Federal Briefs

EPA announced that rules covering methane leaks from new oil and gas wells will come out soon, but the agency would give no guidance on when rules covering existing wells would be released.

The agency said it is gathering data on existing wells before developing the rules. The Obama administration has put the rules at the top of its priority list because of the effect of methane on climate change.

“We have been moving in a very methodical manner to address pollution in ways that withstood legal challenges and are making a difference on the ground, and that is what we’re doing,” said Janet McCabe, head of EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation.

More: The Hill

NRC Approves Early Permit For Possible 4th Salem Reactor

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board approved preliminary documentation for the commission to issue an early site permit for a possible fourth nuclear reactor at PSEG Nuclear’s Artificial Island complex in New Jersey.

Although the company hasn’t yet committed to constructing a fourth reactor, it is pursuing the permit for planning purposes. If issued, the permit would be good for 20 years.

More: The Philadelphia Inquirer

Geological Survey Says Turbines, Sandhill Crane Can Coexist

Wind energy sites in southern states are unlikely to have a significant negative effect on the migratory patterns of the sandhill crane, according to a report from the U.S. Geological Survey.

“The current placement of wind energy towers in the central and southern Great Plains may have relatively few negative effects on sandhill cranes wintering in the region,” the study concluded. Among the states included in the review were Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and New Mexico, which serve as temporary habitats for the cranes during their migration south from Canada and northern states.

More: Times Record News

EPA to Reimburse States, Tribes For Gold King Mine Spill

EPA said it will reimburse state, local and tribal governments for the estimated $1 million they spent on environmental costs after the agency accidentally caused a massive spill of mine wastewater in Colorado last August.

The agency is also considering declaring the Gold King Mine a Superfund site, which would make it eligible for additional federal cleanup dollars.

A crew working for EPA accidentally breached a wastewater holding area, releasing 3 million gallons of water containing lead, arsenic, copper and other pollutants. The tainted water flowed downstream through Colorado to New Mexico and Utah. The affected area included land owned by the Southern Ute and Navajo Nation tribes.

More: The Associated Press

Ex-NRC Commissioner: Licensing Process Hinders New Reactor Investment

Former Nuclear Regulatory Commissioner Jeffrey S. Merrifield said the commission’s current step-by-step licensing process for new nuclear reactor technology leaves advanced design developers with little information to go on and is hindering investment into research and development.

“One of the disadvantages of the current system is it’s sort of all or nothing,” said Merrifield, chairman of the Nuclear Infrastructure Council’s Advanced Reactors Task Force. “You have to put in your license application and wait a very long period of time to determine whether the NRC is going to find that to be acceptable.”

Merrifield made his comments at a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing on Friday. As an example of a good model for NRC, he pointed to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission’s process, which has “discrete milestones” that “provide an early regulatory signal” of possible approval that costs project developers about $5 million, much less than required under current NRC procedures.

More: Morning Consult

Texas Company Applies for Interim Nuclear Waste Permit

Waste Control Specialists, in partnership with France-based AREVA, has applied to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to store used nuclear fuel and other nuclear waste in Andrews County, Texas. The company’s design envisions a facility able to store 40,000 metric tons of used fuel, with an operational date of 2021. It would remain open for 40 years.

“Establishing an economically viable solution for used fuel management in the United States is vital to sustaining and advancing nuclear energy,” said Greg Vesey, senior vice president of AREVA TN Americas.

Political and industry leaders have been unable to devise a permanent storage facility for the nation’s roughly 70,000 metric tons of accumulated spent fuel and radioactive byproducts from nuclear reactors. In April, Holtec International announced plans to open a $5 billion consolidated interim storage facility in New Mexico, with a life span of 100 years. Holtec said it will apply for its license by the end of the year.

More: Power Magazine; The Texas Tribune

California Senate Demands DOE Remove San Onofre Waste

The California Senate is demanding that the U.S. Department of Energy remove nuclear waste stored at the retired San Onofre nuclear generating station. The oceanfront plant has been shut down since a leak in a steam generator convinced owner Southern California Edison that it made no economic sense to restart the two units.

The Senate resolution calls on President Obama and the U.S. House of Representatives to approve a bill that would call for consolidation of all nuclear waste being stored on plant sites.

“It’s way past time for the federal government to move the nuclear waste stored at San Onofre to a location away from densely populated and environmentally sensitive areas,” said California Sen. Patricia Bates. “I’m pleased that my state Senate colleagues have endorsed my call to Washington D.C. to approve pending legislation that would help make Orange and San Diego County residents safer.”

More: City News Service

NRC Clears Environmental Review Of Suspended Bell Bend Project

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission last week declared that there are no environmental issues that would hold up the issuances of a combined license for the proposed Bell Bend nuclear station project near Harrisburg, Pa., even though the project is no longer active.

In 2008, PPL, which spun off its generation assets into Talen Energy, applied for the license, which launched the environmental review. But last year, the designer of the project’s proposed reactor, AREVA, asked NRC to suspend the safety review. AREVA was to design a third-generation light-water reactor for the project.

The AREVA request put the design certification review on hold, but the environmental review continued. There is no word if the project will start up again.

More: Nuclear Street

TVA’s Bellefonte Nuke Plant up for Sale

The Bellefonte Nuclear Generating Station, the Tennessee Valley Authority’s never-operational plant near Hollywood, Ala., is going on the market.

TVA halted construction in 1988 on two incomplete 1,256-MW pressurized water reactors on the site. TVA is considering a sale of the entire 1,600-acre complex and is conducting a webinar open to the public to discuss the possible sale.

More: The Associated Press

May 2, 2016

PJM Markets and Reliability and Members Committees Briefs

WILMINGTON, Del. — The Markets and Reliability Committee last week deferred voting on a problem statement and issue charge to study the challenges of the pseudo-tie requirement for external Capacity Performance resources. Staff will narrow the scope of the proposal and return to the committee in May.

Stu Bresler, PJM (copyright RTOInsider) - MRC and members committee — Bresler © *RTO Insider*

PJM has been working on temporary solutions to resolve operational and reliability issues, but it wants to decide on a long-term solution in time for the 2017 Base Residual Auction.

In order to participate in PJM’s capacity market, external resources are subject to pseudo-tie requirements. PJM has encountered some issues with the construct, however, including compliance risks, congestion management challenges, transmission service evaluation issues and operational impacts on neighboring systems.

Stu Bresler, vice president for market operations, said that a study such as the one proposed by the problem statement and issue charge could lead to changing the qualifications for granting transmission service into PJM.

A number of stakeholders expressed concern that if the deliverability standards are altered, they might preclude units currently allowed to deliver capacity into PJM from being able to do so in the future.

Bresler assured members that any changes would be applied “prospectively” and would not affect capacity that already has cleared.

However, that did not assuage the concerns of members including Ed Tatum, of American Municipal Power, who worried that generators may invest in upgrades only to find they are no longer eligible to deliver capacity in future delivery years.

“You need to have certainty,” he said. “We’re talking about making investments in units.”

PJM Prepares for FERC Directive on MOPR

Bresler told the MRC that PJM wants to schedule meetings so that members are prepared if FERC directs the RTO to change its minimum offer price rule (MOPR) as a result of Ohio regulators’ controversial approval of power purchase agreements for FirstEnergy and American Electric Power generating units. (See PJM: MOPR Could be Improved, but not by BRA.)

Eleven generating companies had asked FERC to expand the MOPR, which currently applies only to certain new resources, saying they feared that the Ohio PPAs could lead to below-cost offers from existing resources.

PJM agreed that the MOPR should be changed to counter subsidized offers from existing generators, but it asked FERC not to order changes before next month’s BRA.

“Putting rules of this magnitude in place in such a short timeframe could lead to significant unintended consequences. The best course of action is to kick it to the stakeholder process, allow us to thoroughly vet the issue and allow us to come back in time for the next auction,” Bresler said, paraphrasing PJM’s filing.

“Having suggested that, we came to the realization that if we waited for a response from FERC before we started the ball rolling, it would put us even further behind the eight ball,” he said. “We thought it would be prudent to get some meetings on the calendar.”

Assuming FERC respects PJM’s wishes and does not order changes for the upcoming auction, the first educational meeting would be scheduled for late May or early June.

In two other dockets, FERC on Wednesday rescinded the affiliate-sales waivers held by AEP and FirstEnergy, requiring federal review of the PPAs. (See FERC Rescinds AEP, FirstEnergy Affiliate Sales Waivers; Will Review Ohio PPAs.)

Changes to Manuals 12, 19 Approved

Members endorsed the following manual changes:

Manual 19: Load Forecasting and Analysis. Revisions remove outdated rules for legacy air conditioner and water heater cycling programs and correct formulas for end-use weather variables.
Manual 12: Balancing Operations and Tariff changes incorporate business rules of dynamic transfers.

Settlement Method for Demand Response Adopted

The committee endorsed a new method for measuring emergency demand response. It changes the emergency energy default customer baseline (CBL) from the hour before to the current default economic CBL. (See “Members Endorse New Way to Measure Emergency DR,” PJM Market Implementation Briefs.)

GDECS Definitions and Clarifications Endorsed

The MRC and the Members Committee approved the nonsubstantive reorganization and relocation of definitions recommended by the Governing Documents Enhancement and Clarification Subcommittee (GDECS).

As part of its consent agenda, the MC also approved an additional 11 items recommended by the GDECS.

Over 16 objections, the MC also endorsed the definition of capacity import limit. Members had expected to vote on a friendly amendment to the definition, but that was withdrawn before the meeting.

MRC First Readings

The MRC heard the proposed charter for the End of Life Senior Task Force, created in March to develop ways to provide more transparency and consistency in the communication and review of end-of-life projects in the Regional Transmission Expansion Plan.
Members were informed of a proposed revision to the charter of the Energy Market Uplift Senior Task Force to include the review of virtual transaction rules.
PJM’s Dave Egan presented the recommendations of the Earlier Queue Submittal Task Force. The changes would require interconnection customers to provide more documentation earlier to ensure consideration of their projects. (See “Stricter Rules Proposed for Queue Submittal Process,” PJM Planning Committee and TEAC Briefs.)
Barry Trayers of CitiGroup Energy proposed adding the phrase “Any transactions that PJM staff determine would not benefit from delaying until the [equivalent forced outage rates] are published” to the “Replacement Resources” section of Manual 18.
A proposed charter was presented for the Seasonal Capacity Resources Senior Task Force, which will study how such resources may participate in the Capacity Performance model in the 2020/21 delivery year and beyond.
Dave Anders presented some minor word changes to a previously approved problem statement and issue charge to study distributed energy resources’ path to PJM markets. (See “Faster Path to Market for Distributed Resources to be Studied,” PJM MRC & Members Committee Briefs.)

– Suzanne Herel

May 2, 2016

MISO Informational Forum Briefs

Decreased load, strong wind output and declining gas prices in March translated into MISO’s lowest prices since 2009, according to the RTO.

Real-time and day-ahead energy prices averaged $19.85/MWh and $19.44/MWh, respectively, tumbling by more than 30% compared with last March.

“These are the lowest levels we’ve seen in about seven years,” said Shawn McFarlane, MISO’s executive director of strategy and enterprise risk management.

Load for the month peaked at 85 GW on March 1. Monthly average load declined by 9% from February and 5% from a year earlier.

Gas prices continued to fall, averaging $1.80/MMBtu for the month at Chicago Citygate and $1.67/MMBtu at Henry Hub. Gas-fired generation accounted for 31% of MISO generation, compared with 23% a year earlier.

Renewable energy output reached 4,186 GWh, nearly doubling the monthly target and exceeding MISO’s goals for the sixth straight month.

McFarlane said the “usual outbreak of severe weather in springtime” began as expected in March, with heavy rainfall in eastern Texas flooding some substations. The season also brought an expected increase in maintenance outages.
March’s generation queue status metric remained a point of concern due to restudies stemming from withdrawn projects.

“We’re still obviously using our current [queue] process until a [new] plan can pass muster,” McFarlane said. (See MISO Queue Changes on Hold Pending Technical Conference.)

MISO’s unit commitment efficiency metric was also in “concern/monitor” status for the month because of a March 22 incident in which a unit failed to shut down in time based on its minimum run time and economic commitment period.

MISO Could See Fewer Legal Filings in 2016

MISO’s volume of FERC filings this year is so far trending downward, Deputy General Counsel Eric Stephens said.

The RTO has made 147 filings year-to-date, he said last Tuesday.

“We’re thinking that may put us on pace to file 450 to 500 filings this year,” representing a significant decrease from the 584 filings made in 2015, Stephens said.

Stephens reminded stakeholders to submit feedback to the RTO on its planned “continuous improvement” Tariff filing, which will seek to clean up provisions related to competitive transmission development and the RTO’s selected developer agreement.

He said the filing contains mostly minor changes in wording, but it does include one substantive item: MISO is seeking FERC permission to extend from 30 days to 60 the time between board approval of the annual MISO Transmission Expansion Plan and requests for proposals for transmission projects. The RTO is targeting an early May filing date for the revisions.

— Amanda Durish Cook

May 2, 2016

CPV Power Plant Ensnared in Federal Corruption Probe

By William Opalka

A former top aide to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is under federal investigation for his dealings with companies with business before state government, including power plant developer Competitive Power Ventures, according to the New York Daily News.

cpv valley project rendering (CPV) - andrew cuomo — CPV Valley Energy Center Project Rendering *Source: CPV*

The report, citing unnamed sources, said CPV hired Joseph Percoco as a consultant. He and several other people are being investigated by Preet Bharara, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, for improper lobbying and undisclosed conflicts of interest. Percoco made $169,000/year as Cuomo’s executive deputy secretary, according to the paper.

Percoco received payments from the companies while he served as Cuomo’s campaign manager in 2014, according to the Daily News. He returned to the state payroll for about a year after the election.

According to the paper’s sources, those payments were legal; the investigation reportedly concerns whether the payments went unreported, and if Percoco was involved in state business that involved CPV and another company that hired him. Percoco left the Cuomo administration to take an executive position at Madison Square Garden in January.

CPV is building the 650-MW natural gas-fired Valley Energy Center in Orange County, north of New York City. The New York Public Service Commission granted a certificate of public convenience and necessity for the project two years ago (10-E-0501). The plant broke ground last year, and its addition to the state’s power portfolio impacted transmission planning, as it will help relieve downstate constraints. (See NYPSC Staff Narrows Transmission Alternatives.)

A CPV spokesman did not return calls seeking comment.

In a recent filing with the PSC, the company said it sought to keep its structural drawings private because the plant site has been the focus of weekly protests.

Bharara served a subpoena on the governor’s office on Friday. The Cuomo administration released a statement saying, “We take violations of the public trust seriously and we believe these issues must be resolved by further investigation by the U.S. attorney. In the meantime, and as the program operates on a daily basis, the governor has ordered an immediate full review of the program.”

The governor also ordered state employees to suspend any discussions of regulatory or other matters with CPV, the Daily News reported.

The primary focus of the investigation is the so-called Buffalo Billion economic development program championed by Cuomo. Bharara’s probe began last fall. A centerpiece of that program is $750 million in direct state aid and tax credits to SolarCity, which is building a 1-GW solar panel factory, the largest of its kind in the Western Hemisphere, according to the state.

Bharara has prosecuted and convicted several state legislators in recent years in corruption probes. Last December, he won convictions of the Democratic Speaker of the Assembly and the Republican Senate Majority Leader.

May 2, 2016

NYISO: FitzPatrick Closure will not Harm Reliability

By William Opalka

Contrary to an earlier analysis, the closure of Entergy’s FitzPatrick nuclear plant will not leave New York short of generation in 2019, NYISO says.

fitzpatrick, nyiso, reliability — Fitzpatrick Nuclear Plant *Source Entergy*

In a report in February, the ISO had said the loss of the 882-MW plant on Lake Ontario would leave the state short at least 325 MW in three years. (See Fitzpatrick Closure Could Leave NY Generation Short.)

But an updated analysis, using a lower load forecast, found no cause for alarm. According to NYISO’s 2016 Gold Book, the coincident peak load expected for 2020 is 34,019 MW, a decrease of 843 MW from the ISO’s 2015 assessment.

“The most recent long-term forecast data shows a decline in both summer peak demand and annual energy usage,” NYISO spokesman David Flanagan said. “There are several contributing factors, including slower peak load growth in the downstate region; slower economic growth after 2020, based on Moody’s current outlook; and impacts of energy-efficiency initiatives, on-site generation and distributed resources.”

Both studies assumed 1,995 MW of generation will leave the resource base by 2020, including FitzPatrick and Exelon’s R.E. Ginna nuclear plant in 2017. (See FERC Accepts Ginna Settlement.)

Entergy announced late last year that it would close FitzPatrick because of low power prices. Based on the previous analysis, NYISO had initiated an expedited “gap solution” process in which the RTO solicits proposals from market participants outside of its usual two-year cycle to address an identified reliability need. Based on the new analysis, that process has been withdrawn.

Entergy has rebuffed New York’s efforts to keep the plant operating, including a proposed financial mechanism to subsidize carbon-free generation, as insufficient and insisted FitzPatrick will close in January. (See New Lifeline for FitzPatrick Nuclear Plant.)

May 2, 2016

MISO Advisory Committee Briefs

MISO’s Advisory Committee has narrowed down the list of topics it expects to include in the first version of its 2016 priorities document.

The committee’s current draft lists five priorities, including seams optimization, infrastructure development, grid technology, the Clean Power Plan and gas-electric coordination. The document is intended to guide MISO parent entities in their decision-making.

“This document is not set in stone — it’s a living, breathing document,” Audrey Penner, Advisory Committee chair, told stakeholders during an April 27 meeting. “If we come out of this all a little bit unhappy … then we have achieved success, as far as I’m concerned.”

In response to multiple requests for greater prioritization of market issues, Penner said the committee could either create separate priorities covering improved markets and price formation, or fold market considerations into an existing priority.

Kent Felix, with the Power Marketers sector, suggested giving each parent entity its own set of priorities. But Advisory Committee Vice Chair Tia Elliott said more than three to five priorities would create too many areas of focus.

DeWayne Todd, with the End-Use Customers sector, said he could support what was already laid out, but he thought some of the priorities were too narrowly defined. He said the Clean Power Plan and gas-electric coordination were “too tactical” to be overarching topics.

Paul Kelley, with the Transmission Owners sector, said gas-electric coordination deserved a spot on the list because of MISO’s rapidly changing generation mix and the potential for additional FERC rulings to enhance alignment of the two industries. (See FERC OKs MISO Use of Eastern Standard Time in Day-Ahead Market.)

The Competitive Transmission Developers sector asked to include refinements to the competitive solicitation process, while the Independent Power Producers sector proposed removing gas-electric coordination in favor of a market performance and enhancement priority.

The Transmission Owners sector asked for the inclusion of a sixth “Other” category to assess the criteria and costs of market efficiency projects, consider implementation of FERC market-related initiatives and evaluate the competitive transmission development process.

The Power Marketers sector proposed a complete overhaul of the priorities document, suggesting that a price formation priority replace grid enhancement, an “enhance operations” priority replace gas-electric coordination and removing the federal rule priority in favor of a “regulation implementation” priority, with a subcategory dedicated to developing new market products.

The Public Consumer Advocates and Coordinating Members sectors, on the other hand, said the current draft was acceptable as is.

Penner asked for feedback by May 11 to inform a final document, which should be completed ahead of a vote at the May 25 committee meeting.

Economist Joins MISO Finance Subcommittee

The Advisory Committee elected Pradeep Sircar to represent consumer advocates in MISO’s Finance Subcommittee. Sircar, an applied economist with the Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor, currently analyzes the MISO and PJM markets and has previously worked at MISO and CAISO. In his 30-plus years of experience, Sircar also worked with the Nevada Public Utilities Commission, Iowa Utilities Board, Ohio Edison and Northern Indiana Public Service Co.

— Amanda Durish Cook

May 2, 2016

State Briefs

ISO-NE: Summer Supply Adequate in New England

New England is expected to have adequate electricity resources this summer, according to ISO-NE.

Although electricity supplies are expected to be sufficient, construction work on the region’s pipeline infrastructure will limit delivery of natural gas to some power plants and require them to obtain alternative fuel.

Under normal weather conditions, electricity demand is forecasted to peak at 26,704 MW. Last summer, demand for power peaked on July 20 at 24,398 MW.

More: ISO-NE

MAINE

Plant Maintenance Causes Rusty Fallout to Stain Parked Cars

A Calpine power plant in Westbrook that spewed rust from its exhaust stacks after undergoing maintenance will have to pay $300,000 to clean up automobiles parked at a neighboring business.

Calpine said a contractor had sprayed dry ice onto metal boiler tubes to remove rust during a maintenance procedure. When the plant was restarted on April 12, the residue spewed out of the stacks into the atmosphere, which combined with rainfall to stain cars parked at the nearby Idexx Laboratories. Calpine is paying between $1,000 and $1,500 each to have about 300 cars detailed, said John Flumerfelt, a company spokesman.

The company reported the incident to the state Department of Environmental Protection, which did not have concerns about possible health effects.

More: Portland Press Herald

Governor Vetoes Solar Net Metering Bill

Gov. Paul LePage vetoed a solar energy bill Wednesday that did not include a price cap that he demanded.

A request by LePage to cap net metering credits at 10 cents/kWh, which would then decline after 18 months, failed to win legislative support before the bill was passed.

Solar advocates now plan to press lawmakers to override the veto when they reconvene Friday. But the Legislature’s vote to approve the measure fell short of the two-thirds majority needed to overturn the governor’s veto, raising doubts about an override.

More: Portland Press Herald

MARYLAND

Silver Spring Company Launches Community Solar Initiative

A Silver Spring man intends to be one of the first in the state to take advantage of new legislation enabling a community solar concept.

Gary Skulnik’s Neighborhood Sun will allow customers to pay a subscription fee to help fund solar arrays in return for credits on their electricity bills.

He estimates his project will be in the 12- to 14-cent/kW range, and subscribers would save about 10% on their monthly bills.

More: Bethesda Magazine

MISSOURI

PSC Approves Twain Tx Project, But Only if Counties Agree

The Public Service Commission approved Ameren Transmission Company of Illinois’ Mark Twain transmission project last week, but it passed the buck to five counties that must approve the 100-mile 345-kV line.

The PSC ascribed several conditions to Ameren’s certificate of convenience, including the approval of five northeastern counties that the line will cross. Four counties have not taken a position. Marion County Commissioner Lyndon Bode said his county plans on sticking to a 2014 resolution that opposes the line.

Neighbors United, a 400-member group of landowners opposing the line, said while they were disappointed with the decision to award Ameren a certificate of convenience, they were “heartened” that local governments will have effective veto control over the route.

More: Herald-Whig

NEW HAMPSHIRE

Public Utilities Commission Awards Renewable Grants

The Public Utilities Commission awarded $1 million to four renewable energy projects sponsored by the state’s Renewable Energy Fund. The PUC received eight applications with requests for more than $3 million.

Grants were awarded to: the Pemi-Baker Cooperative School District, for $325,000 to install a dry wood chip-fired biomass boiler; Ever Better Hydro, for $200,000 to reactivate a 415-kW hydroelectric station; University of New Hampshire, for $200,000 to install and operate a 200-kW steam turbine generator at its combined heat and power plant that burns landfill gas; and Froling for $300,000 to install a dry wood chi- fired biomass boiler and a continuous feed wood chip drying facility for increasing production of dry wood chips.

The grants will be leveraged with an additional $1.9 million in project funds.

More: New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission

NEW JERSEY

Christie: No Plans to Comply with Clean Power Plan

Gov. Chris Christie’s administration has no plans to draft a proposal to comply with EPA’s Clean Power Plan.

“It’s not in our DNA. We don’t need EPA’s re-engineering,” said John Giordano, an assistant commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Protection.

The state has joined a lawsuit with 27 others to block the carbon reduction effort.

More: NJ Spotlight

NEW YORK

Degraded Baffle Bolts Found at Indian Point

The number of degraded bolts found at the Indian Point nuclear plant was the largest seen to date at a U.S. reactor, according to a Nuclear Regulatory Commission blog post. Specialists found 227 of 832 stainless steel alloy bolts, which hold together baffle plates, were degraded.

Inspection of the bolts in pressurized-water reactors became a priority after cracking was identified in baffle-former bolts in the 1980s in France. The degradation is caused by irradiation-assisted stress corrosion cracking. The bolts measure about 2 inches in length and five-eighths of an inch in diameter. Baffle plates help direct water up through the nuclear fuel assemblies, where it is heated.

Entergy, the plant’s operator, is analyzing the condition and replacing the degraded bolts during a refueling outage. It will also assess any implications for Indian Point Unit 3, though that reactor is believed to be less susceptible. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has stated he wants Indian Point shut down because of its proximity to New York City.

More: Nuclear Regulatory Commission

NORTH DAKOTA

Lignite Industry Asks State for Increased Help

NDLigniteCouncilBohrerSourcelignitecouncil — Bohrer

The state’s coal industry, which is threatened by carbon-reduction requirements of EPA’s Clean Power Plan, will ask the state for more financial help.

“This is no longer a vague threat out there in the future,” Jason Bohrer, president of the Lignite Energy Council, told members at the organization’s annual meeting. The council, which makes recommendations to the Industrial Commission on funding lignite coal-related research projects, has typically been funded with extraction taxes collected from the coal industry.

The industry received a first-ever direct appropriation during the past legislative session of $5 million from the general fund for the Lignite Research Council.

More: The Bismarck Tribune

OKLAHOMA

Commission Approves OG&E $500M Scrubber Plan

The Corporation Commission voted 2-0 to approve Oklahoma Gas & Electric’s third attempt for a $500 million coal scrubber project at its Sooner Generating Station to address tougher emissions regulations. The commission called the project “reasonable.”

The commission last year rejected two previous attempts by OG&E to get preapproval for the scrubbers and other environmental and replacement generation projects. The first case, a $1.1 billion request, would have meant bill increases of up to 19% by 2019. A narrowed, second request was voted down in December.

OG&E’s latest request for a lower-cost solution was supported by the commission’s public utility division, the attorney general’s office and Oklahoma Industrial Energy Consumers. They argued the scrubbers would preserve fuel diversity. OG&E planned to convert the Sooner coal units to natural gas if regulators didn’t approve the scrubbers.

More: The Oklahoman

PENNSYLVANIA

FirstEnergy’s Met-Ed Seeks Rate Increase

FirstEnergy utility Met-Ed is asking regulators for a rate increase that would hike residential customer bills by 13.6% to pay for improvements to the distribution system.

That translates to a monthly increase of $17.52 for a typical residential customer. The utility last sought an increase in 2014, which raised residents’ rates by 10.9%.

More: York Daily Record

WYOMING

Officials Break Ground on Carbon Emission Test Center

Gov. Matt Mead, state officials and utility executives broke ground April 27 on a coal-fired power plant’s test center Wednesday in what they termed a “moon shot” bid to save the coal industry by identifying economic uses for captured carbon emissions.

Officials presented the test center, where teams of scientists will compete to turn carbon emissions into economic products, as the cure to coal’s ills. Mead said the center is evidence the state could help determine the future of the coal industry, saying it would not idle as federal officials imposed new environmental regulations that would make coal uncompetitive.

The $21 million Integrated Test Center will be built adjacent to SPP member Basin Electric Power Cooperative’s Dry Fork Station, one of the newest coal-fired plants in the U.S. Scientists will compete to win a $10 million purse from the X-Prize Foundation, a nonprofit organization that helped launch the private space industry. The winner will take the greatest volume of carbon from the plant’s emissions and turn it into a product with the greatest value.

More: Casper Star-Tribune

May 2, 2016

FERC Sets LS Power’s Artificial Island Base ROE for Hearing

By Suzanne Herel

FERC last week granted Northeast Transmission Development some incentives for its Artificial Island project but denied one adder and set its requested base return on equity for hearing and settlement procedures.

FERC - LS Power - Salem Nuclear Generating Station on Artificial Island (Wikimedia) — Salem Nuclear Generating Station on Artificial Island *Source: Wikimedia*

NTD is a subsidiary of LS Power, which LS Power’s Artificial Island Rate Filing Challenged.)

FERC denied in part NTD’s request for rate incentives, saying it had not provided adequate support for its proposed 50-basis-point “risks and challenges” adder (ER16-453).

But the commission accepted NTD’s request for a 50-basis-point adder for its participation in PJM. The commission also approved NTD’s hypothetical capital structure, recovery of deferred pre-commercial and corporation formation costs and abandoned plant recovery.

“The project will require a number of siting and permitting processes at multiple jurisdictional levels and may be canceled or modified through the PJM [Regional Transmission Expansion Plan] process,” FERC said. “The project also faces significant construction challenges regardless of whether NTD ultimately decides to construct an overhead or submarine line.”

FERC set for hearing NTD’s proposed base ROE of 10.5% in the face of protests from DMEC, which asked FERC to set a base ROE of 8.91%, and AMP, which called for a base of 8.88%. If a settlement is not reached, a trial-type evidentiary hearing will be held.

The formula rate and protocols will be accepted effective Feb. 16, subject to refund.

PJM planners are considering reconfiguring the project as a result of Public Service Electric and Gas’ $272 million cost estimate for its portion of the project — nearly double what PJM had estimated. That could alter the project’s scope enough to require it be rebid under FERC Order 1000. (See FERC Upholds Cost Allocation for Artificial Island, Bergen-Linden Projects.)

May 2, 2016

MISO Steering Committee Briefs

While MISO’s Market Subcommittee (MSC) will not be subject to a name change in light of the creation of the Resource Adequacy Subcommittee (RASC), it will have to revisit parts of its charter and management plan to reflect a division of market responsibilities, MISO’s Steering Committee decided last week.

Some stakeholders had suggested changing the name of the MSC to explicitly denote its focus on energy and ancillary markets, compared with the RASC’s emphasis on capacity markets. Most Steering Committee members shot down the suggestion in an April 27 meeting.

“In a selfish way, I would prefer not to add anymore words to the acronym,” American Electric Power’s Kent Feliks said.

“I don’t see a need to change it,” Manitoba Hydro’s Audrey Penner said. “Everyone has come to understand exactly what it means.”

The Steering Committee also examined the MSC’s charter and management plan to ensure the subcommittee’s oversight responsibilities avoid overlap with that of the RASC, recommending the MSC remove any references related to capacity markets.

Six Working Group and Subcommittee Charters Greenlit

The Steering Committee approved by consent a bundle of largely unchanged charters for six working groups and subcommittees, which included the Finance and Planning subcommittees and the Seams Management and Emergency Preparedness/Power System Restoration working groups.

The charter for the Loss of Load Expectation Working Group was also approved with the minor change that it report to the newly formed RASC instead of the Planning Advisory Committee.

The committee also approved the charter for the System Operator Training Working Group (SOTWG) despite stakeholder questions about whether the responsibilities of that group should be transformed into a MISO function.

MISO Grants 2 Data Requests, Denies Another

MISO will soon begin posting final five-minute real-time market clearing prices and historical five-minute real-time ex ante LMPs and market-clearing prices, according to Tom Welch, former liaison to the now-retired Data Transparency Working Group.

However, MISO declined a request to post all definitions contained in its monthly voltage and local reliability make-whole payments reports.

Welch said MISO cannot break down the report any further because individual components would reveal revenue sufficiency guarantee payments and make-whole payments for specific units, violating Tariff confidentiality provisions.

Welch also said MISO is reviewing a new request for reports that break down wind output by region.

— Amanda Durish Cook

May 2, 2016

EFH Files New Chapter 11 Plan

By Tom Kleckner

With its effort to convert its Oncor transmission and distribution utility into a real estate investment trust (REIT) foundering, Energy Future Holdings filed a new bankruptcy plan Sunday.

The Chapter 11 reorganization plan, filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, is the latest attempt by EFH to emerge from a $42 billion bankruptcy now two years old (14-bk-10979). The company asked for a confirmation hearing by Aug. 1; creditors are supposed to be able to vote on the deal by July 22.

Under the new plan, EFH said it still wants to spin off its Luminant generation and TXU Energy retail businesses to senior creditors. The difference this time is EFH would allow the creditors to take control of those assets without waiting for an Oncor deal.

The Wall Street Journal named Florida-based NextEra Energy, which has pursued Oncor since 2015 and intervened in Oncor’s docket with the Public Utility Commission of Texas (#45188), as a potential suitor.

Oncor, which delivers power to more than 3 million homes and businesses in North and West Texas, is estimated to be worth as much as $20 billion. Under the terms of EFH’s original bankruptcy filing, Oncor’s sale would have funded the exit plan.

Texas Commission Approves Oncor REIT Structure.)

But the PUCT’s order slapped numerous conditions on the proposed deal that made it less attractive to investors, including requiring federal tax savings be set aside for possible refunds to customers. The Hunt group’s proposed REIT structure would have allowed them to funnel as much as $250 million a year in tax savings to shareholders.

Sixteen Dallas business and political leaders, including Ross Perot, former U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and Roger Staubach, filed a letter with the PUCT last week asking the commission to reconsider its order.

EFH said in its Chapter 11 filing Sunday that because the PUCT’s order “did not include all of the approvals required for consummation” of the original plan, investors party to the Oncor spinoff elected not to extend an April 30 deadline that gave the Hunt group exclusive rights to the acquisition. The Hunt group responded by choosing not to put up $50 million to retain those rights for an additional 30 days, sending Oncor back to square one.

During a bankruptcy court hearing April 28, the Hunt group’s lead attorney said the PUCT’s conditions and IRS concerns about continued tax benefits from REITs had soured the deal.

Oncor declined to comment. In a statement, Hunt indicated it may still pursue its original plan, saying the “termination notice served earlier [Sunday] does not preclude our transaction. The new plan filed by EFH early this morning explicitly contemplates a potential REIT transaction under our current proceeding before the [PUCT].”

The Hunt group had asked the PUCT for a rehearing, which is still scheduled to take place Wednesday. EFH legal counsel said during the bankruptcy court hearing that an alternative plan under consideration would allow the pursuit of a REIT.

EFH was the result of a $48 billion leveraged buyout of TXU Corp. in 2007. Investors led by KKR and TPG Capital bet on rising energy prices; instead, they found themselves saddled with $42 billion in debt following the 2008 global financial crisis and plunging gas prices because of the fracking boom.

A U.S. bankruptcy judge in December approved EFH’s plan to split into two separate companies — Oncor and the unregulated power generation and retail arms, Luminant and TXU Energy, respectively — wiping out the buyout sponsors’ equity. The Luminant-TXU Energy businesses would go to senior lenders owed about $24 billion.