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November 13, 2024

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New Jersey BPU Picks 8 Grid-scale Solar Projects Totaling 310 MW

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities on April 17 approved eight projects with solar capacity totaling 310 MW in its second solicitation for grid-scale projects, nine months after declining to support any bids in the first solicitation due to cost. 

The board received 14 proposals in response to its solicitation for 300 MW through the state’s Competitive Solar Incentive (CSI) program. The capacity selected includes 92 MW of storage that was paired with two of the projects. Five of the eight projects are for “basic grid supply” while the other three will be on contaminated sites and landfills. The BPU did not approve any projects in the “grid supply on the built environment” category, which includes rooftops, or the category for net metered residential projects larger than 5 MW.  

Four of the approved projects have a capacity of more than 50 MW, and the remainder are between 2.7 and 13 MW. The largest, the 95-MW Harmony Plains Solar, will be in Harmony Township in Western New Jersey and cover 383 acres. 

BPU President Christine Guhl-Sadovy called the board’s decision “very exciting” in its ability to “bring solar through a competitive process, as well as this first energy storage project.” 

“It was terrific result,” said Fred DeSanti, executive director of the New Jersey Solar Energy Coalition. After the first solicitation failed in July, DeSanti expressed skepticism that developers would be able to submit low enough bids for the agency. “The number of projects, the size of the projects; [we’re] very happy.” 

He said he was especially surprised with the board’s decision to award more than the target combined capacity. 

“This is a very positive signal for the solar community in New Jersey,” he said. “It shows the state is still very dedicated to moving forward and in a big way.” 

Ed Potosnak, executive director of the New Jersey League of Conservation Voters, said the solicitation showed the state’s “ongoing commitment for a 100% clean energy future.” 

The CSI program is seen by officials as a key element in reaching the state’s solar capacity goals of 12.2 GW of solar energy by 2030 and 17.2 GW by 2035. Those are well above the nearly 4.8 GW installed in the state as of Feb. 29, of which 815 MW — or less than 2% — is grid-scale, according to BPU figures. 

The BPU designed the CSI program to set incentive levels for grid-supply projects — those selling into the wholesale markets — through market forces. Developers bid the lowest level of Solar Renewable Energy Certificates they would need to complete the project, and the BPU backs projects based on the highest bids. 

In declining to award bids in the first solicitation, BPU officials said they exceeded their agency’s confidential price caps. They suggested at the time that the pricey submissions were because of the high level of economic and regulatory uncertainty nationwide, as well as higher-than-historic costs, which all impacted the development of larger-scale solar. (See NJ Rejects Solar Bids as Too Expensive.) 

Lyle Rawlings, president of Mid-Atlantic Solar & Storage Industries Association, said the solicitation’s outcome is “good for the sector.” He said it is difficult to know whether developers submitted less expensive bids in the second solicitation or the BPU loosened its standards because the agency does not reveal what it considers acceptable. 

“There’s no data to tell us and no way to find out definitively whether they raised the cap, or whether the developers sharpened their pencils and lowered the prices,” he said. “If I were to guess I would say a little of both. I suspect that the BPU adopted a more reasonable price cap, and the development community noted that they all lost last time.” 

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Wash. Cap-and-invest Supporters Launch Anti-repeal Effort

Bolstered by a nearly $5 million war chest, supporters of Washington’s cap-and-invest system have begun efforts to defeat a campaign that seeks to scrap the carbon allowance program through a referendum this fall. 

Conservative group Let’s Go Washington placed Initiative 2117 on the November ballot to call on voters to repeal the program, which the state’s Department of Ecology implemented last year as part of the Climate Commitment Act. The effort comes as Washington moves to link the program with the larger and well-established cap-and-trade program shared by California and Quebec. (See Calif., Quebec, Wash. to Explore Linking Carbon Markets.) 

Cap-and-invest supporters in February formed the No 2117 coalition, which has collected about $4.7 million and spent around $365,000, according to the Washington Public Disclosure Commission (PDC).  

Big donors include Microsoft founder Bill Gates and software developer Chris Stolte, who each contributed $1 million, as well as husband-and-wife software developers Craig McKibben and Sarah Merner, who together gave $1 million.  

In a press release April 17, the coalition said pending donations would increase the total to about $11 million, with pledges from Amazon, Microsoft and former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and his wife, Connie Ballmer. 

“We’re going to make sure we have the resources needed to defeat 2117,” No 2117 spokesman Mark Prentice told NetZero Insider.  

The membership of No 2117 is dominated by environmental and liberal political organizations, but also includes the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, BP America and the Certified Electrical Workers of Washington union.  

During its signature-gathering phase last year, Let’s Go Washington raised $7.37 million and spent $7.66 million, according to the PDC. The group has raised $765,488 and has spent $464,970 so far this year, and has $256,873 in debts. 

Redmond hedge fund manager Brian Heywood provided roughly $5 million of the group’s 2023 donations to get I-2117 on November’s ballot.  

“I’m not putting any more money into it,” Heywood told NetZero Insider. That $5 million also contributed to placing two other Let’s Go Washington initiatives on the November ballots: one that would repeal the state’s fledging capital gains tax and another that would allow residents to opt out of a tax that funds a state program to provide for long-term health care. 

Cap-and-invest supporters “are going to have to raise $15 million to convince people of something that is not true. [The program] is not designed to remove climate change; it is designed to be a tax,” Heywood said. 

Both sides said they expect many small contributors to donate to their campaigns.  

“Other side is a bunch of big money. … They’re going to make me the villain. … This is the American Revolution army versus the well-financed British army,” Heywood said.  

‘Catastrophic Blow’

Meanwhile, the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) — which represents four of Washington’s oil refineries, as well as others along the West Coast — plans to sit out the balloting. 

“We do not oppose the [Climate Commitment Act] and believe the cap-and-trade program should be fixed rather than repealed. We are not involved in the campaign,” WSPA spokesman Kevin Slagle said in an email. 

Washington’s fifth oil refinery is owned by No 2117 coalition member BP America. 

Let’s Go Washington’s repeal campaign plans revolve around the rise in Washington’s gasoline prices, while No 2117’s efforts will stress the fallout for Washingtonians if the cap-and-invest program is revoked.  

“We’re going to talk about the costs of what [cap-and-invest opponents] are imposing,” Prentice said.  

“I-2117 would deal a catastrophic blow to efforts to reduce carbon and health-harming air pollution, and it would have a devastating impact on our state budget,” David Mendoza, director public advocacy and engagement at The Nature Conservancy in Washington, said in No 2117’s April 18 news release. “I-2117 would take away billions of dollars for needed investments in renewable energy, clean air and water, healthy communities, healthy forests and economic support for those most impacted by the climate crisis. That’s why a broad coalition of organizations and community leaders from across our state has come together to mobilize communities in Washington to defeat I-2117.”  

Since being implemented last year, Washington’s cap-and-invest program has raised almost $2.1 billion. The state’s Legislature recently appropriated $816 million in cap-and-invest money to support programs during the fiscal year running from July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025. 

That spending is split between the Legislature’s transportation and capital budgets. 

The transportation portion includes building hybrid electric-diesel ferries, buying electric school and transit buses, installing charging stations, bolstering Washington’s fledgling hydrogen industry, purchasing electric vehicles for several state and local agencies, and designing a hydrofoil for the Kitsap Transit system, plus several road, bridge and small boat projects.  

The capital budget portion includes grants or direct appropriations for energy conservation at the state’s universities, forest land purchases, restoring landscapes destroyed by wildfires, restoring coastlines, salmon recovery, sewage treatment and EV chargers. It also covers energy conservation measures at juvenile detention facilities, decarbonization projects, energy conservation in other buildings, and modernizing conservation measures in small school districts and tribal schools. 

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NJ Creates Green Bank to Support Clean Energy Goals

The New Jersey Economic Development Authority on April 15 approved the establishment of a green bank to help the state reach its clean energy goals by investing private and public money in financial instruments supporting clean energy projects. 

The New Jersey Green Bank (NJGB) will make investments through “debt, credit enhancements and other financial vehicles,” the EDA said in a statement. It “will be dedicated to investing in projects, technologies and companies that align with the state’s climate goals, including in areas such as zero-emission transportation, building decarbonization and resiliency, and clean energy generation and storage.” 

“The NJGB will also look to facilitate the development of climate and clean energy capital markets in the state through forms of financial support, such as warehousing and securitization, that address underdeveloped or nonexistent capital markets for these investments,” the agency said. 

EDA CEO Tim Sullivan called the bank a “pivotal step in the state’s continued push to meet the ongoing challenges of climate change.” New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) has set a goal for the state to reach 100% clean energy by 2035. 

“The NJGB will inject capital into New Jersey’s clean energy economy and support green businesses and good-paying jobs in the field,” Sullivan said. “Additionally, the investments made by the NJGB will pave the way for a cleaner and healthier environment for our residents and future generations.” 

Projects the bank supports will have to be new, rather than existing projects seeking refinancing, and must lead to reduced greenhouse gas emissions or other co-pollutants, according to the EDA. They could include solar power, onshore and offshore wind, all-electric heat pumps, geothermal and battery storage, the agency said. 

New Jersey follows several states that have created similar banks, among them Massachusetts, which created its Community Climate Bank in 2023. That bank started with $50 million in state funds and an initial focus on affordable housing, according to its website. Connecticut, Colorado and California also have green banks, according to the Coalition for Green Capital, which assists green banks in securing investments. The EDA’s proposal, issued last year, listed 28 other entities, mainly states, that have created green banks. 

New York’s Green Bank, a division of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, says it has committed more than $2 billion to finance clean energy and sustainable infrastructure projects over its 10-year history. The typical investment is $10 million to $15 million, according to the agency, which says it has an annual investment target of $225 million. 

Murphy allocated $40 million to the Green Fund in his 2024 budget, released last year. The fund “could attract up to $280 million in private capital to advance projects to advance the state’s new and bold environmental goals,” the budget book said. The bank is a subawardee in an application by the Coalition of Green Capital for funding from EPA’s National Clean Investment Fund (NCIF). 

In addition, the green bank could receive at least $100 million from the NCIF, $202 million from the Coalition for Green Capital and $350 million from Ecority, a clean energy financing nonprofit, according to a memorandum on the Green Bank proposal by Sullivan. 

New Jersey has for several years sought to launch such a bank. The state Energy Master Plan, released in 2019, outlined the concept and benefits of such a bank, saying it would help address an existing financing gap in customer segments: “those who lack access to the capital necessary to fund energy efficiency projects on their own but earn too much to qualify for low-income incentive programs.” 

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Industry Approves NERC’s Cyber Monitoring Standards

A proposed reliability standard to require utilities to implement internal network security monitoring (INSM) software on select grid cyber systems won industry approval this week, leaving a clear path for the ERO to submit the standard to FERC comfortably ahead of the commission’s deadline. 

The latest ballot period for CIP-015-1 (Cybersecurity — INSM) began April 11 and closed April 17, the same day as the formal comment period that began April 5. NERC’s Standards Committee authorized reducing comment and ballot periods for the project to as few as 10 days because FERC in 2023 ordered the ERO to submit standards requiring INSM by July 9 of this year. 

According to NERC’s ballot system, the standard received 175 votes for passage and 37 against. Applying the ERO’s weighting procedure (which proportionally reduces the impact of industry segments with fewer than 10 voters), the final result is a 76.78 weighted value in favor.  

The standard needed a two-thirds majority to pass. Now that the target has been reached, the normal move is to submit it for a five-day final ballot; a spokesperson for NERC told ERO Insider the team for Project 2023-03 (INSM) has not met to discuss the next step for the project.  

Under new rules approved by FERC in November, drafting teams may choose to conclude a standards action without a final ballot, but only if the previous ballot received approval from at least 85% of the registered ballot body, no further changes are proposed, and the team has made a good faith effort to resolve applicable objections and responded to industry comments in writing. (See FERC Approves NERC Standards Process Changes.) 

FERC ordered NERC to add INSM to its cybersecurity requirements in response to incidents like the SolarWinds hack of 2020, through which thousands of public- and private-sector organizations — including FERC itself — may have been infected with malicious code. (See FERC Orders Internal Cyber Monitoring in Response to SolarWinds Hack.) Commission staff said the SolarWinds attack demonstrated that an attacker “can bypass all perimeter-based security controls … and compromise” electronic networks believed to be secure. 

The standard this week would require registered entities to “implement one or more documented process(es) for [INSM] of networks … of high-impact [grid] cyber systems and medium-impact … systems with external routable connectivity [ERC].” 

Documented processes under the standard must include each of the following: 

    • network data feeds to monitor network activity, including connections, devices and network communications 
    • at least one method to detect anomalous network activity using the network data feeds 
    • at least one method to evaluate anomalous activity to determine what additional action is needed 

Entities would also have to implement documented processes to retain INSM data associated with anomalous network activity and to protect all data gathered or retained to prevent unauthorized deletion or modification. 

The limit of the standard’s applicability to medium-impact systems with ERC and all high-impact systems is in keeping with FERC’s original order. The commission also ordered NERC last year to examine the feasibility of implementing INSM in low-impact systems and medium-impact systems without ERC, but the ERO recommended against expanding the standard’s reach at this stage in a study submitted in January. (See NERC Recommends Phased Approach to INSM.) 

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Wash. Council OKs Reduced Version of Horse Heaven Hills Project

Washington’s Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council (EFSEC) on April 17 recommended approval for a slimmed-down version of a controversial wind project proposed for a site just south of the Tri-Cities in southeastern Washington.  

The EFSEC, a committee of representatives from several Washington state agencies, voted 5-2 to recommend that Gov. Jay Inslee approve the Horse Heaven Hills project. The governor now has 60 days to issue a final decision.  

Scout Clean Energy of Boulder, Colo., originally wanted to install up to 222 wind turbines that would be 500 feet tall, or up to 141 turbines that would go up to 657 feet along a 24-mile east-west stretch of the Horse Heaven Hills just south of Kennewick, Wash.  

However, EFSEC decided in February that two-mile buffer zones need to be implemented around 60 to 70 ferruginous hawk nests in that area. In 2021, the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission downgraded ferruginous hawks’ status from threatened to endangered. 

The buffer zone roughly halves the number of turbines in the project. A precise new number won’t be available until Scout maps out a revised siting plan for the turbines. The company said the changes trim nameplate capacity of the project from 1,150 MW to 236 MW. 

Scout’s original proposal also included two 500-MW solar farms on the east and west sides of the 24-mile stretch. EFSEC ordered that the eastern solar farm be removed because it is near sensitive Tribal cultural sites. 

The wind farm has drawn strong opposition from numerous Tri-Cities residents because the turbines would show up in a currently pristine view of the hills from the urban area and because they’re near the ferruginous hawk nests. A February decision by EFSEC removed turbines along the north slopes of the hills, which would also eliminate much of the Tri-Citians’ concern about their view. (See Washington Renewable Developer Rankled by Siting Board Alterations.) 

“By partially approving the Horse Heaven wind and solar project, EFSEC is balancing the need for renewable, clean energy with potential impacts on tribal cultural resources, wildlife and surrounding communities,” EFSEC Chair Kathleen Drew said at the group’s April 17 meeting. 

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Northeast States Apply for Federal Money for 2 Tx Projects

The six New England states report they’ve submitted two applications for federal funding for transmission projects aimed at improving grid reliability and enabling interconnection of clean energy resources.  

The applications are for the second round of funding from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Grid Innovation Program, which offers up to $1.82 billion, capped at $1 billion for major individual transmission projects. 

The application for the “Clean Resilience Link” project was submitted in conjunction with New York state. The project, backed by National Grid, would upgrade a 230-kV line between New York and New England to 345 kV, “increasing transfer capacity between the two regions by up to 1,000 MW.” 

Analysis led by Energy and Environmental Economics (E3) and Hitachi Energy, and independently reviewed by the Brattle Group, found the project’s benefits would well exceed its costs.

“Even recognizing the large uncertainties, the ~$1.7b estimated system-wide benefits relative to the ~$600m net costs suggests that the project is highly favorable (with a ~$1b net benefit) from a systemwide perspective,” the Brattle Group wrote.  

The firm wrote that the project would address the need for increased transmission capacity between New England and New York, which has been documented in studies including the DOE National Transmission Needs Study and Massachusetts’ Energy Pathways to Deep Decarbonization report.  

The second project, titled “Power Up New England” is backed by developers including Eversource, National Grid and Elevate Renewables. The project is intended to upgrade and add points of interconnection in southern New England to unlock up to 4,800 MW of offshore wind and battery energy storage systems. 

“As we work to achieve our climate goals and increase the generation of renewable energy in the region, we need to invest in our transmission system and storage resources to deliver clean energy to our residents and businesses,” said Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources Commissioner Elizabeth Mahony in a press release. 

“This joint application to the Grid Innovation Program underscores the importance of continued collaboration with neighboring states and puts forth thoughtful proposals that will help strengthen and prepare our regional grid,” said Dan Burgess, director of the Maine Governor’s Energy Office. 

The states noted in an April 17 announcement that the applications contain “robust Community Benefits Plans” focused on “community engagement, workforce development, and diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility.” 

The projects were selected by the states through a joint solicitation of proposals in 2023, and the states submitted concept papers to DOE for the projects in January, with help from ISO-NE. 

The first found of Grid Innovation Program awards ranged from $1.7 million for a synchronous condenser conversion project in Hawaii to $464 million for a new interconnection collaboration in the central U.S. 

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NY PSC Launches Grid of the Future Proceeding

New York has launched a process maximizing the use and effectiveness of flexible tools such as distributed energy resources and virtual power plants. 

The Public Service Commission on April 18 initiated the Grid of the Future proceeding (Case 24-E-0165) to control costs and maximize reliability amid the state’s clean energy transition. 

The order seeks to establish which capabilities will be needed, set targets for achieving those capabilities, identify the investments needed to reach those targets and identify the benefits that customers would realize when the targets are met. 

The Grid of the Future proceeding is the latest step in a process underway for over a decade, beginning with Reforming the Energy Vision (REV) in 2014 (Case 14-M-0101). 

PSC Chair Rory Christian said the process began before any current members joined the commission, and the challenges it was intended to address have come to pass. 

“They’re the type of challenges to be expected from any 100-plus-year-old system, built under a set of paradigms that are quickly being made obsolete through the progress of technology and evolving societal needs,” he said. “Challenges that are further amplified by severe weather events that are increasingly more severe.” 

The state’s landmark Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act of 2019 created a statutory requirement for 70% renewable energy by 2030 and 100% zero-emissions energy by 2040.  

The 70-by-30 goal seems increasingly out of reach amid slow regulatory processes and rising costs, but not for lack of effort — state regulators are simultaneously trying to change longstanding power generation and consumption patterns while ensuring the power grid can meet much higher demand with a much more intermittent generation portfolio. 

DERs and VPPs are expected to be an important part of a suite of dispatchable emissions-free resources to keep the lights on, and the Grid of the Future proceeding is designed to help move the state to a place where that is possible. 

Department of Public Service staff will convene at least one stakeholder conference to inform the process in the second half of this year.  

The order directs staff to conduct a Grid Flexibility Study on flexible resources’ status and potential by Nov. 15, 2024. 

The first iteration of the Grid of the Future Plan is due by Dec. 31, 2024; the second, a year later. 

The structure of the plan will evolve with stakeholder input, but initial required elements are: 

    • An inventory must be prepared of the resources expected to be needed, including how much of each is needed, how they will be obtained and what opportunities or barriers exist to securing them. 
    • Key elements of distributed system platforms must be identified; new or revised utility distributed system implementation plan requirements must be recommended. 
    • New or modified compensation plans for flexible resources must be considered, to encourage their best use by customers. 
    • Customer savings and benefits must be identified through better price signals on utility bills. 
    • The needs of market participants such as NYISO and utilities must be identified; the opportunity for changing roles and responsibilities for these participants also must be identified, along with improved interoperability among them. 
    • Changes in technology and information infrastructure must be accounted for. 
    • Rigid physical and cybersecurity protocols must be included. 
    • The plan must address variability and flexibility in the need for deployment and use. 
    • Allocation of costs and benefits among customers must be equitable.
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ISO-NE Analysis Shows Benefits of Shifting OSW Interconnection Points

Relocating two offshore wind points of interconnection (POIs) from Maine to Massachusetts could substantially reduce New England’s transmission upgrade cost requirements in the coming decades, ISO-NE told its Planning Advisory Committee on April 18. 

Shifting the points of interconnection would decrease the need for north-to-south transmission upgrades, cutting the overall cost range for transmission upgrades to $19 billion to $22 billion by 2050 compared to the original $22 billion to $26 billion estimate from ISO-NE’s 2050 Transmission Study. (See ISO-NE Prices Transmission Upgrades Needed by 2050: up to $26B.) 

“Location of offshore wind POIs are important, and results can vary significantly based on these locational choices,” said Liam Durkin of ISO-NE. “The offshore wind POI screening analysis will be one important step towards refining assumptions around offshore wind POIs.”  

The analysis used the same methodology as the 2050 Transmission study, shifting just two of the POIs in the study. One of the key findings of the original study was the need for increased transmission capacity from northern New England to the Boston area.  

Moving the two POIs south would reduce flows along the Maine-New Hampshire interface and the North-South interface in the winter, while the shifts would minimally impact summer flows, ISO-NE found. 

The lack of summer effects stemmed partly from ISO-NE’s expectation that offshore wind output would decline significantly during the summer. 

The 2050 Transmission Study considered four pathways to meet the transmission needs: an AC road map, a DC road map, an offshore grid road map and a plan focused on minimizing the need for new lines by upgrading existing infrastructure.  

The POI analysis showed that shifting the two offshore wind interconnections would benefit all four pathways, saving the AC road map an estimated $2.2 billion, the DC road map an estimated $4 billion and the offshore grid road map an estimated $2.6 billion. 

While ISO-NE initially found it could not meet its expected 2050 peak load of 57 GW through the “minimization of new lines road map,” the RTO found the POI shifts would make this road map possible, with an estimated cost of $19.8 billion. 

Although this pathway relies the least on new lines, it still would include a few, as well as substantial line rebuilds.  

“Rebuilds alone cannot successfully serve a 57-GW winter peak load along the North-South and Boston Import interfaces,” Durkin said.  

ISO-NE projects a 57-GW winter peak but also emphasized the potential benefits of lowering the peak through demand-reduction efforts. The original analysis from the 2050 Transmission Study found that limiting the peak to 51 GW would reduce transmission costs by about $8 billion. 

The updated analysis also found benefits of the POI shift with a 51-GW winter peak; taking the interconnection changes into account, the lower peak reduced the overall cost estimate to $13 billion to $16 billion.  

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Pathways Initiative Rejected for $800K in DOE Funding

The West-Wide Governance Pathways Initiative has potentially lost a key source of financial backing after the U.S. Department of Energy rejected the group’s application for $800,000 in grants to support its initial operations. 

“The Pathways Initiative did not receive DOE funding in the last round,” Western Freedom Executive Director Kathleen Staks, co-chair of the initiative’s Launch Committee, told RTO Insider in an email April 17. “We plan to share more information and potential next steps during our [April 19] stakeholder call and [will be] happy to answer additional questions at that point.” 

The group applied for the money in January in response to a DOE Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA), seeking two tranches of $400,000 each to be disbursed over two years. The initiative was launched last July by energy officials from five Western states to develop the framework for an independent RTO that pointedly includes California and builds on CAISO’s Western Energy Imbalance Market (WEIM) and Extended Day-Ahead Market (EDAM). (See Regulators Propose New Independent Western RTO.) 

“This funding is necessary for major Pathways support functions — development of informational materials; outreach to key stakeholders; regular convenings through virtual and in-person gatherings; and facilitation to ensure meaningful participation by those who wish to engage,” the group said in a concept paper included in the grant application. (See Western RTO Group Seeking $800K in DOE Funding.) 

The funding would be “essential to performing outreach to states and groups not yet aware of, or able to participate in, the new nonprofit independent governance entity envisioned by” the initiative’s backers and make it more accessible to a larger set of stakeholders, the paper said. 

Speaking at the Launch Committee’s last monthly update March 15, Jim Shetler, co-chair of the committee’s Priority Administrative Work Group, expressed confidence that Pathways would win the DOE funding. (See Pathways Initiative Discloses Funders, Reiterates Goals.) 

Shetler, general manager of the Balancing Authority of Northern California, said the federal money would likely arrive in June or July, possibly leaving a funding gap in late spring that would likely be covered by the group’s original budget of $570,000 needed to fund Phase 1 of the effort through the end of April. 

It’s now unclear how Phase 2 will be funded. During the March update, Shetler said the initiative had raised about $430,000 from 24 stakeholder donors to cover the initial budget, with more pledges on the way. 

As of April 17, a “pledge summary” spreadsheet maintained by the group showed the list of donors had expanded to 32. It now includes the Interwest Energy Alliance, Western Resource Advocates, Primergy Solar, Solariant Capital, Pattern Energy, Brookfield Renewable Partners, Engie North America and one “individual contributor.” But the spreadsheet shows only pledge ranges, not donors’ specific contributions. 

The denial of federal funding comes just a week after the initiative released its straw proposal for tackling a “stepwise” transition of CAISO’s WEIM and EDAM to independent governance and could represent a setback for the EDAM in its competition for participants with SPP’s Markets+. (See Western RTO Group Floats Independence Plan for EDAM, WEIM.) 

SPP officials, meeting in Denver, declined to comment on the development. 

CAISO spokesperson Anne Gonzales said the ISO would defer comment to the Launch Committee. 

Tom Kleckner contributed to this article from Denver.

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FERC OKs Pipeline Expansion Despite West Coast States’ Opposition

FERC on April 16 rejected rehearing requests on a certificate it granted to TC Energy to expand its Gas Transmission Northwest (GTN) pipeline’s capacity into the Northwest over three states’ objections and Commissioner Allison Clements’ dissent (CP22-2-001). 

The XPress project would provide 150,000 dekatherms per day of incremental firm transportation service from Idaho’s border with British Columbia to the Malin Meter Station in Klamath County, Ore., near the California state line. It has signed three deals with terms of 30-33 years for the pipeline’s entire capacity. 

While the pipeline has offtake deals with customers, California, Oregon and Washington argued that their climate policies, which require significant economywide natural gas cuts, will lower gas demand in coming decades and asked FERC to reject the proposed expansion. 

The commission mostly disagreed, finding the deals for 100% of its capacity significant evidence of need and that the project would cut costs to consumers while increasing supply diversity. 

The case covers similar arguments to a FERC-approved Transcontinental Gas Pipeline expansion, opposed by New Jersey regulators because of their state’s climate targets. That decision has been appealed to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, which held oral arguments on it in March. (See FERC Approves Pipeline Expansion Despite New Jersey’s Worries.) 

The Western states argued the deals were not enough to show demand and cited another D.C. Circuit decision in Environmental Defense Fund v. FERC, in which the court rejected the commission’s approval because it had relied on a single-precedent agreement between the pipeline and an affiliate as evidence of need. 

But none of the buyers is an affiliate of GTN, nor is there evidence of self-dealing, so the EDF case does not apply, FERC said. 

“We continue to find that GTN presented sufficient evidence of project need — it executed precedent agreements for 100% of the project’s capacity with unaffiliated shippers, each for a duration of 30 or more years — notwithstanding the legislation and policies that the states argue will reduce demand,” FERC said. “These precedent agreements, as noted herein, are significant evidence of need.” 

The predictions that state climate laws will cut gas demand to make the expansion unneeded are speculative, FERC said. While the three West Coast states have climate laws, half the capacity is for Intermountain Gas, which serves customers in Idaho. 

Clements argued that GTN’s rate case offered different information on future gas demand; that FERC should have examined alternatives to the expansion in its environmental review; and that it should be able to assess the significance of greenhouse gas emissions. 

The three states submitted evidence in a supplemental filing from GTN’s rate case, which the majority held could not be considered due to late filing. Clements said the supplemental filing should have been accepted because it included information central to the case. 

The states had tried to get analysis from the firm that their laws would cut its demand, but GTN dismissed those concerns as speculative; then in the rate case, it claimed future demand was at serious risk because of their climate laws, Clements wrote. 

“Although GTN asserted in its data request response that the effect of state laws was too speculative to be considered for purposes of the certificate proceeding, its witnesses said the opposite for purposes of supporting an increase in GTN’s rates,” Clements said. 

Contracts for 40% of the pipeline’s existing capacity will expire in 2028, and local delivery companies subject to the three states’ laws hold 41% of that expiring capacity. 

“Thus, it is entirely possible (if not likely) that the three shippers who signed precedent agreements could access this existing capacity to meet their transportation needs as the current capacity holders reduce their reliance on natural gas pursuant to state legal mandates,” Clements said. 

FERC should have accepted the state’s filing of the rate case information because it undermines the foundation of the certificate order to the point where it cannot be rationally sustained on rehearing, Clements said. 

The expansion would increase the pipeline’s capacity by 5% and the region’s total pipeline capacity by 1.5%, and the three West Coast states represent 95% of the demand, with Idaho representing just 5%, she said. 

“Intermountain is unlikely to need any new capacity because, as GTN’s own rate case witnesses predict, the stringent decarbonization laws and renewable energy initiatives in Idaho’s neighboring states will drive down regional demand for gas and thereby demand for GTN’s existing gas transportation capacity,” Clements said. 

FERC considered updating its procedures for granting new pipelines certificates, but its proposal ran into steep opposition from the industry and on Capitol Hill, where it helped sink former Chair Richard Glick’s renomination. Clements argued in her dissent that this case shows why an updated policy statement on gas certificates is needed. 

“To avoid repeating these mistakes, the commission should finalize an updated certificate policy statement and implement enhanced procedures allowing us to fully evaluate all factors that actually do bear on the public interest in 2024, including the effect of state laws and renewable energy initiatives,” Clements said.