INDIANAPOLIS — The Clean Power Plan, Order 1000, FERC enforcement and distributed generation were favorite topics at last week’s annual meeting of the Energy Bar Association’s Midwest chapter. Here’s a sampling of what we heard.
“Let’s not talk about how the stay will halt work” on the Clean Power Plan, FERC Commissioner Colette Honorable said. “The industry was moving toward a more renewable future long before the Clean Power Plan came along. Let’s continue our work regardless of the stay. It’s a stay. It’s not a decision on the ultimate merits of the plan.”
Honorable also asked the Energy Bar Association for feedback on whether Order 1000 could be improved. “I know it’s not perfect. … We know that the sticky part is interregional planning. I want Order 1000 to aid in the development of these very important interregional projects and not be a barrier.”
Steve Allen, pipeline safety director at the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission, commented on the trend of electric utilities acquiring gas businesses to feed their gas turbines. “You can have a good safety culture without having a good pipeline safety management system in place, but you can’t have a good pipeline safety management system without a good safety culture.”
John Tsoukalis, an associate with The Brattle Group, said if FERC prohibits virtual trades at nodes with financial transmission rights in order to stop participants from taking losses on virtuals to increase the value of their FTRs, it would also end legitimate trading and harm the market. “FERC is growing aggressive on how they [prove intent],” he said. “But that’s still a question: How heavily does intent versus economic evidence weigh in FERC’s investigation?”
John Parsons, of the MIT Sloan School of Management, discussed the bidding strategy that landed J.P. Morgan in FERC’s crosshairs for market manipulation in California and Michigan in 2013. “From 10 to 11 p.m., their bid price was negative $30/MWh; from 1 to 2 a.m., their bid price was $999/MWh. What they were trying to do was exploit a seam in the algorithm. [The unit] got paid $999/MWh for the two to three hours it took to ramp down,” he said.
Jim Cater, director of economic and financial policy for the American Public Power Association, questioned the appeal of customer-owned distributed energy resources such as rooftop solar. “There’s a notion that somehow there’s a customer groundswell of this, but I don’t know that many people who are involved with this at home,” he said. “I don’t want to be perceived as a naysayer … but this has got momentum behind it that could benefit from a bit of cost-benefit analysis.”
Donna M. Attanasio, senior advisor for energy law programs at George Washington University Law School, talked about the genesis of the e21 Initiative, which the university launched in 2014 along with the Great Plains Institute, Xcel Energy and others to plot a new regulatory model in Minnesota. “Customers want green power; they want more flexibility. If the utilities aren’t going to provide these, customers are going out and getting it themselves. This is where the e21 Initiative started.”
Stacy Stotts, a partner and member of the environmental and natural resources division at Stinson Leonard Street, commented on the Supreme Court’s stay of the Clean Power Plan. “To say the stay is unprecedented is an understatement. The biggest argument [against the CPP] is that utilities are already regulated under the Clean Air Act. If this argument prevails, the rule is gone, it’s going to be vacated … I think that’s a strong argument. Now, what if the rule is vacated? An important thing to remember is the EPA [still] has to regulate emissions — the Supreme Court told them to in Massachusetts v. EPA.”
Stotts also predicted President Obama’s effort to win Senate approval of a replacement for Justice Antonin Scalia “will be a brutal appointment process.”
– Amanda Durish Cook
Duke Energy has appealed a $6.8 million fine levied by North Carolina for the catastrophic Dan River coal ash spill, calling the penalty “entirely arbitrary and capricious.”
Whole Foods Market Inc. has announced separate deals with NRG Energy and SolarCity to install solar systems on the roofs of many of its U.S. stores. The grocery store chain, known for selling natural foods and products, already has solar installations on 25 of its stores. With the new deals, 100 more stores will get solar panels installed.
The developers of the proposed Constitution Pipeline delayed the completion date of the 124-mile natural gas pipeline for six months after New York state regulators failed to approve permits in time for it to clear trees before the migratory bird season commences.
Consumers Energy has given the Michigan International Speedway a $29,460 energy efficiency incentive check to use toward the racetrack’s efforts to become the “greenest” NASCAR track in the country.
Just two years after it opened a 345-kV transmission line in the same area, American Transmission Co. proposed a new line near the Illinois-Wisconsin border to serve higher-than-expected forecasted power demand.
Construction has begun on a 25-MW natural gas-fired plant near Houston that will sequester its carbon dioxide emissions for use in industrial purposes or enhanced oil recovery.
Westar Energy is said to be in the early stages of exploring strategic options that could lead to a sale. According to Bloomberg News sources, the company is talking with potential financial advisers as it evaluates its options.
Cleco has asked Louisiana state regulators to revisit their decision to reject a coalition of Australian and Canadian investors’ purchase of the utility for $4.9 billion.
Public Service Company of New Mexico filed a request last month with the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission to install advanced meters for its 500,000 customers. The $87 million proposal could eventually lead to the layoffs of 125 employees and a customer charge of about $5 a year starting in 2020.
Arch Coal, which filed for bankruptcy protection two months ago, announced it has halted plans to open a new surface coal mine in the grasslands of southeastern Montana, blaming “capital constraints, near-term weakness in coal markets and an extended and uncertain permitting outlook.”
FirstEnergy said it idled the 2,500-MW Bruce Mansfield coal plant in Shippingport, Pa., last month because of sustained low energy prices. The last time all three units at the site were shut off was in 1999.
Dominion Virginia Power is preparing to close its 11 coal ash ponds and discharge the treated wastewater into state rivers, despite pressure from environmental activists.
Former Credit Suisse managing director Daniel L. Eggers has joined Exelon as senior vice president of investor relations. Eggers also will be part of the company’s executive committee.
Wisconsin-based Broadwind Energy announced it closed an order from an unnamed domestic turbine manufacturer to build $28 million worth of steel turbine towers.
CAISO has asked FERC to approve a new Tariff provision that would enable rooftop solar and other small 
“This was really the first real opportunity for folks to put some reality to their idea and try to marry up with the customers who stated a willingness to pay,” he said. “This is somewhat rare to have that in the neighborhood of a big idea.”
Coal-fired plants represented more than 80% of the 18 GW in generation retired in 2015, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
The U.S. solar generation market is set to increase 119% this year, mostly from utility-scale projects in the pipeline, according to GTM Research in its 
A U.S. District Court jury in Scranton, Pa., hit Cabot Oil & Gas with a $4.2 million verdict, saying the company’s gas-drilling operations contaminated the well water of two Pennsylvania families.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission released its annual assessment of nuclear power plant operations for 2015, and all but three units were graded in the two highest categories. Of the 96 highest-performing reactors, 85 fully met all safety and security objectives, the commission said.
A pump motor serving the reactor at the Watts Bar 2 nuclear station caught fire, forcing a declared “unusual event” before the Tennessee Valley Authority’s newest station produced any power.
