A labor council representing New York utility workers is worried that the state’s path-breaking initiatives in the smart grid, distributed energy resources and energy storage are taking attention away from overdue needs for transmission upgrades in the state.

The NYPSC says the FERC’s recent order on reliability-must-run agreements “interferes” with state authority as it tries to address generation shortages in the state.

FERC last week ordered hearing and settlement procedures in a dispute over the costs of keeping NRG’s Dunkirk generating plant online for reliability.

New York regulators last week delayed action on a financial lifeline for the R.E. Ginna nuclear plant in order to review its impact on ratepayers.

FERC last week left intact most of its 2010 order meant to mitigate market power in the installed capacity market in New York City.

IPPNY failed to persuade FERC that out-of-market payments that keep financially strapped generation operating to maintain system reliability suppress capacity prices.

Industrial, commercial and institutional energy customers in New York called on FERC to reject an agreement to keep the Ginna nuclear power plant operating.

News briefs from the states within the footprint of RTOs. This week we include Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia.

The overhaul of the electric industry in New York, Reforming the Energy Vision, will largely bar utility ownership of distributed energy resources.

News briefs from the states within the footprint of RTOs. This week we include Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont, West Virginia and Wisconsin, as well as the Canadian province of Manitoba.