FERC & Federal

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The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ordered PJM and financial traders to submit briefs in a long-running dispute over excess line-loss revenues. FERC said the filings will help it build a record so that it can respond to an appellate court ruling last August  that found the commission had failed to...

WASHINGTON — PJM and other grid operators will face unprecedented reliability challenges in the next several years as federal environmental regulations and low energy and capacity prices threaten to sideline baseload coal and nuclear capacity, federal and PJM officials told state regulators. “The next two, three years, I just hope...

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved a new product designed to reduce uneconomic power flows between PJM and NYISO. The commission’s orders (ER14-623 and ER14-552) allows Coordinated Transaction Scheduling (CTS) to begin as soon as November if stakeholders are satisfied with the accuracy of the forecasts the product will use.

WASHINGTON — Senators told state regulators they had little hope of passing comprehensive cybersecurity legislation or finding a solution for the nuclear waste stalemate this year. Four members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee gave the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners an update on the prospects for...

U.S. Supreme Court West Facade (Source: Wikimedia Commons) The Supreme Court appeared divided Monday over whether the Environmental Protection Agency had gone too far in trying to regulate power plant and factory emissions of gases blamed for global warming. But the justices acknowledged their ruling would have little impact. They...

Two members of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last week balked at former Chairman Jon Wellinghoff’s campaign to raise awareness of the threat of sabotage of the electric grid, saying it could result in copycat attacks and wasteful spending. Separately, the head of the North American Electric Reliability Corp. said...

WASHINGTON — Two members of the Senate Energy committee cited PJM’s struggles during January’s arctic cold to support their concerns about the impact of the Environmental Protection Agency’s pending greenhouse gas regulations. Sens. Joseph Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said they fear EPA’s CO2 limits on existing generators could...

By Kathy Larsen The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission was within its rights to approve PJM’s controversial capacity market rule changes in 2011, a somewhat reluctant federal appeals court ruled Feb. 20, rejecting challenges from New Jersey, Maryland and others. The court also upheld FERC’s approval of changes opposed by the...

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will hold a day-long technical conference April 1 to discuss operational and market issues raised by this winter’s extreme cold, which exposed vulnerabilities in the grid’s increasing reliance on natural-gas fired generation. Acting FERC Chair Cheryl LaFleur announced the conference last week, saying it would...

Much of the consternation at the NARUC winter conference concerned EPA’s planned CO2 emission limits on existing generating plants (Section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act). The regulations, expected in June, could add 60 to 100 GW in coal retirements beyond those already expected from current air and water regulations,...