Company Briefs

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.

More: Pioneer Power Solutions

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.

More: Reuters

Exelon Completes Uprate at Peach Bottom Plant

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.

More: Exelon

Battery Maker Files to Join PJM

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.

More: Axion Power International

Akins was ‘Skeptical’ About Sierra Club Partnership

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.

More: Columbus Business First

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.

More: Lancaster Online

Westar Adds 200 MW of Additional Wind Energy

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.

More: Westar Energy

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.

More: Docket 16-002-U

Tree Clearing, Squirrel Guards Help Prevent PPL Outages

PPL Electric Utilities says its grid improvement projects prevented power outages for 410,000 customers last year.

It credited tree clearing, its smart grid system and the installation of more animal guards to keep squirrels from damaging lines.

Customers are experiencing 30% fewer outages than in 2007, the company said.

More: PPL

Apex Seeks to Build Tenn.’s Largest Wind Farm

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.

More: Crossville Chronicle

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.

More: FirstEnergy

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.

More: Charlotte Observer

Duke, Piedmont Gas File for NCUC Approval

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.

More: Duke; Charlotte Business Journal

January 19, 2016

MISO Reliability Subcommittee Briefs

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.

— Amanda Durish Cook

January 19, 2016

ERCOT Energy Use up 2.2% in 2015; Wind Surpasses Nuclear

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.

— Tom Kleckner

January 19, 2016

State Briefs

State Auditor Doubts Energy Efficiency Initiative

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.”

More: The News Journal

INDIANA

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.”

More: Public News Service

IOWA

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.

More: Midwest Energy News

MICHIGAN

Lawmaker to Concentrate on Energy Laws in 2016

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.”

More: The Associated Press

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.

More: WBKB 11

MINNESOTA

Scandia to Build 5-MW Community Solar Garden

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.

More: Pioneer Press

Judge Advances Great Northern Line Route

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.

More: Grand Forks Herald

MONTANA

Regulatory Panel Averts Shutdown of Coal Mine

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.

More: The Associated Press

NEW HAMPSHIRE

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.

More: New Hampshire Union Leader

NEW YORK

Hydro Plant Proposed on Canal near Albany

A new 10-MW hydroelectric power plant is being proposed for Lock C1 on the Champlain Canal in Waterford, north of Albany.

Albany Engineering has filed for a preliminary permit with FERC for the new facility, which could also be reduced in size to produce 4 MW.

The firm has designed or rebuilt many of the hydro power plants upstate, but it did not disclose the identity of its latest client.

More: Times Union

Plan Could Offset Tax Revenue Loss

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.

More: Buffalo News

NORTH DAKOTA

Commissioner Withdraws from Dakota Access Pipeline Process

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.

More: Forum News Service

OHIO

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.

More: The Cincinnati Enquirer

OKLAHOMA

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.

More: The Associated Press

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.

More: The Oklahoman

PENNSYLVANIA

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.

More: Natural Gas Intel

RHODE ISLAND

Plant’s Climate Impacts Review to Come

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.

More: Providence Journal

SOUTH DAKOTA

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.

More: Butte County Post

TEXAS

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.

More: The Dallas Morning News

VIRGINIA

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.

More: Capital News Service

WISCONSIN

Assembly Passes Measure to End Nuclear Moratorium

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.

More: The Associated Press

January 19, 2016

OMS IDs Capacity, DR, Cost Allocation as Key 2016 Issues

By Amanda Durish Cook

The Organization of MISO States board approved its 2016 Strategic Initiative on Thursday, calling for the RTO to focus on issues including resource adequacy, capacity, demand response and cost allocations under the settlement of the SPP transmission dispute.

“There were several different focus areas,” said OMS President Sally Talberg, of the Michigan Public Service Commission.

At the request of Minnesota Public Utilities Commissioner Nancy Lange, the strategy document was amended to include mention of MISO’s stakeholder redesign.

The board also discussed MISO’s queue reform. (See MISO Unveils Queue Reform Transition as Wind Advocates Seek Delay.) Lange said MISO contacted Minnesota officials to solicit feedback on the changes. Minnesota has “bumped up against queue restraints in the past,” Lange said, adding that the reform will be a welcome change.

Comments on MISO’s queue reform filing are due to FERC on Jan. 28. OMS Executive Director Tanya Paslawski said the group is determining if and what’s appropriate to file.

Members also discussed FERC’s Dec. 31 ruling ordering MISO to change the way it conducts capacity auctions. (See FERC Orders MISO to Change Auction Rules.) Several regulators said they’d like to see changes to the auction rules.

“We don’t have the jurisdictional authority to say, ‘MISO you must do this.’ That’s up to FERC, but at the end of the day, MISO knows that as a state, we’re very discontented right now,” Illinois Commerce Commissioner Sherina Maye Edwards said. “We can address these Zone 4 issues without negatively impacting other states.”

Talberg said Michigan is also following the capacity auction issue closely. “We’re a kind of a fish-out-of-water state in that we are a hybrid state,” she said. Michigan caps retail choice at 10% of each utility’s retail sales.

January 12, 2016

Company Briefs

Eversource Energy and National Grid have completed a three-state $483 million transmission project to serve southern New England.

The Interstate Reliability Project included station upgrades and the installation of a new 345-kV transmission line along 75 miles of existing rights of way in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. “The Interstate Reliability Project improves the efficiency of the grid by eliminating system bottlenecks and improving the flow of power within our region,” said David Boguslawski, vice president of transmission strategy and operations at Eversource.

More: Eversource and National Grid

Fuel Cells to Help Power Research Facility

FuelCell Energy has announced a deal to install a natural gas-powered fuel cell system capable of producing 5.6 MW at Pfizer’s Groton research facility.

The company expects the two fuel cell power plants to be in place and operating by summer. The system will provide electricity and steam for the 160-acre facility under a 20-year power purchase agreement.

FuelCell also said the system would operate in synch with Pfizer’s regular electricity purchases and will be able to provide power during any grid outages. The companies did not disclose the financial terms of the deal.

More: Hartford Courant (subscription required)

Austin Energy GM Calls for Independent Board to Run Utility

Larry Weis, who in his final weeks as Austin Energy’s general manager, says the municipal utility should be run primarily by an independent board and not the Austin City Council, calling the newly elected council “naïve” about utility issues and vulnerable to outside influences. He also called for increased base utility rates for residential customers.

Weis, who earns $315,000 as the city’s highest-paid employee, is leaving the country’s eighth-largest public electric utility later this month to run Seattle’s electric utility.

Weis had some advice for his replacement. “You can’t come here and just do anything you want,” said Weis, 61, who took the reins of Austin Energy in 2010. “You’ve got to play ball with the rest of the city. There are a lot of problems in getting things done that way.”

More: Austin American-Statesman

Southern Reports More Delays, Costs for Kemper Plant Start-up

Southern Co.’s troubled clean coal plant in Kemper County, Miss., is still running into problems, and the company said it might delay the scheduled start-up again. Southern estimated that the plant, the first of its kind in the U.S., would cost $2.8 billion when it was first announced. The price tag is now $6.5 billion.

The plant is designed to turn coal into gas, and capture the resulting carbon dioxide and sequester it in underground storage caverns. Repeated design changes, construction overruns and other cost increases have plagued the project. Southern, while not saying how much longer testing and reconfiguring would take, has acknowledged that each month’s delay costs it $43 million.

“While these tests have confirmed the design of these first-of-a-kind systems, we have also identified some modifications, rework and needed repairs that will be implemented and retested before these systems can be placed in service,” a Southern spokesperson said. “This is not unexpected for systems being commercialized for the first time.”

More: Bloomberg Business

Ameren Warns Dockside Customers Before Discharging Dam

Ameren Missouri opened spill gates at Bagnell Dam in central Missouri last week in order to accommodate flow as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released a large amount of rainwater stored 90 miles upstream at Truman Dam. The swollen Truman Reservoir has been building up rainwater since late December.

The water dispatch led Ameren Missouri to warn residents along the shores of the Lake of the Ozarks and the Osage River to shut power off to their docks and other waterside structures until the fluctuating water levels recede.

“We plan to have the spill gates open for up to two weeks,” said Warren Witt, director of Hydro Operations at Osage Energy Center. “When the Truman Dam waters are discharged, Osage Energy Center will remain on heavy generation for another several weeks as we draw down the lake to our annual spring level of 654 feet.”

More: Ameren Missouri

LS Power Announces Expansion of Virginia Energy Center

LS Power wants to expand a generating plant near Kings Dominion, a theme park in Virginia, by building two more combustion turbines to generate a combined 340 MW. Doswell Limited Partnership, which is controlled by LS Power, has applied for permission to construct the two turbines.

There already are four combined cycle turbines on the site generating 665 MW, as well as a simple cycle turbine with a capacity of 171 MW. The company believes there is market demand for more power in the area, especially gas-fired peaking capacity. “It’s driven by a lot of market moves such as coal plants retiring, the price of natural gas and consumers’ demand for power,” said Tony Hammond, asset manager for Doswell.

More: Richmond Times-Dispatch

Duke to Build 17-MW Solar Farm in Indiana

Duke Energy has announced plans to build a 17-MW solar facility on the grounds of a Navy base in Indiana. The 145-acre site at Naval Support Activity Crane, near Plainfield, will have about 76,000 solar panels, according to the company. When completed, it will be one of the largest solar facilities in Indiana.

The company has filed for permits from the Utility Regulatory Commission. The company will make the energy available to Duke Energy Indiana customers, including the naval base.

It would be Duke’s second solar farm on a military base. The company built a 13-MW solar farm at Marine base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.

More: Inside Indiana Business

NRG Home CEO McBee Announces Departure

Amid an exodus of executives at NRG Energy, Steve McBee has departed as president and CEO of NRG Home, the company’s retail residential business unit.

The company did not give a reason for McBee’s departure. His exit comes about a month after NRG CEO David Crane stepped down amid a steep downturn of the company’s stock price. Robyn Beavers, founder and leader of a microgrid research and development organization within NRG called Station A Group, also left last month.

NRG Home is NRG’s residential retail division, which includes its solar energy business. McBee came to NRG in December 2014 from a D.C.-based strategic consulting business that he founded.

More: Bloomberg News; Greentech Media

ComEd Teams with Startup to Give Customers Energy Info

Commonwealth Edison has teamed up with a startup created at Northwestern University to provide customers a way to track and change their energy use. MeterGenius allows customers to go online and access their energy-use data collected by ComEd’s smart meters.

A pilot program allows 6,500 ComEd customers to use MeterGenius tools to earn rewards such as gift cards and appliances, and enter competitions to see who can reduce their energy use the most. MeterGenius was started by four Northwestern graduate students in 2013 and now is based in St. Louis.

More: The Daily Northwestern

FirstEnergy Conducting Study on Reopening Hatfield’s Ferry

FirstEnergy is studying whether to reopen a 1,710-MW coal-fired plant in southwestern Pennsylvania that it closed in 2013. The company mothballed the Hatfield’s Ferry plant in Greene County because of low wholesale prices and declining demand in the area, along with anticipated costs of bringing its coal-fired generators into environmental compliance.

The company says it is reconsidering the closure because of evolving market forces and changing regional capacity conditions. “We’re only evaluating whether this would be a feasible option down the road,” said Jennifer Young, FirstEnergy spokeswoman. Young said the company is looking at all options, including the possibility of shifting the plant to use natural gas instead of coal.

The status of a second coal-fired plant that was also shut down in 2013, the 370-MW Mitchell plant in nearby Washington County, is not currently being reconsidered.

More: Observer-Reporter

Exelon Signs Go up on Baltimore Tower

Workers have installed signs denoting a 20-story tower under construction at Harbor Point in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor to be the local headquarters of Exelon.

The tower, which will also have 100 apartment units, is being built on the grounds of the former Allied Signal Chemical Plant between Harbor East and Fells Point. Exelon committed to maintaining a local headquarters when it acquired Constellation Energy. The tower is slated to open later this year.

More: Baltimore Business Journal

January 12, 2016

IPPs Challenge Dominion on Proposed Va. Generator

By Rich Heidorn Jr.

Independent power producers are challenging Dominion Resources’ bid to build a 1,588-MW combined cycle plant in the first major test of a 2013 Virginia law requiring utilities to demonstrate that they have considered “third-party market alternatives” to self-build projects.

Dominion Virginia Power filed its request for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity with the Virginia State Corporation Commission in July, saying its proposed $1.3 billion plant in Greensville County was cheaper than any of the alternatives submitted in response to its request for proposals to fill the increased power demands it expects by 2019 (PUE-2015-00075). Evidentiary hearings on the proposal are scheduled to begin today in Richmond.

In a joint filing to the SCC last week, the Electric Power Supply Association and the PJM Power Providers Group (P3) challenged the fairness of Dominion’s RFP and its evaluation of the competing bids. They said regulators should deny Dominion’s request and order a new “open, broad RFP subject to independent review.”

The groups said Dominion’s RFP “was not designed to elicit competitive bids” but to satisfy the legal requirements to justify its self-build proposal. While the company had been planning a 3×1 combined cycle plant since 2011, the November 2014 RFP, which sought baseload/intermediate generating resources in service by 2020, gave competitors only six weeks to submit bids. They also contended the RFP included “unnecessary and overly restrictive” specifications regarding contractual terms, fuel supply and the plant’s location.

Internal Review

In its application, Dominion’s said its self-build proposal and responses from seven other bidders were impartially evaluated by a Dominion team separate from the staffers developing the Greensville plant. The proposals were judged on price and non-price metrics, including “economic impact, fuel strategy, facility reliability, bidder financial strength and environmental risks.”

The company called the Greensville power station “the clear economic and operational choice” as the next required resource for its long-term needs, saying it would save customers $2.1 billion in net present value compared to purchases from the PJM wholesale market.

“It will support a continued balance of demand and supply resources, in addition to wholesale market purchases, and will serve as a prudent addition to the company’s generating fleet,” Dominion said.

If approved, the Greensville plant would be the third combined cycle plant built by Dominion in five years.

The company said it is projecting peak load growth of approximately 4,580 MW in the Dominion zone over the next 15 years, an average increase of 1.5%. PJM’s 2015 load forecast identified the zone as the fastest growing in the RTO because of its popularity as a site for energy-hungry data centers. (See Changes to PJM Load Forecast Cuts Benchmark Peaks.)

The plant would boost Dominion’s rate base. The company proposed a revenue requirement of $41.6 million per year based on a 10% return on equity. SCC staff said the requirement should be cut by $2.5 million based on an ROE of 9.25%.

EPSA and P3 said the SCC should require a neutral, third-party evaluation of bids because the utility has a conflict of interest.

“The notion that Dominion employees can impartially review the company’s own proposal simply because they were not on the ‘self-build team,’ along with the company’s conclusion that its option represents a net present value savings of $1.5 [billion] to $2.304 billion compared to the alternatives evaluated, are suspect at best,” the groups said. “There is nothing in [the company’s] testimony that gives us any idea of what the company actually did to evaluate alternatives.”

The company’s two proposals received scores of 4.52 and 4.54 on a 5-point scale, while the highest scoring of the seven competitive bids received only a 3.3 rating.

SCC Staff Noncommittal

The groups were also critical of the SCC staff, saying it “has not undertaken a critical analysis of Dominion’s conclusions regarding its analysis of market alternatives.”

Marc A. Tufaro, a principal utilities analyst in the commission’s Division of Energy Regulation, filed testimony Nov. 20 saying the Greensville plant “is expected to have the lowest total cost when dispatched in excess of a 20% capacity factor.”

Tufaro did challenge the company’s projected savings, saying its forecasts of fuel prices, market purchase prices and other factors were “extremely difficult to predict with a high degree of accuracy.”

Tufaro said whether Dominion adequately considered third-party market alternatives was “a difficult question to answer,” expressing no opinion.

“Should the commission determine that the company has adequately considered third-party market alternatives, staff is not opposed to the approval of a CPCN for Greensville.”

Tufaro said “no respondents or comments [were] filed by the public contesting” Dominion’s conclusion Greensville was a better option than any third-party alternatives. EPSA and P3 said Tufaro ignored testimony by a consultant to environmental groups who they said criticized “the limited scope” of Dominion’s RFP.

2013 Law

The Virginia General Assembly amended the state Electric Utility Regulation Act in February 2013 requiring that a “utility seeking approval to construct a generating facility shall demonstrate that it has considered and weighed alternative options, including third-party market alternatives, in its selection process.”

In October 2015, the SCC rejected Dominion’s proposed 20-MW Remington solar facility, ruling that the evidence submitted by the company — an analysis of North Carolina’s solar market — was insufficient because the resources the company considered were already committed.

The commission said a “serious and credible RFP process would certainly be relevant to whether a CPCN applicant has met the code’s requirement to consider and weigh third-party market alternatives in the company’s selection process; however, we do not need to rule herein that a formal RFP must always be performed in a CPCN case in order to fulfill the demonstration required by [the law] regarding alternative options, including third-party market alternatives. There may be other credible methods to meet the statute’s requirement.”

January 12, 2016January 29, 2024

MISO: Redispatch Key to CPP Compliance Through 2025

By Tom Kleckner

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — MISO’s 15 states may be able to comply with the Clean Power Plan through 2025 by redispatching the RTO’s generation fleet, according to early modeling by RTO staff.

David Boyd, vice president of government and regulatory affairs, told officials of Arkansas’ Department of Environmental Quality and Public Service Commission on Jan. 5 that MISO has been conducting modeling exercises in three “discrete tranches.” The first analysis, due to be completed in February, was conducted to help the RTO understand how it might help its footprint reach compliance.

“It looks like we can be compliant as a region through 2025, primarily through dispatching energy,” Boyd said in discussing the preliminary results. “We believe we can use the new resources coming online and existing resources to reach compliance.”

Boyd told the joint stakeholder meeting that the study is based on a “viable trading scheme” within its region. He said MISO is also conducting individual state-by-state analyses and an evaluation of leakage’s effect on generation dispatch.

“As we look forward with state [renewable] standards, bringing more wind resources online, state energy efficiency programs … we’ll be all right,” Boyd said.

Boyd said more information is forthcoming at the Jan. 20 Planning Advisory Committee meeting. MISO staff told the PAC in December that a flexible compliance strategy that mixes generation resources and trading programs will lower compliance costs. (See MISO: Coal Retirements, Gas Prices, Flexibility Key to CPP Compliance Costs.)

Boyd told the group that changing MISO’s dispatch processes by incorporating carbon costs could “lead to an increase in the cost structure of electricity.”

The ADEQ and APSC — which are jointly developing the state’s response to the CPP — have been gathering comments and feedback. The state’s comments on the CPP are due to EPA by Jan. 21. Arkansas and other states face a Sept. 6 deadline to submit either an implementation plan or an extension request to EPA; states that don’t meet the deadline run the risk of having a federal implementation plan imposed.

ADEQ Director Becky Keogh reminded the group that Gov. Asa Hutchinson has directed them to find the least-cost compliance method. At the same time, Arkansas’ attorney general has joined the multistate litigation against the plan.

“Arkansas is continuing to pursue a dual-strategy approach that involves communications with other state agencies, the attorney general’s office and the governor’s office,” said Stuart Spencer, the ADEQ’s associate director of air quality. “While we still plan to enter comments, we’re mindful our attorney general has entered litigation.”

The stakeholders were joined by Sarah Adair, a senior policy associate with Duke University’s Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, who has been crisscrossing the country convening regional dialogues on the CPP. She described the pros and cons of the mass- and rate-based compliance approaches.

Several stakeholders noted the absence of a reliability safety valve in the federal implementation plan. “My understanding of how EPA would approach reliability would be to work with FERC on the federal plan” in the same way states are required to demonstrate they considered reliability in developing a state plan, Adair said.

“The EPA says in the final rule [it’s] not worried about reliability with a trading system,” she said. “With the allowances or credits, companies can always go out and buy more credits if they need to run a unit more.”

The flexibility of trading, which does not limit emissions from any particular unit, “inherently addresses the issue of reliability,” Adair said in an interview.

January 12, 2016April 7, 2025

MISO Preparing a Place for Energy Storage in Tariff

By Amanda Durish Cook

CARMEL, Ind. — With one energy storage project under construction and several others being considered, MISO is beginning a look at rule changes needed to accommodate the emerging technology.

One fundamental question MISO will have to answer is whether storage will be considered generation or categorized as a transmission asset, MISO External Affairs Policy Advisor Jennifer Richardson said during a workshop at the Jan. 5 Market Subcommittee meeting.

“We’ve had kind of fits and starts with this issue … but as far as having a clear policy, well, that’s never happened,” Richardson said.

Last July, Indianapolis Power & Light began work on a 20-MW advanced battery, MISO’s first grid-scale storage array. The facility, located at the Harding Street Generation Station in Indianapolis, is expected to begin service in June. IPL’s parent, AES, has 116 MW of energy storage projects in operation and has 268 MW in construction or late-stage development globally.

MISO said it also has been approached by “several market participants who are considering battery storage options for the future.”

“I think what’s really noteworthy here is that there’s not a lot of precedent or cases here for MISO to determine whether this will be behind-the-meter or in-front-of-the-meter,” said Executive Director of Market Design Jeff Bladen, who added that the RTO wouldn’t encourage any method of energy storage over another.

MISO wrote short-term energy storage — such as batteries and flywheels, which can supply less than an hour of power — into its Tariff in 2009. Long-term resources such as pumped storage can provide energy, regulating and spinning reserves under the Tariff.

However, medium-term storage — battery and thermal storage that can provide hours of power — cannot serve as capacity, energy or contingency reserves under current rules.

“Medium-term storage is gaining a lot of interest,” said MISO Principal Advisor of Market Development and Analysis Yonghong Chen.

Chen said stakeholders need to discuss what sort of products MISO should provide. “Storage is a broad range of emerging technology … it can be complicated.”

MISO said CAISO, with 5,800 MW of storage in operation or development, is the most advanced region. ISO-NE, by contrast, has less than 1 MW of storage. PJM, which has about 200 MW of energy storage in operation, also has been considering rule changes. (See Treat Electric Storage Like Limited DR: PJM.)

“CAISO is certainly on one end of the spectrum and MISO may be somewhere in the middle. The issues that we’re looking for guidance on [are] really pretty vast,” Richardson said.

FERC also has been updating its rules to open ancillary services markets to more competition from storage. (See FERC Clarifies Energy Storage Rule.)

Josh Pack, manager of energy technologies at Vectren, said projects proposed by market participants can shape policy. “There are emerging business models and new market entrants helping to figure this out,” he said.

Wind on the Wires Executive Director Beth Soholt said policy should consider how independent power producers or utilities will be compensated. “It comes down to one question: ‘What do I get paid for?’” she said.

MISO is asking for a first round of written feedback on the issues raised in the workshop by Jan. 22.

Bladen said MISO plans to review the responses at the Feb. 2 MSC meeting. Tasks relating to policy formation may be delegated to either the MSC or Planning Advisory Committee, officials said.

January 12, 2016

Exelon Calls FirstEnergy PPA ‘Grossly Lopsided,’ Says it Can Offer a Better Deal

By Ted Caddell and Suzanne Herel

Exelon, which is seeking subsidies for its Illinois nuclear plants, has joined the opposition to FirstEnergy’s attempts to win guaranteed payments for its Ohio power plants. And it says it has a better offer.

In a filing with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, Exelon said regulators should reject FirstEnergy’s “grossly lopsided” power purchase agreement, proposing a competitive bidding process to supply the 3,000 MW for which FirstEnergy is seeking guaranteed rates (the combined value of FirstEnergy’s W.H. Sammis coal plant and its Davis-Besse nuclear station).

Exelon Director of Regulatory and Government Affairs Lael Campbell said the company would submit an offer providing “well over $2 billion in savings to Ohio families and businesses” compared to FirstEnergy’s proposed PPA.

“Today we are taking the unprecedented step of committing to offer into that competitive process at a price level that will guarantee billions in savings so that no one can misunderstand the gravity of the harm that would occur to Ohio customers if the commission approved” the FirstEnergy PPA, he said. “We are putting our money where our mouth is.”

The specifics of Exelon’s offer were redacted, but Campbell said it would be an eight-year fixed price for energy and capacity of about 3,000 MW that would come from “100% zero carbon resources” — nuclear, hydro, wind and solar facilities in PJM.

Exelon spokesman Paul Elsberg said there have been no further communications with PUCO regarding the offer.

FirstEnergy spokesman Doug Colafella said the Exelon offer ignores one of the fundamentals of the FirstEnergy offer — a way to secure power from in-state generators and the almost 1,000 jobs of those who work at the Sammis and Davis-Besse plants.

Exelon, he said, has “no plants in Ohio, no jobs in Ohio.”

AEP PPA

PUCO also is considering a settlement calling for eight years of guaranteed rates for some of American Electric Power’s plants. Exelon said time constraints prevented it from making a similar offer in that case.

“Exelon requested additional time to file testimony in the AEP case, but the motion was not granted,” Elsberg wrote in an email. “The arguments made by Exelon against the First Energy proposal apply equally to the AEP proposal.”

Last week, PUCO ruled that the Sierra Club, IGS Energy and Direct Energy must submit to questioning to explain why they are supporting the AEP proposal.

PJM Urged to Oppose PPAs

On Jan. 6, the PJM Power Providers Group (P3) and the Electric Power Supply Association sent a letter to the PJM Board of Managers urging the RTO to actively oppose the AEP and FirstEnergy PPAs, contending they would undermine PJM’s competitive electricity market.

Last month, PJM submitted testimony to PUCO, saying the PPAs needed changes to preserve competition and the state’s ability to attract merchant generation. PJM has said it plans to issue a market analysis of the PPAs this spring, but that may be after the commission renders a judgment. (See PJM Seeks Changes to AEP, FirstEnergy PPAs.)

P3 and EPSA said the RTO’s actions were too little, too late.

“In testimony recently submitted to the PUCO long after the cases were underway and the dangers known, PJM indicated that PJM did not take a position on these nefarious efforts to undermine PJM’s markets,” they wrote. “Rather than advising the PUCO on the devastating impacts to the market in the short and long term, PJM instead sent a message that these subsidies would somehow be acceptable if certain conditions were attached.”

The groups said that the RTO is leaving the commission to evaluate the proposals “in a vacuum.”

“PJM should not be afraid to say when a program being considered at the state level directly undermines the wholesale market,” it said. “One would expect that the Ohio commission, while reserving the opportunity to disagree, would welcome the input of PJM on the full ramifications of what has been proposed.”

The groups said the reliability and competitive prices provided by PJM “will evaporate if the market is corrupted by state actions that subsidize uneconomic units.”

PJM declined to comment on the letter.

Pablo Vegas, president and CEO of Ohio Power Co. (AEP Ohio), responded to the letter with his own to PJM, saying P3 and EPSA were wrong to accuse the company “of undermining the very markets AEP Ohio has long sought to support and improve.”

“AEP Ohio has carefully worked to confine the proceedings before the PUCO … to matters of retail rate recovery,” he said.

He noted that PJM historically has refrained from “intruding upon retail ratemaking proceedings — or attempting to influence retail policies,” and urged it not to deviate from that precedent.

In a Jan. 7 order, PUCO denied PJM’s request to be a late intervenor in the AEP case but invited the RTO to submit a friend of the court brief to outline its concerns and make recommendations.

Exelon’s Campbell said FirstEnergy was a champion of the competitive process until now. “Ironically, FirstEnergy led the drive to competition and up until this proceeding took positions before this commission and other agencies and public officials which embraced competition and retail choice,” Campbell testified. “FirstEnergy was right then; it is wrong today.”

Exelon Seeks Relief for Ill. Nukes

While it is opposing FirstEnergy’s PPAs in Ohio, Exelon is seeking relief for its nuclear generators in Illinois. The company has requested that Illinois expand its clean energy subsidies to include nuclear power alongside wind and solar energy.

A bill backed by Exelon stalled in the Illinois legislature last year. Those critical of the Exelon subsidies have called them a nuclear “bailout” and said they would cost ratepayers around $300 million annually in surcharges.

In November, Exelon announced it has delayed for a year a decision on whether to mothball its Clinton reactor. (See Exelon Defers Clinton Closure; MISO Hints at Changes.)