERC reliability standards. The commission filed a notice Friday that it would not review the penalties, leaving...

By Rich Heidorn Jr. FERC on Thursday proposed changes to NERC’s draft critical infrastructure protection (CIP) standard addressing the cybersecurity of real-time communications between control centers. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, which builds on a proposal by NERC, seeks comment on requiring the electric reliability organization to add protections on...

By Rich Heidorn Jr. WASHINGTON — Physicist Mark P. Mills gave the NERC Reliability Leadership Summit a blistering and entertaining critique of green tech punditry, saying forecasts of a rapid shift away from hydrocarbons are delusional. Mills, senior fellow at the conservative think tank the Manhattan Institute, said the big...

By Rich Heidorn Jr. WASHINGTON — Former NERC executive Brian Harrell, now assistant director of the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, last week lamented the federal government’s tardy response to the security threat drones pose to utilities. While many utilities are using drones in storm response...

By Rich Heidorn Jr. WASHINGTON — Assistant Energy Secretary Bruce Walker said Thursday that the Department of Energy is planning a megawatt-scale "Storage Launchpad" that he predicted will cut the cost of energy storage dramatically. Walker told attendees of the NERC Reliability Summit that funding for the initiative, which will...