By Suzanne Herel
FERC last week denied five requests for changes in PJM’s treatment of demand response, rebuffing filings by the Independent Market Monitor, DR providers, industrial customers and Public Service Enterprise Group.
The commission rejected an allegation by the Monitor that PJM doesn’t treat DR in a way comparable with generation capacity resources. The Monitor said it should be subject to a must-offer requirement in the day-ahead energy market as well as the energy offer cap (EL14-20). (See Monitor Asks FERC for Must-Offer on Demand Response.)
“The commission has … explained that comparability does not require that generation resources and demand response resources be subject to the same operational parameters in every circumstance,” FERC said.
Viridity Energy had filed a complaint that PJM’s compensation provisions are discriminatory to capacity-only resources because an end-use customer that registers with one curtailment service provider (CSP) for capacity and a second CSP for energy does not receive a guaranteed energy payment when called to reduce load in response to an emergency.
FERC cited reliability issues and the avoidance of double payments in denying the complaint (EL12-54).
The commission said the differences in compensation were justified by the need to avoid errors in measurement and verification by customers represented by two different CSPs from inadvertently or intentionally submitting duplicate offers for the same megawatts covering the same time period. “Duplicate offers, as PJM notes, could create reliability problems by erroneously indicating to PJM’s operators that they will be getting twice the demand reduction that is actually available during an emergency condition. As PJM further notes, market participants, in this circumstance, could be required to pay twice for the same reduction.”
EnergyConnect and Comverge were denied rehearing of a May 2014 order accepting rules increasing the operational flexibility of DR. FERC also found that PJM’s compliance filing satisfied the requirements of the May order (ER14-822).
The commission also denied a rehearing request from the PJM Industrial Customer Coalition regarding a January 2014 order that capped PJM’s procurement of certain limited-availability DR products. The order noted that PJM’s limited and extended summer DR products will be eliminated as a result of the new Capacity Performance rules (ER14-504).
Finally, FERC denied a rehearing request from PSEG that challenged a requirement that DR providers submit certain information before the Base Residual Auction proving their ability to perform when needed (ER13-2108). In part, the commission found that the general statement of obligation applies to all capacity resources and is not specific to DR.
Chairman Norman Bay said that the Supreme Court upholding FERC’s jurisdiction over DR has allowed the commission to begin clearing a backlog of DR cases. “There were a number of DR matters that could not be resolved until the Supreme Court issued its decision,” he said.
The turbines were retired in staggered order in consultation with MISO. The turbines included two at B.C. Cobb, two at the D.E. Karn/J.C. Weadock Generating Complex in Essexville and three at the J.R. Whiting Generating Complex in Luna Pier.
Kentucky’s largest solar facility was inaugurated last week by Louisville Gas & Electric and Kentucky Utilities. The E.W. Brown Generation Station in central Kentucky contains about 44,600 solar panels, capable of producing 19,000 MWh of electricity annually.
Exelon Generation and Renewable Energy Systems are joining to build a 10-MW energy storage facility in Clinton County, Ohio, that is expected to be operational by the end of the year.
Consolidated Edison is investing about $975 million in a joint venture to own natural gas pipelines and storage serving the northeast markets.
Although it cleared the 2016/17 MISO capacity auction, the Clinton nuclear station may not stay open after May 31, 2017, without some sort of subsidies, warned Exelon CEO Chris Crane.
SunEdison, the St. Louis-based company that shot to the top of American solar energy companies, filed for bankruptcy protection last week after multiple acquisitions left the company strapped for cash.
The commission’s April 21 order granted SPP and the Integrated System’s request for clarification that the term “energy exchange” reflects their intent that the JOA does not affect the transmission rights or service of third parties.
According to studies, the first three months of 2016 have been the hottest ever recorded, Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is slowly being bleached to death and Greenland’s ice sheet is melting faster than scientists have ever seen. “The strongest hurricane on record for both the Northern and Southern Hemisphere, unprecedented continuing drought in California, the warmest start to a year that we’ve ever seen, on the heels of what was the warmest full year on record for the globe,” said Michael Mann, a Pennsylvania State University climate scientist.
The Augusta County Board of Supervisors asked FERC to reject an alternate route for the $5 billion, 550-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline, saying the proposed pipeline would have a negative impact on the county.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said it believes the need still exists for a 500-kV transmission line by Dominion Virginia Power despite contrary research by opponents, but it isn’t yet prepared to approve a plan to build the line, which would cross over the James River.
Wind generation grew by only 5.1% in the U.S. in 2015, the smallest annual increase since 1999, due primarily to a change in weather patterns in the West, according to the Energy Information Administration.
The U.S. Senate wants the Department of Energy to study the value of using reflected sunlight to fight global warming.
A group sponsoring a federal study to explore for an underground nuclear waste storage site is scouting potential properties in South Dakota after North Dakota rejected a plan to study sites there.