RTO to implement reforms to address price deviations, remove obstacles to interregional transmission projects and improve cost allocation among those projects.
Seams issues were the “hot topic” at last week’s Advisory Committee discussion moderated by consultant Robert Gee.
Remove ‘Triple Hurdle’
Several times during last week’s discussion, stakeholders called for removal of the “triple hurdle” faced by interregional projects, which must meet a specific interregional cost-benefit standard as well as comply with the internal standards of the two RTOs involved.
Stakeholders also repeated a request that MISO and SPP lower the minimum 345-kV requirement for interregional projects. In comments filed ahead of the meeting, the Power Marketer sector noted that of the 300 interconnections between the two RTOs, only 12 meet that standard.
The Competitive Transmission Developer sector recommended that MISO create a new interregional project category with a separate, singular benefit calculation. “MISO should conduct outreach to neighboring regions to advocate for adoption of the proposed interregional criteria in both [joint operating agreements] and in MISO’s regional Tariff as a separate project category,” the sector wrote.
It noted that RTO boundaries are “artificially imposed and do not reflect natural barriers to the flow of power throughout the region.”
The Environmental Sector urged MISO and PJM to expedite their initiative on targeted market efficiency projects, formerly called “quick hit” projects. The sector also urged MISO to resolve disagreements with other RTOs over the future scenarios that should be studied.
Letting Go
The Independent Power Producers sector predicted a dire future for MISO’s market if the RTO failed to improve its market-to-market locational energy pricing and settlements.
The IPPs said MISO’s “uncompetitive” capacity construct and abundant wind resources would incentivize energy exports. The sector criticized MISO and its Independent Market Monitor for endorsing concepts rejected by other RTOs, such as the proposed two-season capacity construct. It also criticized MISO’s efforts to discourage generators from exporting power under pseudo-tie arrangements with PJM. (See MISO Delays Seasonal, Locational Capacity Constructs.)
“MISO staff and the MISO IMM seem to have a hard time letting go of some of their proposals that have been evaluated and subsequently rejected by their seams partners and their seams partners’ constituents and stakeholders,” the IPPs said.
The Public Consumer sector declined to recommend specific changes but observed that “transmission from region to region … is a major way that [operational] efficiency across seams can be realized.”
The Transmission Dependent Utilities sector said RTOs should improve data exchange to better coordinate outages and update firm flow entitlement calculations. “As additional flowgates are determined to be significantly impacted by the dispatch in neighboring regions and interregional transactions, the modeling detail of neighboring systems must expand,” the sector wrote.
The TDUs also said RTOs should “seek middle ground rather than holding out for the ideal solution” and consider mediating seams issues when necessary.
Chris Plante, of TDU member Wisconsin Public Service, said the best way to improve the efficiency of the seam is to operate seams dispatch from two RTOs as if they were “under a single commitment and dispatch algorithm.”
The Transmission Owners sector wrote in favor of coordinating congestion hedges with other RTOs, improving real-time coordination with SPP and altering generator pseudo-tie requirements to synch with PJM’s market.
MISO officials and stakeholders generally agreed that better interregional cooperation is essential to addressing seams issues but opinions varied about what to expect from that cooperation — and what outcomes are actually desirable.
NRG Energy’s Tia Elliot pointed out that MISO struggles with project cost allocation even among its own stakeholders. “I think it could be difficult when it comes to interregional planning,” she said.
Calpine Vice President of Market Design Brett Kruse advocated “reasonable expectations with the guy on the other side of the seam,” noting that RTOs will not have identical cost allocations and flowgates. “The other RTOs have already considered [other market operations], determined it’s not for them and moved on,” he said. “It’s best to leave that stuff alone and work on the common areas.”
FERC Action Needed?
MISO Chair Judy Walsh asked, “We know the problem … but are [RTOs] going to be able to work this out, or is it going to take FERC stepping in and ordering this for the common good? Are we kidding ourselves that we will be able to work this out?”
“Your question, I think, is right on target,” Plante replied. “Now we’re dealing with topics and issues that are heavily ingrained in each RTO’s process.” He said mutual respect for different market implementations will be instrumental in “bridging the gap.”
Director Phyllis Currie said RTOs must seek compromise. “What I’m hearing here is not that different from what I’ve heard in California … and I’ve seen it over the years across different industries,” she said. “If everybody keeps coming at the problem the same way they’ve come at the problem time and time again, you don’t get anywhere.”
Megan Wisersky of Madison Gas and Electric said RTOs should not be required to have uniform rules. “I say, vive la différence!”
“My takeaway is we may not ever get to the idea of a seamless seam, but that shouldn’t dissuade us,” said board member Thomas Rainwater.
Plante agreed. “A seamless seam is an oxymoron,” he said.
The order mandates that customers be guaranteed an electric rate lower than what their host utility offers, with the exception of “green” offerings that must include a minimum of 30% renewable energy. The commission said the order was intended to combat deceptive practices and boost consumer confidence. (See Zibelman: Rules Meant to Enable Markets.)
The retailers say the reforms were ill-considered and hastily enacted. “Contrary to well established commission policy and practice in support of the development of competitive retail markets, and without notice or meaningful opportunity to be heard, the February order adopted requirements for ESCO [energy service company] service to mass market customers, which would effectively shut down the market for the majority of ESCOs and their customers,” the NEMA wrote.
The PSC had required ESCOs begin compliance within 10 days, or March 3. However, a state court stayed the order, scheduling a show-cause hearing for April 14. (See Court Delays New York ‘Guaranteed Savings’ Rules.)
Among the complaints by the ESCOs is that the rules were enacted without adequate notice under the State Administrative Procedures Act and that the price guarantee is improper rate-setting by the PSC.
The NEMA also said the order amounts to an illegal taking of its members’ accounts. “All of the ESCOs that cannot comply with the order will be forced to give their hard-won customers, which the ESCOs incurred significant costs to acquire, to the competing monopoly utility. The utilities will unfairly acquire these ESCO customers for free,” it wrote.
“The improperly noticed rules represent a sweeping set of changes that threaten to destroy hundreds of businesses and affect millions of New York residents,” wrote attorneys for the IEC, which describes itself as representing “small to medium” ESCOs, many of whom who operate primarily in New York.
A FERC administrative law judge last Tuesday set the return on equity for transmission projects over two periods in New England lower than what transmission owners sought but higher than what states and commission trial staff advocated.
The 371-page initial decision by Judge Steven Sterner lowered the base and ceiling ROEs for the New England Transmission Owners to 9.59 and 10.42% respectively for December 2012 to March 2014 and set the range at 10.9 to 12.19% for July 2014 through October 2015 (EL13-33, EL14-86).
The decision came in a consolidation of two complaints initiated by state officials against the New England TOs: Eversource Energy, Central Maine Power, National Grid and NextEra.
The case was heard under the new framework FERC set in its June 2014 ruling that switched to a two-step discounted cash flow (DCF) model incorporating short-term and long-term growth rate estimates (EL11-66-001, Opinion 531).
The TOs had sought a base ROE of either 10.24 or 11.14% for the period ending March 2014 and a maximum of 11.14% for the later period. The states had sought 8.75% and 8.16%.
Sterner held an evidentiary hearing last June and July. (See Hearing over New England Transmission ROE Nears End.) A decision was expected by the end of the year, but Sterner on Dec. 18 ruled there was “was insufficient evidence in the record from which he could establish a zone of reasonableness” because no parties had performed the DCF methodology in accordance with Opinion 531.
After the calculations were rerun, FERC staff recommended a base ROE of 8.68 or 8.74% for the 2014/15 timeframe.
The states and FERC staff contended the recovery in the stock market made the TOs more attractive to the investment community and that capital markets were returning to more normal conditions.
Sterner rejected their arguments. “The evidence shows that the same types of anomalous capital market conditions that existed [before December 2012]” prevailed in the time periods of the cases, “distorting the inputs to the DCF model,” he wrote.
“Alternative benchmark methodologies show that the midpoint of the DCF range of reasonableness would not be a just and reasonable base ROE for the NETOs. Under these circumstances, a mechanical application of the DCF model will not satisfy regulatory standards and an upward adjustment from the midpoint of the zone of reasonableness is necessary in order to comply with” Supreme Court precedent, Sterner wrote.
Below is a summary of the issues scheduled to be brought to a vote at the Markets and Reliability and Members committees Thursday. Each item is listed by agenda number, description and projected time of discussion, followed by a summary of the issue and links to prior coverage in RTO Insider.
RTO Insider will be in Wilmington, Del., covering the discussions and votes. See next Tuesday’s newsletter for a full report.
Markets and Reliability Committee
2. PJM Manuals (9:10-9:30)
Members will be asked to endorse the following manual changes:
Manual 1: Control Center and Data Exchange Requirements. Adds new section for planning, coordination and notification of system changes and events, with updated procedures. New Attachment C is the new Inter-control Center Communication Protocol (ICCP) failover test plans diagram. Removes references to the PJM ICCP network interface control document and PJM ICCP communications workbook.
Manual 6: Financial Transmission Rights. Housekeeping changes resulting from annual review. Clarifications better describe existing rules and processes.
Manual 11: Energy and Ancillary Services. Changes implement Capacity Performance rules regarding unit-specific parameters. For base capacity resources, the status quo remains until 2018. For CP resources, beginning in delivery year 2016, unit-specific parameters will apply during hot weather alerts, cold weather alerts, emergency actions and when being offer-capped to maintain system reliability.
Manual 11: Energy and Ancillary Services Market Operations. Revisions reflect day-ahead market timeline changes. Among them: effective Friday, the deadline for submitting day-ahead bids will be 10:30 a.m. The day-ahead clearing window will be reduced to three hours. The deadline for posting day-ahead results will be 1:30 p.m. or as soon as practicable. Results will be posted upon approval but not before noon.
6. Regional Transmission and Energy Scheduling Practices (10:45-10:55)
Proposed revisions to regional transmission and energy scheduling practices reflect PJM’s adjustment to its day-ahead energy market timeline. (See “Day-ahead Submission Deadline Moved up,” PJM Market Implementation Committee Briefs.)
Members will be asked to approve updated definitions and clarifications to PJM’s governing documents. They involve the terms PJM board, market participant, credit breach, PJM region, regional entity, affiliate, PJM markets, economic minimum and transmission customer.
Members Committee
CONSENT AGENDA (1:20-1:25)
Members will be asked to approve revisions to governing documents related to updated definitions developed by the GDECS.
Members will consider proposed changes to governing documents as well as additional clarifications to previously endorsed revisions.
Members will be asked to endorse Tariff and Operating Agreement revisions regarding the definition of the term counterparty. In an Aug. 27 Members Committee vote, the word counterparty was removed from a batch of proposed definitions and returned to the GDECS for further review at members’ request. The definition was aligned to use more precise language in the OA that specifies when PJMSettlement will and will not be a counterparty to a transaction or agreement.
“We have gotten through what I would consider to be a complete transition,” Steering Committee Chair Tia Elliott, of NRG Energy, said during last week’s board meeting. “Quite a bit of streamlining has taken place.”
Audrey Penner, chair of the Advisory Committee, said the redesign was about 90% complete.
Continuing that work, the Steering Committee unanimously supported a motion to retire the Pseudo-Tie Issue Task Team. MISO Director of Market Engineering Kim Sperry said the team had fulfilled its objective of framing pseudo-tie issues and passing them along to other working groups. Sperry said that those issues will be taken up in the Joint and Common Market meetings between PJM and MISO, while related market topics will be addressed at future Market Subcommittee meetings.
Other highlights of the redesign:
With the retirement of the Data Transparency Working Group, the Steering Committee will take over responsibility for recommending which MISO group should handle data requests. (MISO will retain final say.) Working group liaison Tom Welch said two of the five data issues that remain open will be concluded in the first week of April, when MISO is expected to begin posting final five-minute real-time market clearing prices and historical five-minute real-time ex ante LMPs and MCPs.
Steering Committee members approved the Credit Settlements Working Group charter and management plan. The newly formed group will hold its first quarterly meeting in Carmel, Ind., on May 12.
The Resource Adequacy Subcommittee has elected Madison Gas and Electric’s Gary Mathis and Wisconsin Public Service’s Chris Plante to serve as chair and vice chair, respectively. The RASC replaces MISO’s former Electric and Natural Gas Coordination Task Force and the Demand Response and Loss of Load Expectation working groups.
Sometime last spring, employees of three Ukrainian electric distribution companies opened Microsoft Office files infected with BlackEnergy 3 malware. It was the beginning of a six-month campaign of reconnaissance and testing that culminated Dec. 23 with an outage that knocked out power to 225,000 customers for several hours.
The story of the cyberattack — the first publicly acknowledged assault to cause power outages — was spelled out in riveting detail in a report released last week by NERC’s Electricity Information Sharing and Analysis Center.
The Security Service of Ukraine blamed the attack on the Russian government. But the report, the product of NERC’s E-ISAC and the SANS Institute, focused on the methods of the attack and not on identifying the attackers.
Based on a summary of publicly available information and analysis performed by the SANS Industrial Control Systems unit, the report contains recommendations for defending grid operations.
The report’s authors express also grudging respect for the expertise of the hackers. “The strongest capability of the attackers was not in their choice of tools or in their expertise, but in their capability to perform long‐term reconnaissance operations required to learn the environment and execute a highly synchronized, multistage, multisite attack,” the report said.
Spear Phishing
The report estimates that the blackouts came more than six months after the initial penetration of the companies, when employees in the administrative or information technology networks of the electric companies opened Microsoft Excel and Word documents from spear phishing emails.
The employees enabled macros in the files that allowed the installation of BlackEnergy 3 malware on the companies’ systems, providing access to command and control Internet Protocol addresses.
After gaining a foothold in the companies’ IT networks, the hackers were able to obtain credentials that gave them access through virtual private networks (VPNs) to the industrial control systems (ICSs). The report said the hackers demonstrated expertise in network-connected infrastructure and in operating the ICSs.
They used “rogue” client software and a “phantom” mouse to highjack the supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems remotely, taking control of operator workstations and locking the operators out of their systems.
Kyivoblenergo, a regional electricity distributor in Ukraine, was one of the three “oblenergos” (energy companies) attacked. Beginning about 3:35 p.m. on Dec. 23, the hackers took remote control of the company’s SCADA distribution management system, disconnecting seven of its 110-kV substations and 23 35-kV substations for three hours and cutting off power to about 80,000 customers.
Similar attacks on the other two companies, executed within minutes of each other, blacked out an additional 145,000 customers.
Burning the Bridges
KillDisk software was used to erase the master boot record of the companies’ systems and delete some logs, preventing the companies from using the ICSs to restore the system. The attackers also uploaded malicious firmware to serial‐to‐Ethernet gateway devices, ensuring that even if the operator workstations were recovered, remote commands could not be used to bring the substations back online.
“This means that the attacker ‘burned the bridges’ behind them by destroying equipment and wiping devices to prevent automated recovery of the system,” the report said.
The attackers also generated thousands of automated phone calls to the call center of one of the companies — a version of a denial-of-service attack — to hamper communications with customers.
With their computer systems compromised, field staff went to substations and manually reclosed breakers, restoring all of the customers to service in three to six hours.
“It is important to note that there are risks operating your system without the benefit of an automated dispatch control center, and utilities that are more reliant on automation may not be able to restore large portions of their system this way,” said Michael Assante, SANS Institute director of ICSs and one of the report’s authors, in a January blog post. “In many ways, the Ukrainian operators should be commended for their diligence and restoration efforts.”
Missed Opportunities
While the report’s authors found the companies’ restoration admirable, they had plenty to criticize, saying the utilities missed opportunities to detect the intrusion during the months of reconnaissance and testing that preceded the attack.
According to the report, the companies’ firewalls allowed the adversaries to exercise remote control, and the VPNs from their business networks into the ICSs appeared to lack basic two‐factor authentication; think cash machines, which require both a bank card and a personal identification number.
The companies also appeared to lack the capability to continually monitor their ICS networks for increased traffic that could indicate rogue firmware updates, the report said. “In a prolonged attack campaign, there are likely numerous opportunities to detect and defend the targeted system.”
Why the three oblenergos were targeted is unclear, but John Hultquist, director of cyberespionage analysis for computer security firm iSight Partners, said he believes the attacks were the work of hackers aligned with the Russian government. He told The Washington Post that there are links between the malware used in the attacks and a cyberespionage campaign against NATO and Western European governments by a group of Russian hackers iSight named “SandWorm.”
iSight said it has documented SandWorm infiltrations of Ukrainian government computer systems and telecommunications and energy companies since 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea in support of separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Recommendations
The report concludes with a number of recommendations, including eliminating unnecessary VPN pathways and developing “cyber blackstart” capabilities. But it warns that “it is likely that the adversary will modify attack approaches in follow‐on campaigns and these mitigation strategies may not be sufficient.”
Some analysts were initially skeptical of the Ukrainian government’s claims that the outages were the result of cyberattacks. “ICS organizations frequently have reliability issues and incorrectly blame cyber mechanisms such as malware found on the network that is unrelated to the outage,” the report said.
In this case, however, the report’s authors had no doubt about the credibility of the government’s and utilities’ claims. It also ranked the technical information available a 4 on a scale of 5, citing the availability of malware samples, observable ICS impacts, technical indicators and firsthand interviews.
The attack marks “the first time the world has seen this type of attack against [operational technology] systems in a nation’s critical infrastructure,” the report said. “This is an escalation from past destructive attacks that impacted general‐purpose computers and servers (e.g., Saudi Aramco, RasGas, Sands Casino and Sony Pictures).”
The report said there was nothing about Ukraine’s infrastructure that made it uniquely vulnerable.
“The impact of a similar attack may be different in other nations, but the attack methodology, tactics, techniques and procedures observed are employable in infrastructures around the world.”
WESTBOROUGH, Mass. — ISO-NE will propose that the zonal boundaries for its 11th Forward Capacity Auction remain unchanged from those set for this year’s auction.
Transmission projects expected to be in service by 2020 are adequate to leave the boundaries of the four zones intact for the capacity commitment period of 2020/21, ISO-NE Director of Transmission Services and Strategies Al McBride told the Planning Advisory Committee last Tuesday. The zones are also unaffected by resource retirements and additions already accounted for.
The four zones are: Southeast Massachusetts/Rhode Island, which includes Greater Boston; Northern New England, which includes Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont; Connecticut; and Rest of Pool, generally central and western Massachusetts.
The zones were reconfigured last year due to transmission constraints in SEMA/RI caused by generation retirements. However, ongoing transmission projects are expected to mitigate the effects of those retirements: The Greater Boston upgrades north of the city have been accepted by ISO-NE, and several projects in Rhode Island have been either completed or will be in response to the Brayton Point retirement in southern Massachusetts. (See ISO-NE Chooses $740M Land-Based Tx Project for Boston Area.)
In addition, a “significant part” of the Greater Hartford/Central Connecticut upgrades have been certified by ISO-NE and are expected to be in service by June 2019, McBride said.
External transfer limits will not be changed. However, McBride said the Cross Sound Cable that connects ISO-NE with NYISO under Long Island Sound will be re-evaluated with results due by May.
NEW ORLEANS — MISO will commence its long-term Clean Power Plan analysis in July regardless of the existing Supreme Court stay, Clair Moeller, executive vice president of transmission and technology, told the Board of Directors last week. Moeller said the RTO would provide individual state data to officials in all states, including those having placed a “hard stop” on CPP preparations.
FERC Chairman Norman Bay, who attended the board meeting, said he hoped MISO states challenging the CPP and halting compliance work had a “Plan B.” He also thanked the RTO for its “uniquely constructive and pragmatic voice” in supporting the measure.
“We know we’re on a glide path already with low-cost wind turbines, lower-cost solar panels and greater efficiency,” board member Tom Rainwater said. He asked how the economics of renewable penetration would play out even if the CPP is struck down.
Moeller called that one of the more complicated questions MISO would seek to answer through remaining modeling, saying the RTO’s “job is to plan into an uncertain future.”
Bay said that if analysts are correct in predicting a 50% decline in the cost of storage by 2020, storage technology could be a “game changer” for renewable penetration.
“Everyone knows the cost of energy storage will decline,” Bay said. “It’s a question of how much and when. … This is an area where I expect FERC to do more work and work to remove barriers to entry.”
MISO YTD Financials 1% Over Budget
MISO’s year-to-date February financials came in $400,000 — or 1.1% — over the RTO’s $36 million budget for the period.
Most of the overage — $300,000 in additional costs for “compliance and process-improvement activities” is a permanent variance, said Vice President of Finance Jo Biggers, who said MISO was seeking to trim other spending to make up for the shortfall.
“We’re still forecasting to be on budget by the end of the year,” Biggers said.
Board member Paul Bonavia noted that the board had “only just finalized the budget, and we already have a permanent variance.”
“We’re going to figure out a way to cover it by reducing costs somewhere else,” MISO CEO John Bear told the board.
The overrun occurred despite MISO spending only $6 million of its forecasted $7.1 million capital budget, mostly because of project delays. Biggers said capital spending is expected to fall in line by the end of March when projects catch up to their timelines.
MISO Adds Transmission Developers, Industrial Customer Group to Membership
MISO’s board unanimously approved membership applications for three non-transmission owning entities, including:
Cobra Industrial Services, a Houston-based transmission developer;
Transmission developer PPL TransLink, a unit of Pennsylvania-based PPL; and
Louisiana Energy Users Group, an association of 23 industrial customers.
NEW ORLEANS — Deregulated markets in MISO would get a three-year forward capacity auction beginning in 2018, under a proposal unveiled by the RTO last week.
Dynegy’s Baldwin Energy Complex in MISO
The RTO announced the proposal after reviewing stakeholder recommendations for addressing the capacity needs of retail choice regions such as southern Illinois’ Zone 4. (See PJM-Type Capacity Auction for MISO Zone 4 Proposed.)
“It is now evident MISO’s markets … need to effectively and efficiently signal the need to maintain existing and/or invest in new resources necessary to assure resource adequacy in competitive retail areas that rely exclusively on markets,” MISO said. “Given the existing [Planning Resource Auction] was not designed to meet this need, narrowly focused reforms are required to complement the existing market construct while also preserving the benefits currently derived by most of MISO’s region from simple capacity balancing.”
The proposed Forward Local Requirements (FLR) auction would be held three years in advance of the planning year and employ a downward sloping demand curve. Procured local capacity would be self-scheduled into the existing PRA with costs allocated pro rata to participating load-serving entities.
LSEs not subject to retail choice will continue to procure capacity through state integrated resource plans and the PRA using the current vertical demand curve.
“These enhancements are designed to have no impact on the existing state or local jurisdictional long-term planning processes for those that do not participate,” MISO said. “The effect will be that nonparticipating LSEs and participating LSEs will have different price sensitivities to purchasing … capacity in the auction.”
Design Elements
The RTO proposed to hold the first FLRAs in spring 2018 for planning years 2019/20 through 2021/22. The amount of capacity retail choice LSEs obtain under the sloped demand curve would be variable, within a newly defined “target reliability range.” Any capacity needs not met through the forward auctions will be filled through the existing prompt-year capacity auction.
While LSEs in deregulated areas would be automatically entered into the FLRA, they could opt out by developing a fixed resource adequacy plan in advance of the auction. LSEs outside of deregulated areas could opt-in to the forward auction but would be required to remain for at least five years.
Participation will be voluntary for supply resources except for those in a local resource zone with participating demand. Such resources will be subject to existing market power rules.
Supply resources owned or controlled by LSEs will be exempt from the must-offer requirements if the LSEs have forecasted demand equal to or more than their supply portfolios.
Seasonal Construct
The forward capacity product would match the two-season construct MISO proposed in December for the PRA, with a four-month summer season (June-September) and eight-month winter (October-May). The RTO hopes to implement the seasonal structure for the 2018/19 planning year. (See MISO Delays Seasonal, Locational Capacity Constructs.)
MISO officials said the RTO is committed to working with stakeholders to refine the new auction proposal. “I think the key is keeping that stakeholder dialogue going, and we’ll continue that in the April Resource Adequacy Subcommittee,” MISO CEO John Bear said.
In a recent letter to stakeholders, MISO Executive Director of Market Design Jeff Bladen wrote, “The goal is to ensure MISO’s capacity market design is up to the task of serving as the primary market mechanism for assuring resource adequacy in all time horizons in competitive retail areas of the MISO region while also serving a complementary role in the rest of MISO.”
MISO plans to file a final proposal with FERC in July, according to Bear.
New England’s power grid is on course to becoming a hybrid system in the next decade, where up to 20% of its resources are provided by retail customers or by local distribution utilities, according to ISO-NE’s 2016 Regional Electricity Outlook.
Among the report’s highlights: More than 4,200 MW of the region’s conventional nuclear, coal- and oil-fired generating capacity has retired recently or is scheduled to retire soon; about a third of the 13,000 MW of proposed generation projects are wind resources; and pipeline constraints and few delivery points for LNG will continue to pose challenges for fuel supply.
The 12 Midwestern states are home to nearly 569,000 clean energy jobs, with projected employment growth of 4.4%, according to a study by Chicago nonprofit Clean Energy Trust. Kansas and Indiana both had below-average predicted growth in the sector, while Missouri leads with a projected growth of 8.3%.
The analysis is based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and a survey of thousands of businesses in the region. The comprehensive report not only breaks down job numbers by state, but by Congressional and state legislative districts as well.
The study also found that energy efficiency is by far the leading clean energy sector, employing more than 423,000. The runner-up, renewable energy, boasts about 70,000 jobs.
If Dominion Energy’s three-reactor Millstone Power Station were to close, more than 1,000 jobs would be lost and carbon emissions in New England would increase by 27%, officials told a legislative panel.
The nuclear plant is not endangered, but the General Assembly’s Energy and Technology Committee discussed the announced closure of Pilgrim nuclear station in Massachusetts as the industry struggles to remain financially viable in a market flooded with cheap natural gas.
“I do not anticipate in the short term the need to shut down Millstone,” said Daniel G. Stoddard, senior vice president of nuclear operations for Dominion. “However, the challenges exist, the challenges are significant and the trends continue to make those challenges more difficult.” The Waterford facility is the largest nuclear power station in New England; it provides about 2,100 MW, or roughly half of Connecticut’s electrical consumption.
Commonwealth Edison will begin using data collected by smart meters to calculate greenhouse-gas reductions that can be linked to initiatives to reduce peak demand.
The Chicago utility is using a metric proposed by the Citizens Utility Board and the Environmental Defense Fund to calculate emission reductions at specific hours. A kilowatt-hour saved during times of high carbon intensity, when more power is generated by less efficient means, is more valuable than one saved during periods when more renewable energy is being pumped onto the grid.
“As the first utility in the country to adopt this greenhouse gas measurement tool, ComEd is leading the way to a cleaner energy future,” said Dick Munson, EDF’s Midwest director of clean energy.
State regulators on March 21 agreed to postpone until this week whether to reconsider their rejection of international investors’ $4.9 billion bid for Cleco. The Public Service Commission is considering whether to change last month’s order that nixed the acquisition of the utility.
Three former state energy secretaries are supporting Republican Gov. Charlie Baker’s proposal to solicit long-term contracts for hydropower.
Maeve Vallely-Bartlett, Rick Sullivan and Ian Bowles, who served under former Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick, offered bipartisan support for legislation requiring utilities to solicit long-term contracts for hydroelectric power. Administration officials have said this would increase the use of hydroelectric power in the state, which is necessary for it to meet its goals for reducing carbon emissions.
The legislation remains bottled up in a legislative committee, although House Speaker Robert DeLeo (D-Winthrop) has said it could be reported out soon. Conventional power generators and environmentalists who support solar and wind energy have criticized the bill.
State Wants Pipeline Condition Information from Enbridge
State officials, concerned about the possibility of leaks from pipelines that run under Lake Michigan, have asked Enbridge to provide specific condition information on Line 5, a pair of pipelines that cross the Straits of Mackinac.
The 63-year-old pipelines were recently declared safe by the company, but Enbridge released little detail on its inspections. The state has requested reports from the inline inspection robots used to check on the pipelines’ condition. The state is hiring an outside analyst to review the data.
“The attorney general has said, time and time again, that the days of this pipeline are limited,” said spokeswoman Andrea Bitely. “And doing these independent analyses — this independent risk analysis and the alternative analysis — will tell us what’s next.”
Public Service Commissioner Cecil Brown said Southern Co.’s costly Kemper Project will be closely watched when it goes into operation this year. Brown said monitoring the coal-gasification power plant will be the commission’s biggest challenge in the coming months.
“There are people out there who say Kemper is dangerous,” Brown said at the Stennis Institute’s monthly luncheon. “I don’t know about that, because I’m not an expert. I’ve talked extensively with Mississippi Power and I’ve raised that question and I’ve been assured that it is safe.”
The plant’s gas synthesizer is supposed to go online later this year.
A state district judge has struck down a water-discharge permit for a southeastern coal mine, saying officials failed to fully consider the effects of pollutants on several nearby creeks.
In a March 14 decision, Judge Kathy Seeley ordered the Department of Environmental Quality to reconsider the mine’s water discharge permit. She said the agency had shown “clear errors of judgment” in allowing reduced monitoring of pollution from the mine and reclassifying surrounding waterways so they were subject to less stringent pollution standards.
A separate challenge of the state’s approval of a 12-million-ton expansion of the Rosebud mine is pending before the Board of Environmental Review. The Rosebud strip mine produces about 9 million tons of coal a year, primarily for the Colstrip power plant.
Regulated utilities will be required to follow a new set of cybersecurity protocols under policies adopted by the Board of Public Utilities.
The requirements are designed to protect customer information and grid reliability, according to the board. The new standards are based upon recommendations from the state Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Cell, with input from the FBI.
“To ensure that we continually meet the challenges of this ever-changing threat, we have made certain that these policies are uniform yet flexible, promote information-sharing and are capable of evolving as the threat landscape emerges,” BPU President Richard Mroz said.
Environmental Group Calls for Investigation of Commissioner
Montoya
An environmental advocacy group has asked the state Secretary of State to investigate Public Regulation Commission Vice Chairwoman Karen Montoya, alleging she has violated the Government Conduct Act through her communications with executives of an electric utility that she regulates.
New Energy Economy, a group that has been engaged in several legal battles with the PRC in the past year, filed the complaint March 17. It said in September several commissioners, including Montoya, were overly friendly with representatives of Public Service Company of New Mexico.
The state Supreme Court considered the complaint in late 2015 before dismissing it.
Quaker Group Urges PECO to Embrace Philly Solar Project
The advocacy group Earth Quaker Action Team is demanding that PECO Energy purchase power from potential solar installations in North Philadelphia, one of the city’s poorest areas.
The group predicts that investors will come forward for solar projects if PECO demonstrates there is demand for the output.
A PECO spokesman said that while the utility is open to considering such a program, it is legally required to buy competitively priced electricity.
After 61 years of providing electricity to the Tennessee Valley, the Colbert Fossil Plant has been disconnected from the grid.
The Tennessee Valley Authority said more than a year ago that the plant would close by April 15, when new regulations for mercury and air toxins go into effect.
Employees were offered transfers to similar jobs at other TVA fossil fuel plants.
Environmental Groups Try to Block Nuclear Expansion
Environmental groups want the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to revoke licenses for two new reactors at the South Texas Project, claiming the project is controlled by a foreign owner in violation of the Atomic Energy Act.
Public Citizen, the Sustainable Energy and Economic Development Coalition and the South Texas Association for Responsible Energy say Japanese company Toshiba, which owns 10% of Nuclear Innovation North America, has been fully funding the pre-licensing proceedings for two new reactors. “In our view, the entity who funds it then has the ability to control it,” said Robert Eye, an attorney representing the groups. NRG Energy owns 90% of the project.
NRC recently approved two new reactors at the site southwest of Houston, where two reactors currently produce about 2,700 MW. NRG is holding off on building the reactors because of low natural gas prices and a lack of demand for new energy in the state.
Critics of the state’s process for selecting sites for renewable energy projects are opposing proposed legislation designed to give regional planning commissions greater say in where solar and wind power projects are located.
Leaders of the Energy Transformation Coalition and Energize Vermont said Senate Bill 230 still gives the Public Service Board too much ability to override the wishes of residents when approving renewable energy projects.
“Energy developers are running roughshod over our communities,” said Mark Whitworth, president of the board of Energize Vermont. “The result is an energy rebellion that has now spread to 128 towns.”
PSC: State’s Electricity Rates Among Highest in Midwest
Electricity rates in the state are among the highest in the Midwest, but residents pay less than customers in surrounding states because they use less power on than average, according to a recent study by the Public Service Commission.
The study found that 2015 rates in the state were higher for residential, commercial and industrial users than in Michigan and six other Midwestern states. But the same study showed that the typical monthly residential bill was $8 less than those in other states, due to lower consumption.