ALBANY, N.Y. — Upstate nuclear power plants would earn extra payments for emissions-free energy under a New York Public Service Commission staff proposal announced Thursday.
The proposal was previewed at the conclusion of the regular commission meeting, ahead of a planned staff white paper on Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposed Clean Energy Standard
Cuomo gave the PSC a June deadline to provide the regulatory framework for New York to derive 50% of its electricity from “clean” sources by 2030. (See Cuomo: 50% Renewables by 2030, Keep Nukes Going.)
Zero Emission Credits
Under a broad outline, nuclear plants would be eligible to earn Zero Emission Credits (ZECs), similar to renewable energy credits (RECs) earned by wind and solar generators.
Like RECs, ZECs will be tradable, but the two would not be interchangeable under the plan.
“The staff proposal is to establish a requirement for all load-serving entities to procure a pro rata share of Zero Emission Credits … to produce an emission-free value for energy produced by nuclear power plants,” said Scott Weiner, director for markets and innovation.
Weiner referred to the plan as a “nuclear power bridge to a renewables future.”
FitzPatrick Nuclear Plant (Source Entergy)
It would also provide a lifeline to western New York’s financially stressed nuclear plants. The R.E. Ginna nuclear plant is seeking ratepayer subsidies after a reliability need was determined. The James A. FitzPatrick plant announced its closure due to low energy prices, and a third plant, Nine Mile Point, is under financial pressure. (See Entergy Rebuffs Cuomo Offer; FitzPatrick Closing Unchanged.)
Cuomo wants to close the state’s fourth nuclear plant, Entergy’s Indian Point facility, because of its proximity to New York City.
Officials declined to discuss specific details of the CES, which would also include revisions to the way New York procures and credits renewable energy.
New York’s most recent renewable portfolio standard expired in 2014. State regulators have been discussing a revised RPS for months in a so-called large renewables proceeding. Nuclear generation has now been added to the proceeding.
‘Drama’
The meeting started with “drama,” as PSC Chair Audrey Zibelman put it, when the Republican-led state Senate hand-delivered a letter to the commission seeking a delay in action on the CES and the creation of a $5.3 billion Clean Energy Fund.
The letter, signed by Majority Leader John Flanagan, his deputy and the head of the energy committee, said action was “premature” on the CEF, another order that’s part of the state’s Reforming the Energy Vision proceeding. (See related story, NYPSC OKs $5.3B Clean Energy Fund.)
“The CEF is a major fiscal initiative and has the potential to be even larger when taking into account the CES,” they wrote. “While we do not believe the commission is taking the fiscal implications of these initiatives lightly, it is the position of the conference that these proceedings would be strengthened by a real cost-benefit analysis and genuine opportunity for public input.”
The commission held a 38-minute executive session to discuss the letter but decided to proceed. Zibelman was particularly pointed in saying the letter failed to demonstrate any reason for the commission to delay action.
“This petition was filed in 2014 and there has been considerable opportunity for public commentary both in terms of the number of public statements, hearings and meetings … as well as the process before us,” she said. “There’s no question that we have in front of us a very robust record.”
For administrative ease, Zibelman said, the CES has been rolled into the existing proceeding for large-scale renewables (15-E-0302) rather than a new docket.
WASHINGTON — The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday rejected a request to stay the implementation of EPA’s Clean Power Plan while legal challenges are decided.
The decision was not unexpected. The petitioners, PPL’s Louisville Gas & Electric and Kentucky Utilities, had to convince the court both that they were likely to prevail in the challenge and that they would suffer irreparable harm without a stay.
“Petitioners have not satisfied the stringent requirements for a stay pending court review,” a three-judge panel ruled (15-1363).
The judges also rejected a motion in a related case (15-1418) to sever certain issues and hold them in abeyance.
The court ordered the parties to submit a proposed format for briefing of all the issues in the cases by Jan. 27, with initial briefs filed by April 15 and final briefs by April 22.
Oral argument is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. June 2 and could continue into June 3, the court said.
Opponents Hopeful
West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said he is considering asking the U.S. Supreme Court to consider the stay request.
“We are disappointed in today’s decision, but believe we will ultimately prevail in court,” Morrisey said in a press release. “The court did not issue a ruling on the merits and we remain confident that our arguments will prevail as the case continues. We are pleased, however, that the court has agreed to expedite hearing the case.”
West Virginia is among 26 states that have joined in the legal challenges, which were filed immediately after EPA published its final rule in the Federal Register in October. (See Legal Debate over Clean Power Plan Takes Center Stage.)
Some observers have suggested the rule’s fortunes in the D.C. Circuit would depend on which three judges were picked to hear the case. It is widely expected, however, that the case will ultimately be decided by the Supreme Court.
Two of the three judges on the panel were appointed by Democrats.
Judge Karen Lecraft Henderson was appointed to the appellate court in 1990 by President George H. W. Bush after about four years as a U.S. District Court judge in South Carolina. Before joining the bench, she served in the South Carolina attorney general’s office after working in private practice in Chapel Hill, N.C.
Judge Judith W. Rogers was appointed to the D.C. Circuit in 1994 by President Bill Clinton to replace Clarence Thomas when he joined the Supreme Court. She formerly worked as an assistant U.S. attorney in D.C. and as the district’s corporation counsel.
Judge Sri Srinivasan was appointed by President Obama in 2013. He is a former law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and also worked in the U.S. Solicitor General’s office. Srinivasan also worked on Democrat Al Gore’s legal team during the disputed 2000 presidential election.
32% Reduction
The EPA rule seeks to cut the power sector’s carbon emissions by 32% by 2030, compared with 2005 levels.
The Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that EPA had authority to regulate carbon dioxide. At issue is how the agency defined the “best system of emission reduction (BSER),” the standard set in Section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act. Critics contend that the Clean Power Plan is based on a novel — and improper — interpretation.
Other critics question whether EPA can regulate CO2 under 111(d) because it is also regulated under Section 112 through the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards.
WASHINGTON — FERC Commissioner Tony Clark announced Thursday he will not seek reappointment when his term expires in June.
“After discussing with my family over the holidays we have decided to not seek another term on the commission,” he said at the opening of the commission’s monthly meeting. “It has been a wonderful run here and I’ve enjoyed the 12 years prior to this on the North Dakota [Public Service] Commission and a number of years prior to that in state government. I’ve enjoyed it a lot, but there comes a time when you just feel like it’s time to do a little something else.”
Commissioner Tony Clark (Source: FERC)
Clark, 44, was elected to the North Dakota legislature at age 23. “So I’ve been in government a long time,” he said.
With the departure of Commissioner Philip Moeller in October, Clark became the lone Republican on the commission. He said he may serve beyond the end of his term if a replacement has not yet been confirmed.
Clark said he wanted to announce his plans now to give notice to his staff and those who may be interested in replacing him. “So I thought I would announce today rather than play coy for the next six months or so.”
Chairman Norman Bay said he was sorry to lose Clark, promising to celebrate and “roast” him at a future meeting. “You’ve been just an amazing colleague,” he said.
On Thursday, he commented on the repeated interruptions of the commission meetings by protesters opposed to the commission’s approval of natural gas pipelines. “I find it rather ironic, he said, “that just 24 hours before a very major winter storm on the East Coast, we have people protesting the very infrastructure that will keep them alive over the next 72 hours.”
WASHINGTON — Stakeholders from Maryland, Delaware and New York urged FERC last week to allocate the costs of the Artificial Island and Bergen-Linden Corridor transmission projects more broadly across PJM, while utilities in New Jersey and Pennsylvania called for continued use of the solution-based distribution factor (DFAX) method.
The forum focused on two questions: Is there a definable category of projects for which the DFAX cost allocation method might not be appropriate, and could a fair approach be developed prospectively for those occasions?
PJM Vice President of Planning Steve Herling told the commission staff that the RTO could devise an alternative to DFAX for certain fixes, but the scheme would be tricky to develop and wouldn’t be used very often.
Artificial Island (Source: Wikimedia)
PJM presented a matrix of project categories, showing that they could be defined as thermal violations, voltage/reactive, stability, short circuit, storm hardening, end of life/aging infrastructure or real-time operation concerns.
Since 2000, when PJM inaugurated its Regional Transmission Expansion Plan, there has been only one project each for the stability, short circuit and storm hardening categories. Artificial Island is the stability project; the Bergen-Linden Corridor is the short circuit project.
Regarding stability projects, Herling said, “I honestly don’t think we’re going to see many of those going forward. We might see one more next year and not another in 20 years.”
Solution-based DFAX works well for most of the project categories, Herling said, because in most cases those who caused the problem are the same ones who will benefit from it being repaired. The flow of electricity that the projects are designed to enhance can be measured. But flow is not the driver of stability or short circuit fixes.
“With stability and short circuit, that’s a trickier proposition,” Herling said.
Thirty years from now, for example, the stability benefits of the Artificial Island project probably won’t exist because one or more of the Hope Creek and Salem nuclear reactors might be retired.
“The point is that the initial benefit of solving the problem fades over time. So is there a way to calculate the benefits of solving the problem? There very well may be,” he said.
“The big benefit of going to DFAX is that you don’t have to divvy up all the problems and all the beneficiaries. You have one solution. Then you look at who’s using the fix. And that can be looked at year by year,” he said.
Status Quo
Testifying at the conference in favor of keeping the status quo for all projects were Frank Richardson of PPL and Takis Laios of Transource Energy, representing the PJM Transmission Owners, and Esam Khadr of Public Service Electric and Gas.
New Jersey’s Board of Public Utilities and Division of Rate Counsel also submitted comments recommending that the commission not distinguish among projects for cost allocation. “All projects to ensure the reliability of the bulk transmission system are related to flow,” the filing said.
It also noted that if the cost of the Artificial Island project is figured differently, it would allocate more costs to New Jersey ratepayers.
DFAX Unfair
Advocates for customers on the Delmarva Peninsula protested the DFAX methodology, which charged them the bulk of the Artificial Island fix.
“For non-overload projects, there is no rational relationship between flows and intended benefits,” Sasson said. “This makes the use of distribution factors as part of the DFAX analysis a ‘poison pill.’”
Short circuits, for example, are system disturbances, not the result of customer demand, he said, and the intended beneficiary is the transmission zone where the problem exists. The typical solution is to upgrade the breaker, not build a transmission line.
“The Bergen-Linden Corridor Project is intended to fix short circuits in PSE&G’s service territory. And as PJM recently informed its stakeholders, it remains necessary with or without the flow from Con Edison’s transmission contracts. Clearly, PSE&G is its intended beneficiary,” he said.
Laios, of the PJM TOs, argued that all projects involve flow.
“Why are circuit breakers there? They’re at a facility to carry flows. You could figure out who tripped it, but you’re back to a one-time violation calculation.”
He was referring to the violation-based DFAX method, a predecessor to the solution-based model, which went into effect in 2013.
Sasson said Con Ed is not proposing the violations-based method. “Our position is that, for non-overload projects, no DFAX analysis can apply because there is no rational or technical relationship between flows and intended beneficiaries.”
Ringhausen agreed. Representing 20% of the load in the Delmarva zone, ODEC stands to pick up a significant portion of the Artificial Island project cost. The primary component of the project is a 230-kV line that is not required to resolve any thermal or voltage reliability issues caused by load growth in the Delmarva zone, he said.
“The results of solution-based DFAX, then, do not signify any significant benefit to the Delmarva zone from the new line that could justify the proposed cost allocation.”
Allocation Based on Economic Benefits
“For a generator stability problem like Artificial Island, one potential alternative would be to allocate costs based on the relative proportion of economic benefits that result from a stability upgrade since a primary benefit of such a project is to increase the availability of a generator’s output to provide capacity and energy to the PJM region,” Ringhausen said.
PSE&G’s Khadr, however, pointed out that the project gives the Delmarva area, which has been subject to transmission constraint, another high capacity line. He also noted that about 30% of the zone’s generation is more than 40 years old and at high risk of retirement.
Laios cautioned creating “carve-outs” for certain projects.
“You’re inviting another driver where someone doesn’t like the cost allocation to argue they should be included in that carve-out,” he said. “Once you start a carve-out, where do you stop?”
PPL’s Richardson said that any attempt to categorize some reliability projects differently would be “fraught with problems.”
“Some results may look strange,” he conceded of the DFAX methodology. But, he said, “It is not arbitrary. It is defensible, and it is the best method that we have.”
Weishaar, counsel to the Delaware Public Service Commission, suggested that a cost allocation method based on economic benefits would be the best option to address stability issues.
“The process would be objective and neutral,” he said. “A narrow exception to the DFAX rule need not swallow the rule. It may be appropriate for the overwhelming number of projects.”
Ringhausen also backed an economic-based allocation.
“We would have PJM run their market efficiency models and allocate the cost based on that,” he said. “Solution-based DFAX is better for most, but for certain projects, it is not matching cost and beneficiaries appropriately.”
Laios objected to the idea of an economic solution.
“Why would you use economics for reliability projects?” he said. “If you did, wouldn’t you feel compelled to do it for all the projects? It’s still a one-time calculation. It’s not updateable each year.”
FERC staff said they would regroup to see if they had any more questions for the participants. Meanwhile, FERC on Thursday granted a rehearing for further consideration of PJM’s Tariff changes involving the cost allocations.
OKLAHOMA CITY — Reducing SPP’s current 13.6% reserve margin to 12% could cut required capacity by about 1,000 MW, saving $86 million annually and $1.3 billion over 40 years, a task force told the Markets and Operations Policy Committee.
The Capacity Margin Task Force has been evaluating resource adequacy since SPP became a central balancing authority with the Integrated Marketplace’s implementation in 2014. The RTO’s capacity margin has been unchanged since 1998 despite an expanding footprint, operational changes and significant transmission expansion.
Task Force Chairman Tom Hestermann, manager of transmission policy for Sunflower Electric Power, said the group believes the reserve margin can be reduced without affecting reliability. He said stakeholders have been supportive of reserve margins as low as 12.5% but less so when the margin drops to 12% or less.
“The more reserves you require, the more it will cost,” he told members during a four-hour educational forum preceding the MOPC meeting. “We want a good balance between reserve margins and system reliability. If 12% is where we want to be, we have a good story to tell. We believe we can do this successfully.”
The savings would come from reduced generation investment made possible by transmission upgrades. Hestermann said lower margins could align with generation retirements due to the Clean Power Plan.
Hestermann noted resource adequacy is generally expressed in terms of capacity margin or reserve margin for planning purposes. Both are measured using the same numerator: the difference between available resources and net internal demand. SPP uses capacity margin, in which resources serve as the denominator. Reserve margin, used by NERC and other regions, uses net internal demand as the denominator.
Hestermann said the task force will recommend switching to reserve margin, where a 13.6% margin is equivalent to a 12% capacity margin.
“NERC doesn’t have a standard for planning reserves,” Hestermann said. “SPP enforces this requirement through the membership agreement.”
The task force ran “limbo studies” — “How low can you go?” Hestermann explained — that simulated four reserve margin levels for each of three years: 2016, 2017 and 2020. The analysis found SPP could maintain required loss-of-load expectations in every case except 2017, and then only when the reserve margin was set at 7.53%. (The study assumed additional transmission infrastructure.)
“The current criteria requires an assessment every two years to ensure 12% is adequate,” Hestermann said. “What we haven’t done before is see whether we can go lower than that and still maintain a reasonable level of reliability.”
The task force has completed a white paper defining load-responsible entities, which was approved by MOPC and the board last July and is currently being discussed within various task forces. Tariff revisions or changes to previously approved policy will be brought back to the MOPC for approval.
The group will present its reserve margin requirements and a deliverability study for MOPC approval in April. It also will present a planning reserve assurance policy, an enforcement mechanism using payments, not penalties, from LREs short on capacity to those who are long.
The task force also is still working on a distributed energy resource policy.
RTOs and ISOs will take part in 15 research and development projects awarded almost $38 million in funding by the Energy Department last week.
U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz last week announced $220 million in funding as part of the Energy Department’s Grid Modernization Initiative, an effort by the Obama administration to integrate new technology into the country’s energy infrastructure.
The department awarded the funds over three years, subject to congressional appropriations, to its national laboratories. The labs will partner with grid operators, energy companies, universities and local government agencies on 88 projects, ranging from advanced storage systems to improving transformer resiliency, to accommodate increased transmission from renewable sources.
“Modernizing the U.S. electrical grid is essential to reducing carbon emissions, creating safeguards against attacks on our infrastructure and keeping the lights on,” Moniz said. “This public-private partnership … will help us further strengthen our ongoing efforts to improve our electrical infrastructure so that it is prepared to respond to the nation’s energy needs for decades to come.”
“A modernized grid will enable two-way communication and data flows, allowing operators to better understand the grid’s immediate operating status,” said Franklin Orr, DOE undersecretary for science and energy. “By having this information, operators can run the grid closer to its full potential and capabilities, resulting in greater efficiencies and reliability.”
PJM in 8 Projects
PJM will take part in eight projects, followed by ERCOT with six, MISO with five and ISO-NE, NYISO and SPP with three each, according to the department. CAISO is participating in one project.
Click for detailed description of projects.
The eight projects in which PJM is participating were awarded about $25 million. One involves enhanced grid modeling; the others address transmission reliability, said Emanuel Bernabeu, manager of applied solutions.
Bernabeu called the modeling project “critical.”
“Our load changes rapidly. The composition is changing, and the way the customer behaves is also changing,” he said. “Our model needs to be able to capture that. Otherwise, when I run a [model], it may not match reality.”
The project, which will cost $2.7 million, will be developed at Argonne National Laboratory in partnership with Iowa State University, ERCOT, Commonwealth Edison and Alliant Energy, among others.
The other projects span a wide range of grid reliability. One aims to improve situational awareness in the control room. Another project, a $3 million effort across eight of the labs, aims to enhance the modeling of extreme events, including cold weather, hurricanes and geomagnetic disturbances. “Extreme weather is becoming more prevalent now,” Bernabeu said.
SPP, MISO Team on Seams Project
SPP and MISO will be the key players in an effort to evaluate the HVDC and AC transmission seams between the U.S. interconnections, according to SPP. The $1.2 million Midwest Interconnection Seams Study “will explore timely questions about aging infrastructure and enhance existing regional and interregional planning processes,” said Lanny Nickell, SPP vice president of engineering.
“It’s a long overdue study. SPP has been recommending such a study to investigate the interconnections between the eastern and western grids,” said Jay Caspary, director of research, development and special studies for SPP. The project will also involve the Energy Department’s Western Area Power Administration, the Solar Energy Industries Association, Minnesota Power and Xcel Energy. “No individual regional planner can do this on their own,” Caspary said.
“This important work will play a key role as MISO continues to ensure reliability now and in the future,” said Jennifer Curran, MISO vice president of system planning and seams coordination.
Some RTOs’ Roles Unclear
It is unclear to what degree each RTO and ISO will play in the projects.
ISO-NE said it is only acting as an adviser to the labs for certain projects. NYISO said that, though it is listed on the department’s website, it declined to partner with it on WindView, a $1.8 million visualization program that would display wind forecast information along with system power flows in order to better monitor how wind power affects the grid as the resource becomes more prevalent throughout the U.S.
Companies Involved
Also among those participating in the projects are:
Utilities (including Southern Co., Dominion Resources, Tennessee Valley Authority, Duke Energy, National Grid, Louisville Gas and Electric);
Equipment suppliers (Alstom Grid, GE-Alstom, United Technologies);
Research organizations and universities (Electric Power Research Institute, George Washington University, UNC-Charlotte, Clemson University, University of Vermont, Regulatory Assistance Project, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority);
Trade associations (American Public Power Association, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association).
Suzanne Herel, Tom Kleckner, Amanda Durish Cook and William Opalka contributed to this report.
Thomas Klink has been named CFO of Pioneer Power Solutions, a Fort Lee, N.J., manufacturer of electric transmission, distribution and generation equipment. He takes the place of Andrew Minkow, who left to pursue other opportunities.
Klink was formerly president of Jefferson Electric, a Pioneer Power subsidiary in Franklin, Wis., that builds transformers.
“I plan to focus on our bank relationships, stringent financial controls throughout our organization and facilitating profitable growth by maintaining tight expense management processes already in place,” Klink said.
Dominion Virginia Earmarks $9.5 Billion in Improvements
Dominion Virginia Power says it will spend $9.5 billion in capital improvements through 2020, including $700 million in solar facilities. The company said it will spend $2.4 billion on its distribution system, $3.6 billion on transmission lines and substations and $3.5 billion on new generation.
That does not count what its parent company will spend on its share of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a $5 billion project it is working on with several other companies.
Exelon Nuclear announced it has completed its multiyear uprate of Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station Unit 3, which boosts the capacity of the Pennsylvania reactor to 1,355 MW from 1,180 MW.
The company replaced high-pressure turbines, feed pump turbines, condensate pumps and motors and steam dryers. Its low-pressure turbines had already been upgraded. Peach Bottom Site Vice President Mike Massaro said that as part of the uprate “almost every major component in the plant has been upgraded or replaced, which makes Peach Bottom an even safer and more efficient facility.”
Peach Bottom is on the banks of the Susquehanna River near Delta, Pa., upstream from Exelon Generation’s Conowingo Hydroelectric Power Station.
Battery maker Axion Power International has filed an interconnection application with PJM for a site in Sharon, Pa., where it seeks to develop a 12.5-MW energy storage system.
The project will be located in a former steel fabrication facility about 60 miles north of Pittsburgh.
Axion plans to use the system to participate in PJM’s frequency regulation market. Start-up is expected in mid-2017, pending regulatory approval.
Akins was ‘Skeptical’ About Sierra Club Partnership
Akins
News that American Electric Power forged a settlement with the Sierra Club while lobbying for its proposed power purchase agreement in Ohio struck many as an unlikely alliance, including Nick Atkins, AEP’s chief executive.
“I have to admit, initially I was skeptical of ultimately what the value would be,” he told Columbus Business First. “But in retrospect the fact that it’s much of a national story that AEP, a major coal-fired utility, could come together with Sierra Club on a common solution — I don’t know of anybody that’s done that in this position.”
The Sierra Club signed on to the proposed agreement, which would allow AEP to gain guaranteed income for some of its generating facilities for eight years, after the company committed to developing 900 MW of renewable energy in Ohio. The settlement still must be approved by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio.
Exelon Generation’s Muddy Run Gets OK for Another 40 Years
FERC has given Exelon Generation’s Muddy Run Pumped Storage Facility on the banks of the Susquehanna River a 40-year license extension after the company promised a number of improvements to the site for recreation and to permit passage for American shad and American eels.
The company has committed to implement a shoreline management plan to control erosion and to manage debris. It also said it will implement improvements to allow eels to be trapped and transported upriver, to make conservation efforts for bald eagles, ospreys and bog turtles and to remove some small dams along its property.
Westar Energy has reached an agreement with an affiliate of NextEra Energy Resources to purchase another 200 MW of Kansas wind energy.
The utility will purchase power produced from the Kingman Wind Energy Center west of Wichita when the facility goes into service in early 2017. As part of the transaction, Westar will be given the option to purchase one-half of the facility before “substantial completion.” The wind farm is expected to bring more than $400 million in investments and payments to the area.
With this addition, Westar’s wind generation will surpass 1,700 MW.
Arkansas Cooperatives File for SPP Membership Change
The Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corp. has filed with the state’s Public Service Commission to change its SPP membership status from a non-transmission-owning member to transmission-owning member.
AECC said in its Jan. 13 filing that it seeks the commission’s approval “to transfer control of current and future eligible transmission facilities to SPP as a means to modify its current non-transmission owning membership to transmission owning membership.” AECC said it will continue to “own, operate and be responsible for maintaining any transmission facilities under SPP’s control,” but that SPP will direct the day-to-day operation of the transmission facilities.
The Little Rock alliance of cooperatives requested a final order by June 1 and anticipates $1.3 million in revenue from use of its eligible facilities.
Apex Clean Energy is expecting to develop Tennessee’s largest wind farm, to be located in Cumberland County.
The $100 million project will involve erecting 20 to 23 wind turbines that will produce 71 MW annually. It’s scheduled to be in operation by the end of next year.
Apex, of Charlottesville, Va., also operates the Volunteer Wind farm in Gibson County.
FirstEnergy’s Perry Nuclear Gets New Site Vice President
David B. Hamilton has been named site vice president at FirstEnergy’s Perry Nuclear Power Plant in Perry, Ohio, replacing Ernie Harkness, who is retiring. Frank Payne will move into Hamilton’s previous position of general plant manager.
Hamilton has more than 23 years of experience in nuclear operations, coming to FirstEnergy Nuclear in 2012 from Entergy’s Waterford Plant in Louisiana. Before that he was at Entergy’s Palisades nuclear station in Michigan. He also held positions at various Exelon Nuclear stations.
Payne came to FirstEnergy from Duke Energy, where he held a number of positions at the Brunswick Nuclear Power Plant in Southport, N.C.
Duke’s Asheville Plant Hearing Will Go Ahead as Planned
North Carolina regulators turned down a request to delay a hearing for Duke Energy’s plan to replace a coal-fired plant near Asheville with two 280-MW natural gas-fired plants. Duke’s plan, which it proposed in response to opposition to an alternative to build a two-state transmission line, was fast-tracked by the state legislature last year.
Opponents to the plan, including environmental group NC WARN, had sought to delay the hearing on the plant in order to have an evidentiary hearing on the overall plan. The commission ruled Friday that to delay its January hearing would “frustrate and contravene the specific intent” of the legislature. NC WARN has said the new plants are not needed.
Duke Energy and Piedmont Natural Gas on Friday formally sought approval from the North Carolina Utilities Commission for Duke’s acquisition of the gas company. The companies also filed with the Tennessee Regulatory Authority for approval of change of control of the gas company.
Duke asked the commission for accelerated approval of its plan to raise $4.5 billion to finance the $4.9 billion acquisition. As part of the deal announced late last year, Duke will assume $2 billion in Piedmont debt. If approved, Duke will become the largest investor-owned utility in the U.S.
MISO Consulting Advisor Terry Bilke said MISO is ready for NERC’s new frequency response reliability standard.
“We’re good right now, and we don’t see anything on the horizon that would decline our performance,” Bilke told the Reliability Subcommittee on Wednesday.
The RTO reported that 18 governor scorecards were completed and returned by utilities as of early January, and scorecards covering Sept. 1, 2015, to Dec. 31, 2015, were sent out to local balancing authorities in preparation for the rule’s April 1 effective date (BAL-003-1).
The rule requires balancing authorities to meet an annual frequency response measure (FRM) “equal to or more negative” than its frequency response obligation. The FRM is the median of frequency response performances for 20 to 35 frequency events chosen throughout the year by NERC’s Frequency Working Group.
The frequency response obligation under MISO’s field trial is ‐211 MW/0.1 Hz. MISO’s median performance from September to November was estimated at -362 MW/0.1 Hz. Those 2015 results will be submitted to NERC by March 7.
MISO said it plans to continue to “work with local balancing authorities and generators to boost governor response where appropriate.”
Bilke said if MISO was found noncompliant by NERC, MISO would have to search generator by generator until it located the source of the noncompliance. “NERC has wide latitude in what penalties they can assess,” he said in response to questions on what consequences would result from non-compliance. “We can’t predict what would happen. It would depend on how bad, how non-compliant, how receptive the parties are to making it right.”
Bilke said the fines could be as much as $1 million per day, but he said there are several options MISO can make use of before it comes to penalties. “There are ways to adjust if we see problems on the horizon.”
“I’d like frequency response to be a formal issue of the Reliability Committee. For the future, especially in light of folks concerned over the Clean Power Plan, I think this should be a formal issue,” Reliability Subcommittee Chair Tony Jankowski said.
Preparation for the rule’s deadline continues with MISO’s next governor collaboration call taking place Jan. 22.
MISO: November and December ‘Uneventful’
Senior Real Time Operations Engineer Steve Swan reviewed what he called “two relatively uneventful months” in the November and December operations updates. Swan said there weren’t any areas of concern. November’s load averaged 68.9 GW, about even with October’s load, and 6.6 GW lower than November 2014. During December, load peaked at 87.1 GW on Dec. 17, down from December 2014’s peak of 93.1 GW.
In both November and December, real-time unit commitment performance was rated “excellent” on a daily basis. Real-time unit commitment performance at peak hours was also consistently rated excellent, with the lone exception of Nov. 23, when it was given a “good” rating. December, however, achieved near-perfect ratings every day of the month.
“This is the report through December you hope to expect,” Swan said.
Neither November nor December had any capacity shortages or any periods of load so light that generators had to operate at emergency minimum levels. During the two months, there also weren’t any reliability issues. Swan said generator maintenance was on the rise in October and planned generator outages remained high during November before tapering off in December as maintenance season drew to a close.
MISO said during December, day-ahead and real-time LMPs were at their lowest levels since January 2009, when the ancillary services market was launched. The RTO credited the dip to reduced congestion.
ERCOT reported a 2.2% increase in energy usage within its region of Texas in 2015, fueled by a record-breaking summer that brought a new peak demand record approaching 70,000 MW.
The Texas grid operator released a report Jan. 15 that indicated the system consumed 347,522,945 MWh of electricity last year, nearly 7.5 million MWh more than in 2014.
According to ERCOT’s 2015 Demand and Energy Report, wind accounted for 11.7% of the grid’s energy consumption, surpassing nuclear (11.3%) as a generating source for the first time. In 2010, the nuclear and wind numbers stood at 13.1% and 7.8%, respectively.
Natural gas remains the primary fuel at 48.3% — a 17.5% increase over its 2014 share — with coal supplying 28.1%.
ERCOT’s system set a series of peak demand records in August during the region’s hottest summer since 2011. By summer’s end, the system had topped 67,000 MW of demand for the first time in four years, eventually setting a new peak demand of 69,877 MW and recording its five highest peak demands:
10: 69,877 MW
11: 69,775 MW
6: 68,979 MW
7: 68,731 MW
5: 68,683 MW
ERCOT also set new records for monthly energy use (36,975,136 MWh in July), July peak demand (67,650 MW) and weekend peak demand (66,587 MW on Aug. 8).
ERCOT manages about 90% of Texas’ electric load, representing 24 million customers. It estimates 1 MW serves about 200 homes during summer peak demand and about 500 homes during milder weather conditions.
State Auditor Tom Wagner says an energy efficiency project involving state buildings in the capital would cost taxpayers $8 million over 20 years but yield energy savings of only $2.7 million. “The possibility of the state breaking even on this agreement is looking bleak,” he said.
The project to upgrade the Legislative Mall buildings in Dover is part of a broader $67.4 million conservation effort undertaken by the Sustainable Energy Utility, a quasi-public agency established in 2007 to reduce energy consumption.
Tony DePrima, the SEU’s executive director, said the auditor’s report was unfounded. “These are fairly complex energy efficiency projects,” he said. “I don’t think they understand the protocols or standards being used, especially since they didn’t consult with any experts in the field of energy engineering.”
Activists Concerned Utilities Connecting Wind Tx Line to Coal Plants
Environmentalists are concerned that two proposed transmission lines that Northern Indiana Public Service Co. is touting to deliver wind power will actually be used to transmit excess electricity from coal-fired plants.
Kerwin Olson, executive director of Indianapolis’ Citizens Action Coalition, said the lines could connect to several coal-fired generators belonging to Duke Energy and American Electric Power. Duke Energy and AEP jointly own Pioneer Energy, which is a partner with NIPSCO on the 65-mile project.
“We have utility companies who are continuing to invest billions of dollars in aging coal plants that really should be retired and replaced with clean energy, so Indiana isn’t doing so well,” Olson said. “We seem to be doing everything in our power to maintain our addiction to coal.”
Rock Island Clean Line Process Request Turned Down Again
State regulators again turned down Clean Line Energy Partners’ request to consider the necessity of its transmission line proposal without requiring it to first acquire the rights of way for the power line. Clean Line said it may not proceed with the Rock Island Clean Line project if the Utilities Board continues to require full right-of-way approval before the project’s route or need are determined.
The IUB on Monday rejected Clean Line’s third request to separate the proceedings, saying both state law and board regulations call for a single proceeding to determine all those issues.
Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof, in his first year leading the Republican-dominated chamber, said that making the state’s electricity markets more competitive is a priority in 2016.
Meekhof said lawmakers are considering whether to allow competitive bidding for new electric generation to reduce reliance on the state’s two dominant electric utilities, DTE Energy and Consumers Energy. He said the process could encourage independent power producers to propose alternatives to replace retiring coal generators.
“Some of the discussion around it is it can’t just be the big two,” he said. “There may be other people who have smaller generating things that might be able to add on at a relatively inexpensive cost and then generate more energy and incrementally bring up the amount of energy we need as the demand is there — as opposed to building [a] 500-, 600-, 700-MW plant one time.”
Consumers Extends Biomass Plant’s Power Purchase Agreement
Consumers Energy has extended a power purchase agreement with Hillman Power’s 20-MW wood-burning plant for another 17 months.
The agreement’s termination now coincides with the Public Service Commission’s timeframe to review federal laws that oversee contracts between regulated utilities and smaller, renewable electricity generators.
The power plant, which is owned by Fortistar, said the contract extension saved about 100 direct and indirect jobs. The power plant employs about 20 people and spends about $3.5 million a year to buy local wood.
The city of Scandia, population 3,936, is embracing a $12.5 million community solar garden that private investors are building on a former 59-acre gravel pit. Scandia Mayor Randall Simonson said he wants the facility to be a showcase for other communities.
“It shows people as soon as they cross the border into Scandia, ‘Hey, look at what they’ve got here,’” Simonson said.
SolarStone Partners is slated to begin construction of the 5-MW project this spring. Subscribers will receive credits to lower their Xcel Energy bills.
An administrative law judge has sanctioned most of the route on Minnesota Power’s proposed 220-mile Great Northern Transmission Line, which would import power from Manitoba Hydro.
Judge Ann O’Reilly concluded that the 500-kV line’s route largely satisfied permit criteria, except for a segment in Itasca County.
The Public Utilities Commission is expected to vote on the project in March. The U.S. Department of Energy would then decide whether to grant Minnesota Power a permit to build the line. Minnesota Power says the line will cost up to $710 million.
A deal to keep an underground coal mine running includes a confidential secret side agreement between the owner and an environmental group that had argued state officials failed to properly examine the long-term groundwater impacts of expanding the mine.
The Board of Environmental Review on Jan. 12 approved the agreement between Signal Peak Energy, the Montana Environmental Information Center and the state Department of Environmental Quality. The deal gives the DEQ six months to revise its environmental analysis to correct problems the board found when the agency previously approved the expansion of Bull Mountain Mine.
The agreement includes a paragraph that says the Montana Environmental Information Center and Signal Peak reached a separate, confidential agreement that includes other “material terms.” Neither the mine owner nor the environmental group said they could discuss the terms of their truce.
Site Evaluation Committee Hearings on Northern Pass Begin
The Site Evaluation Committee held its first county hearing on the controversial Northern Pass transmission line project. The session was held in Franklin, whose mayor has enthusiastically embraced the $1.6 billion project that would deliver Canadian hydropower to New England.
A crowd of 250 people heard project representatives say Northern Pass is the best alternative to bring energy into New England. They said a substation in Franklin would pay about $7 million annually in property taxes. The money would be used to improve city services, Mayor Ken Merrifield said.
Several in the audience wore orange “Trees Not Towers” shirts in opposition to the project and applauded questioners who said the visual impact of the project could not be justified.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo has proposed creating a $19 million fund to help local communities cope with the loss of property taxes after the closure of the coal-fired Huntley power plant. Cuomo has pledged the closure all coal generation in the state by 2020.
The Town of Tonawanda and Ken-Ton School District will lose $5 million in annual revenue after the plant closes in March. “Based on what I’ve heard and what I’ve read, it looks like we’re going to be eligible for that pot of money and we’re going to be aggressively seeking it,” Town Supervisor Joseph H. Emminger said.
The Just Transition Coalition, composed of the Clean Air Coalition, labor unions and teachers associations, has been lobbying to secure money to make up the expected loss of revenue for the town on the Niagara River, north of Buffalo.
Commissioner Withdraws from Dakota Access Pipeline Process
Christmann
One of three members of the Public Service Commission has recused himself from voting on a proposed pipeline that would transport crude oil from the state’s Bakken Formation to out-of-state markets.
Commissioner Randy Christmann said that the Dakota Access Pipeline’s revised proposed route would cut across the property of his mother-in-law, who is currently negotiating an easement. The remaining two members of the commission are expected to vote on the matter Jan. 20.
The 1,134-mile pipeline would deliver 450,000 barrels of crude oil per day from the state to Patoka, Ill. Dakota Access has negotiated voluntary easements for 95% of its state route.
Duke Customers Entitled to Payout Under Class Action Suit
About a million customers of Duke Energy in the state have until April 13 to file a claim to be included in an $81 million class-action settlement, which resolved claims that the utility illegally paid rebates to large commercial and industrial customers at the expense of smaller customers.
Plaintiffs in the federal case alleged that Duke paid rebates from 2005 to 2008 to large customers including General Electric, Procter & Gamble and AK Steel in violation of antitrust laws. Duke, while denying wrongdoing, agreed to settle the suit.
Under the settlement, residential customers could receive from $40 to $400 each, while commercial customers could be entitled to as much as $6,000. About $8 million of the settlement will be set aside to improve energy efficiency programs. A federal judge in Columbus is expected to give final approval in April.
Regulators Order Wastewater Injection Reduction in Wake of Earthquakes
The Corporation Commission has ordered the operators of 27 wastewater disposal wells to reduce wastewater injections after a swarm of earthquakes unsettled residents northwest of Oklahoma City.
The order comes about a week after a series of earthquakes jarred the Fairview region. None of the recent temblors caused damage or injuries, but commission members are listening to experts who have drawn a connection between wastewater injections and the increase in the seismic activity.
The Oklahoma Geological Survey has said it is “very likely” the quakes are being triggered by the injection of wastewater produced from oil and gas wells, which has increased dramatically in volume because of the growth of shale drilling.
Asst. AG Criticizes PSO’s Smart Meter Opt-Out Plan
The attorney general’s office has taken issue with a plan by Public Service Company of Oklahoma to charge customers who decline to allow a smart meter to be installed.
Assistant Attorney General Dara Derryberry criticized an administrative law judge’s report favoring the opt-out charges. PSO wants to charge a one-time fee of $183 and a monthly charge of $28 to customers who opt out of its smart meter program. The utility says that it will need to manually read the meters of customers who decline the wireless devices.
Derryberry said the proposed fees were excessive when compared to opt-out fees in 11 other states and in a recent proposal by Oklahoma Gas and Electric. Derryberry said the Corporation Commission should defer a decision on opt-out fees until PSO finishes installing the devices in September.
PUC Plans Hearing to Study Alternative Ratemaking Methods
The Public Utility Commission will hold a hearing March 3 focused on alternative ratemaking methods for the state’s natural gas and electric utilities.
The hearing is part of the commission’s effort to promote energy efficiency and conservation programs.
Forum topics will include revenue decoupling and whether such rate mechanisms are fair to consumers.
State regulators have rebuffed an attempt by the Conservation Law Foundation to stall Invenergy’s application for its 1,000-MW Clear River Energy Center because of the proposed gas-fired power plant’s climate impacts.
CLF had argued the application was incomplete because it failed to fully outline the projected climate effects of the plant under the Resilient Rhode Island Act, a 2014 law that calls for a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. The Energy Facility Siting Board agreed on the importance of the act, but it ruled that more information on emissions could be submitted later.
Invenergy estimates the new plant would reduce emissions across New England by about 1% because the power plant would displace older fossil fuel-fired power generators.
Environmental Agency Plans CPP Extension Request with EPA
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources is taking a two-pronged approach as it prepares to respond to EPA’s Clean Power Plan, which seeks to reduce carbon emissions from power plants.
The DENR is participating in a lawsuit with 24 states opposing the CPP. At the same time, it plans to develop a state compliance proposal, should the lawsuit fail. The department will seek public input in the coming months, request a two-year extension from EPA by the Sept. 6 deadline and then finalize a state CPP for submittal to EPA by Sept. 6, 2018.
PUC Urged to Reject Oncor Sale on Ratepayer Concerns
The chief executive of Oncor told state regulators last week that the plan to sell the company out of bankruptcy to Dallas billionaire Ray L. Hunt is not in the public interest.
Oncor CEO Bob Shapard’s testimony adds to a chorus of concerns raised by consumer advocates who asked the Public Utility Commission to reject the sale, arguing it will enrich Hunt and his group of private investors at the expense of ratepayers.
The sale of Oncor, the transmission arm of Energy Future Holdings, is the linchpin in the parent company’s plan to emerge from bankruptcy proceedings and reduce $42 billion in debt. The sale to Hunt Consolidated needs the blessing of utility commissioners, who are not expected to decide before March.
State Board Approves Dominion Coal Ash Drainage Plan
The state Water Control Board has approved a plan allowing Dominion Virginia Power to start draining its coal ash ponds into the James and Potomac rivers, overriding vocal opposition from citizen and environmental groups.
Dominion, in its application, said its plans to drain the coal ash ponds at the Bremo Power Station on the James River and the Possum Point Power Station on the Potomac River met all state and federal laws, including a rule last year setting new discharge limits on power plants. “This approach complies with all current federal and state regulations, including the newly promulgated EPA rule,” said Cathy Taylor, Dominion’s director of electric environmental services.
The James River Association and the Southern Environmental Law Center had filed opposition to the plans. The water board’s final hearing was attended by more than 100 opponents.
The State Assembly last week voted to lift a moratorium on developing nuclear generation, sending the bill to the State Senate for consideration. The Republican-backed bill would lift a state law blocking new nuclear generation without the formation of a national repository for nuclear waste.
The measure also does away with a requirement that any new nuclear plant would not burden ratepayers. Democrats in the Republican-controlled Assembly voted against the measure.
The state is home to a single nuclear generating station, Point Beach, owned and operated by NextEra Energy Resources. The Kewaunee Power Station, another nuclear station in the state, was retired by Dominion Resources in 2013.
Thomas Klink has been named CFO of Pioneer Power Solutions, a Fort Lee, N.J., manufacturer of electric transmission, distribution and generation equipment. He takes the place of Andrew Minkow, who left to pursue other opportunities.
Dominion Virginia Power says it will spend $9.5 billion in capital improvements through 2020, including $700 million in solar facilities. The company said it will spend $2.4 billion on its distribution system, $3.6 billion on transmission lines and substations and $3.5 billion on new generation.
Exelon Nuclear announced it has completed its multiyear uprate of Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station Unit 3, which boosts the capacity of the Pennsylvania reactor to 1,355 MW from 1,180 MW.
Battery maker Axion Power International has filed an interconnection application with PJM for a site in Sharon, Pa., where it seeks to develop a 12.5-MW energy storage system.
FERC has given Exelon Generation’s Muddy Run Pumped Storage Facility on the banks of the Susquehanna River a 40-year license extension after the company promised a number of improvements to the site for recreation and to permit passage for American shad and American eels.
Westar Energy has reached an agreement with an affiliate of NextEra Energy Resources to purchase another 200 MW of Kansas wind energy.
Apex Clean Energy is expecting to develop Tennessee’s largest wind farm, to be located in Cumberland County.
David B. Hamilton has been named site vice president at FirstEnergy’s Perry Nuclear Power Plant in Perry, Ohio, replacing Ernie Harkness, who is retiring. Frank Payne will move into Hamilton’s previous position of general plant manager.
State regulators again turned down Clean Line Energy Partners’ request to consider the necessity of its transmission line proposal without requiring it to first acquire the rights of way for the power line. Clean Line said it may not proceed with the Rock Island Clean Line project if the Utilities Board continues to require full right-of-way approval before the project’s route or need are determined.
Consumers Energy has extended a power purchase agreement with Hillman Power’s 20-MW wood-burning plant for another 17 months.
The city of Scandia, population 3,936, is embracing a $12.5 million community solar garden that private investors are building on a former 59-acre gravel pit. Scandia Mayor Randall Simonson said he wants the facility to be a showcase for other communities.
A deal to keep an underground coal mine running includes a confidential secret side agreement between the owner and an environmental group that had argued state officials failed to properly examine the long-term groundwater impacts of expanding the mine.
A new 10-MW hydroelectric power plant is being proposed for Lock C1 on the Champlain Canal in Waterford, north of Albany.
About a million customers of Duke Energy in the state have until April 13 to file a claim to be included in an $81 million class-action settlement, which resolved claims that the utility illegally paid rebates to large commercial and industrial customers at the expense of smaller customers.
The Corporation Commission has ordered the operators of 27 wastewater disposal wells to reduce wastewater injections after a swarm of earthquakes unsettled residents northwest of Oklahoma City.
State regulators have rebuffed an attempt by the Conservation Law Foundation to stall Invenergy’s application for its 1,000-MW Clear River Energy Center because of the proposed gas-fired power plant’s climate impacts.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources is taking a two-pronged approach as it prepares to respond to EPA’s Clean Power Plan, which seeks to reduce carbon emissions from power plants.