NEW YORK — The New York Public Service Commission Tuesday approved a contract to keep the struggling R.E. Ginna nuclear power plant operating through March 2017 (14-E-0270).
The commission approved a reliability support services agreement between distribution utility Rochester Gas & Electric and Exelon’s Constellation Energy Group, which had threatened to close Ginna because it was losing money.
The PSC ordered the RSSA in 2014 after determining that the 610-MW plant on Lake Ontario was needed to maintain reliability. The PSC’s action Tuesday approves an agreement filed in October by the companies. (See Ginna Lifeline to End in 2017; Profits After ‘Unlikely’.)
The contract, which was endorsed by large industrial customers, is subject to FERC approval.
RG&E will charge ratepayers $425 million to $510 million to cover Ginna’s full cost of service, with the final amount determined based on Ginna’s revenues from the NYISO wholesale market. The utility also will apply $110 million in customer credits to the contract, making the total price tag as high as $620 million.
Ratepayers began paying higher rates in September to mitigate the effects of rate compression.
“The joint proposal strikes a balance and protects consumers by making use of the customer credits and also protects the financial health of” RG&E, PSC Chairwoman Audrey Zibelman said.
Transmission upgrades expected to be completed next year will address the reliability concerns resulting from the plant’s closure.
However, Ginna’s life could be extended beyond March 2017 under a PSC proceeding to provide financial incentives to keep upstate nuclear plants operating until large-scale renewable energy facilities are deployed. The plan is part of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposed Clean Energy Standard, which he wants finalized by June. (See New York Would Require Nuclear Power Mandate, Subsidy.)
Exelon has said the CES “could provide a meaningful path to sustain” Ginna and its Nine Mile Point nuclear plant.
Another upstate nuclear plant, the James A. FitzPatrick station, is expected to close by early 2017. Its owner, Entergy, says the subsidy plan has come too late to save it.
FERC last week rejected the city of Osceola’s demand that Entergy Arkansas provide refunds for unlawful bandwidth equalization payments it allegedly passed on to the city over three years. The commission said Osceola had already settled its claim with Entergy and is not entitled to another set of refunds (EL 16-7).
The northeastern Arkansas city took issue with Entergy’s 2007, 2008 and 2009 formula rate update proceedings. Osceola asked that Entergy refund $4.48 million plus interest for charges it said were improperly passed on to the city.
The city argued that Entergy violated the filed rate doctrine because the formula rate in Entergy’s service agreement precedes FERC’s 2015 Entergy bandwidth remedy, which was created to equalize production costs among Entergy’s several companies by making sure no Entergy arm has production costs 11% above or below the Entergy system average.
Osceola said the dispute was “substantially identical” to a dispute Entergy had with Union Electric, which obtained bandwidth payment refunds.
But FERC found that Osceola previously settled the claim in “black-box” settlements.
“We find that these pleadings, settlement agreements and commission orders fully dispose of the complaint. … We likewise decline to invade the formula rate update proceedings’ privileged settlement negotiations by discussing which party sought or provided what data or by inquiring what lies inside the black-box agreements,” FERC wrote.
Reversing a prior decision, FERC ruled Tuesday that PJM transmission owners should pay all of the cost of projects that solely address a TO’s local planning criteria (ER15-1387).
The commission accepted the proposal by PJM Transmission Owners, saying it had erred in its May 2015 order rejecting the Tariff change as contrary to Order 1000.
The commission also made its first application of the new rule, rejecting PJM’s proposed cost allocation for Dominion Resources’ Cunningham-Elmont rebuild project (b2582). The commission said that it was not eligible for regional cost allocation because it only addressed local needs (ER15-1344).
FERC based its original decision on a mistaken understanding that all projects in the RTO’s Regional Transmission Expansion Plan are included for the purpose of regional cost allocation.
Based in part on a Nov. 12 technical conference and comments submitted afterward, the commission acknowledged that the RTEP lists some local projects that are included solely to ensure consistency with PJM’s overall regional expansion plan.
“Based on the rehearing requests and comments on the technical conference, it has become clear … that it is just and reasonable for the costs of projects with these characteristics to be allocated entirely to the zone of the individual transmission owner whose Form 715 local planning criteria underlie each project,” FERC said.
The commission said the rehearing order was consistent with its earlier finding approving MISO cost allocation provisions for baseline reliability projects (ER13-187, et al.).
Cunningham-Elmont
In the second order, FERC accepted PJM’s proposed cost allocation for 60 low-voltage baseline reliability projects but told it to revise the cost assignments for the 500-kV Cunningham-Elmont project based on the revised cost allocation rule.
Dominion originally submitted the $106 million rebuild as a supplemental project, meaning it alone would pay for it, but later revised its end-of-life criteria. PJM reclassified it as regional baseline project, determining a reliability violation would occur if it were taken out of the RTEP.
Dayton Power & Light protested the change, accusing Dominion of exploiting what it called a loophole to shift costs from its ratepayers to the entire RTO. It said the project was a replacement for an existing line “for which Dominion has always had 100% cost responsibility” but later recharacterized it as a “new” line eligible for regional cost allocation. Double-circuit 345 kV and 500 kV and above projects are allocated 50% on a postage stamp basis and 50% based on a solution-based DFAX analysis.
Dayton also said that as a project eligible for regional cost allocation, Cunningham-Elmont should have been subject to a competitive proposal window under Order 1000. (See DP&L Protests Dominion Project Over New Cost Allocation.)
PJM designated the project as an immediate need, meaning it was not required to open the project to competition.
While the commission found that PJM had correctly designated the project, it scolded the RTO for not providing enough transparency into the designation process. In filings and at the technical conference, PJM officials acknowledged there was no language in its governing documents detailing how a project is reclassified from supplemental to baseline.
FERC said that the RTO should post information regarding immediate-need projects more explicitly on its website, rather than relying on presentation materials at its Transmission Expansion Advisory Committee meetings. “We expect PJM will improve its processes to post information,” FERC said.
LaFleur Dissents
Commissioner Cheryl LaFleur dissented in part on both orders, saying that high-voltage projects such as Cunningham-Elmont should be eligible for regional cost sharing even if they were developed for local needs.
“I would condition acceptance of the PJM transmission owners’ filing on the preservation of the current regional cost allocation method for certain high-voltage projects, even if those projects are selected solely to address local planning criteria,” she said.
FERC has previously found that high-voltage projects have significant benefits for the entire PJM footprint, she noted. “I continue to believe that these high-voltage projects in PJM, even if developed solely to address local planning criteria, provide regional benefits that warrant some regional cost allocation,” LaFleur said.
Undermining Order 1000
LaFleur seemed sympathetic to complaints by ITC Mid-Atlantic Development and LSP Transmission Holdings that the TOs’ proposal would undermine the competitive process set out in Order 1000.
The majority rejected the companies’ arguments, citing data from the TOs that for 98% of the 303 projects included in the RTEP solely to address local transmission owner planning criteria, costs have been allocated exclusively to the individual TO’s zone.
It also noted that where PJM finds that a project is needed not only for local planning criteria but also regional needs, “costs may be allocated outside of the zone of the transmission owner that filed the criteria” and a nonincumbent transmission developer could be selected to build it.
But LaFleur pointed out the TOs’ admission that “the overwhelming majority” of the 303 projects they cited were lower voltage facilities. “They therefore fail to demonstrate that this dataset is representative of high-voltage projects that the PJM Transmission Owners previously argued, and the commission previously found, confer regional benefits.”
“Order No. 1000 was intended to ensure just and reasonable transmission rates through the improvement and expansion of regional planning and the introduction of competition,” LaFleur wrote. “Even if crafted within the letter of Order No. 1000 and the commission’s compliance orders, proposals to limit access to existing regional cost allocation and competitive bidding processes are, in my view, inconsistent with the rule’s underlying goals.”
WASHINGTON — FERC won’t be revisiting the demand response compensation rules under Order 745, commissioners said Monday.
After the Supreme Court upheld Order 745 last month, Commissioner Tony Clark urged the commission to reconsider the order’s requirement that RTOs pay DR the same LMPs as generation, which he said “continues to be widely panned by market experts.” (See Clark Calls for New Look at Order 745.)
But at the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners winter meetings, Chairman Norman Bay and the commission’s two other members, Cheryl LaFleur and Colette Honorable, said they had no intention of revisiting the issue.
“I think that the Supreme Court got it right,” Bay said in a brief interview after a question-and-answer session with NARUC President Travis Kavulla in front of hundreds of regulators and industry stakeholders.
Bay told Kavulla, “I don’t see [FERC undertaking] any major initiatives” as a result of the court’s ruling that the order did not intrude on state jurisdiction and that its compensation scheme was not arbitrary and capricious. “I think it’s really about implementing Order 745 at this point.”
Honorable said afterward that she agreed with Bay. “I believe the court spoke very clearly. … I don’t see a need to revisit compensation because the courts have upheld” FERC’s order, she said.
LaFleur, the only member of the current commission who cast a vote on the 2011 order, said she had no reason to second guess her position regarding compensation. “It’s just starting to be actually used now as the cloud [of litigation] is lifted,” she said.
The commission’s majority, led by former Chairman Jon Wellinghoff, said full LMP was appropriate because rates should reflect the service provided rather than the provider’s cost. The commission also said it would be difficult to establish “G” in the formula because retail rates vary within states and over time.
Former Commissioner Philip Moeller dissented on the order, saying DR should be paid a price of LMP minus G, where “G” stands for the retail price of electricity.
Moeller, now an executive with the Edison Electric Institute, reiterated his position last week at a briefing of financial analysts in New York, saying he hoped the commission would re-evaluate the rule “sooner rather than later.”
Under the commission’s current composition, however, DR providers such as EnerNOC, Centrica’s Direct Energy and Johnson Controls’ EnergyConnect have no reason to fear a pay cut.
Clark, who joined the commission after Order 745, won’t be around to fight for a change, having announced that he won’t seek reappointment when his term ends in June. (See Clark Won’t Seek New FERC Term.)
Five market efficiency projects, all in the ComEd zone, will be presented to the Board of Managers for its approval when it meets this week.
However, planners are holding off on recommending advancing the Hanover Pike baseline project while the need for it as a reliability project is evaluated, Transmission Expansion Advisory Committee Chair Paul McGlynn said. (See “PJM to Send Five Market Efficiency Projects to Board,” PJM Planning Committee & TEAC Briefs.)
“We’re going back and looking at the original drivers of the project,” he said. “We had put it in RTEP in 2008-09. Clearly, there have been a number of changes. We’re looking back to see if the reliability driver is still there.”
Four of the projects involve upgrading capacitors at the Brambleton, Ashburn, Shelhorn and Liberty substations. The size of the capacitors to be used has been adjusted since last month based on physical limitations, but the same system will be recommended. The other project is an upgrade to the 345-kV Loretto-Wilton Center line.
The projects are the last of the 2014-15 proposal window, and it’s possible if they can’t get wrapped up soon that they will be pushed forward into the 2016 window.
Meanwhile, the first proposal window of 2016, to last 30 days, is expected to open sometime this week.
PAR, LTFTS Task Forces are Sunsetted
The Planning Committee voted to sunset the Phase Angle Regulator and Long-Term Firm Transmission Service task forces.
All activities assigned to the groups have been completed.
Changes to Manual 14D governing the use of PARs, will be handled through regular Planning Committee meetings. (See “Long-term Firm Transmission, PAR Manual Changes Endorsed,” PJM MRC & Members Committee Briefs.)
A visual inspection by a Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspector Thursday found no active leakage of radioactive water at the Indian Point plant, where elevated levels of tritium have been detected in test wells.
Early indications had pointed to a sump pump failure that allowed contaminated water to leach into the wells during preparation for refueling, according to an NRC spokesman.
“There was evidence of boric acid deposits, which gives credence to the working theory of leakage related to the operations of the plant [in preparation for refueling],” NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan told RTO Insider on Friday.
The inspector spent one day at the plant but will continue to work with the three permanent inspectors there and could return if needed.
Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant (Source: Wikipedia)
Plant owner Entergy told state officials on Feb. 5 that routine monitoring had found elevated levels in three out of 40 wells at the site in the Hudson Valley, about 40 miles north of New York City.
A second test of water samples last week indicated the highest concentrations of tritium had increased 80%, the company said Wednesday.
But a third sample taken at the plant and verified on Friday indicated that the radioactivity, while still elevated, returned to the level detected the week before, the company said.
Levels “of tritium will rise and fall, and that is to be expected,” Entergy spokesman Jerry Nappi said.
NRC and Entergy said the leak poses no threat to public health or safety.
“While elevated tritium in the ground on-site is not in accordance with our standards, there is no health or safety consequence to the public, and releases are more than a thousand times below federal permissible limits,” the company said in a statement.
The groundwater will eventually leach into the Hudson “where it will barely be detectable and will pose no threat to the public water supply,” Sheehan said.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has ordered a joint investigation by the Public Service Commission and the departments of Health and Environmental Conservation. He again called for the plant’s closure.
“This failure continues to demonstrate that Indian Point cannot continue to operate in a manner that is protective of public health and the environment,” the governor said in a letter to the PSC.
U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) also weighed in, calling on NRC to “fully investigate all the wells surrounding Indian Point and determine why the pump was not working, how far the contamination spread, how to prevent future spills and more importantly determine if local residents’ health and safety are at risk.”
The Solar Foundation, a D.C. solar power advocacy nonprofit, has released its annual Solar Jobs Census for 2015. The report details the number of people working in the solar industry in each state. Overall, the workforce experienced rapid growth over the past year, increasing by 20.2% and at 12 times the overall U.S. economy, according to the report. And the organization expects it to continue to grow.
California has the nation’s largest solar workforce by far, with 75,598 workers. The runner up is Massachusetts, with 15,095. New York, New Jersey and Texas ranked in the top 10.
The organization also projected how much the solar workforce in each state would grow in 2016. Missouri (21.4%), Minnesota (20.5%), Ohio (20.2%) and Pennsylvania (19.9%) all ranked in the top 10. The only state in the country that is projected to lose jobs in the industry is Louisiana (-2.6%).
Northern Indiana Public Service Co.’s requested 82% increase in its monthly fixed-rate charge has drawn flak from consumer advocates and solar energy supporters in the state. Clean energy advocates say the increase is a punitive measure on the state’s solar power sources, while NIPSCO says it simply wants ratepayers to fund their fair share of grid upkeep.
Along with NIPSCO’s requested jump from $11 to $20 per bill, the Utility Regulatory Commission is also currently considering allowing Indianapolis Power & Light Co. to raise its monthly fixed charge from $11 to $17.
“This conversation is getting underway in Indiana and the NIPSCO case is on top of the list because of the language they used and their stated intent that, ‘This is just the beginning folks, we’ll be back for more every few years,’” said Kerwin Olson, executive director of consumer group Citizen Actions Coalition. “It’s something we’d like to nip in the bud.”
The Utilities Board conducted hearings last week on the proposed $3.8 billion Dakota Access pipeline project, which would deliver crude oil from North Dakota to terminals in Illinois. Regulators in North Dakota, Illinois and South Dakota have already approved the 1,168-mile pipeline.
Much of the testimony during the four days of hearings focused on the use of eminent domain authority to acquire the pipeline’s rights of way. The pipeline’s operator, Energy Transfer Partners, still needs to sign up 265 landowners who have refused to grant an easement.
“I don’t know how you hold it all in your mind,” said Dick Lamb, 73, one of holdout landowners. “Iowa being the last state, it’s just an enormous decision. It comes down to three people weighing this $3 billion class project.”
The Citizens’ Utility Ratepayer Board released a controversial email that prompted it to fire Consumer Counsel Niki Christopher, who had bluntly advised the board to reverse a December decision to strip her office of authority over cases and prohibit her from talking with lawmakers and reporters about utility issues.
Christopher, an agency lawyer for 15 years, was fired Jan. 25 after she told the board that its actions would damage the agency’s standing and credibility with lawmakers and the media. The board released the email after The Wichita Eagle requested it under the Kansas Open Records Act.
CURB Chairwoman Ellen Janoski said she thought Christopher’s email made unsolicited demands and was “very disrespectful” to the board.
Solar Incentives Fade Out, Put Solar Projects on Hold
Two incentives for solar generation have reached their limit for participants, putting the brakes on the incipient solar boom in the state.
“The industry’s on hold, basically,” said John DeVillars, of Boston solar developer BlueWave Capital. “Until there’s clarity on the next incentive program, very little activity will take place.”
Project developers have locked up the available 1,600 MW of solar renewable energy certificates, which compensate generators for electricity they produce. The state’s net metering program, which allows customer generators to sell their excess power to utilities at retail prices, has also reached its maximum number of participants.
DTE Requests $344M Rate Hike for Grid Improvements
DTE Electric is asking the Public Service Commission for a $344 million rate increase to pay for infrastructure upgrades.
If the hike is approved, average residential customers would see a 7.5% increase in their monthly bills. Commercial customers could expect a 0.4% decrease, and industrial consumers’ bills would be cut an average of 5.6%.
The commission in December agreed to allow DTE to raise its overall electric rates by 5.3%.
Organizers have begun seeking signatures for a ballot initiative requiring investor-owned utilities in the state to incrementally supply more renewable energy to reduce carbon emissions.
The initiative will appear on the November general election ballot if 24,175 people sign a petition. MTCARES, a nonprofit formed last fall to promote the ballot initiative, was given permission to begin gathering signatures after the ballot language was certified by the attorney general and secretary of state.
The state’s current renewable portfolio standard, enacted in 2005, requires public utilities and competitive electricity suppliers with more than 50 customers to obtain 15% of their retail electricity sales from renewable resources. The ballot measure would bump the renewable requirement to 19% by 2018, followed by increments that would total 50% by 2030 and 80% by 2050.
Legislators Want to Intervene in Power Line Review
Four state senators and 64 state representatives want to intervene in the Northern Pass transmission project now before the state’s Site Evaluation Committee.
Senators signing the petition said they represent residents who are concerned about the project’s overhead lines and the impact on the scenic views. The $1.6 billion, 192-mile transmission line would deliver Canadian hydropower to New England.
The lawmakers maintain that the project would primarily benefit southern New England population centers while its impact “would be borne by New Hampshire communities, unless the line is buried.”
Senate Passes Bill to Resurrect Fishermen’s Offshore Project
A bill aimed to breathe new life into a proposed offshore Fishermen’s Energy wind project passed the Senate by a vote of 23-11 on Thursday. Gov. Chris Christie vetoed a similar bill last year that called for approval of the 24-MW wind project.
The new bill, which still needs to pass in the lower house, calls for the Board of Public Utilities to open a 30-day window for qualified wind projects of 20 to 25 MW, and authorizes the BPU to issue renewable wind credits to offshore wind projects.
Fishermen’s has reconfigured its project to address concerns about cost and viability. It now calls for six 4-MW turbines installed 3 miles offshore. The $220 million project has already garnered $50 million in U.S. Energy Department funding.
The Public Regulation Commission voted 5-0 to open a new regulatory case to examine whether large electricity customers are receiving undue fuel savings as a result of Public Service Company of New Mexico’s investments in renewable energy.
The vote effectively separates the issue from approval of PNM’s renewable energy procurement plan for 2016. The commission had approved that plan in November, but in the vote, the commission included a recommendation by a hearing examiner to force industrial and governmental energy users to repay fuel savings generated by the utility’s renewable investments back to PNM.
The PRC will now review how PNM manages its “fuel clause” with regard to renewable energy. The fuel clause allows the utility to automatically pass on to consumers the costs and savings for purchasing fuel.
The new owners of the Somerset coal-fired power plant outside Buffalo told local officials they want to develop 1,800 acres around the facility.
The Niagara County Industrial Development Agency board on Wednesday also granted a revised tax break to the soon-to-be-former owners of the plant, Upstate New York Power Producers, reducing the plant’s property tax bill by $500,000 next year and again in 2018. The tax breaks will transfer to the new owners, Riesling Power.
Despite the tax breaks, the power plant remains the largest property taxpayer in Niagara County, IDA Chairman Henry M. Sloma said.
State Fines Duke Energy $6.6M for Dan River Coal Ash Spill
The Department of Environmental Quality has fined Duke Energy $6.6 million for the 2014 Dan River spill, in which 39,000 tons of ash and 27 million gallons of water flowed unchecked from a failed pipe under a 27-acre coal ash pond.
The fine comes after a $102 million settlement in May related to federal criminal charges over the incident. The February 2014 spill wasn’t stopped for six days.
Federal prosecutors said Duke ignored warnings about the faulty 48-inch stormwater pipe.
The Public Service Commission said it approved almost $2.1 billion worth of siting permits for energy-related projects last year. That number is slightly down from more than $2.7 billion in 2014, but still significantly higher than the $1 billion approved in 2013.
The projects included approximately 245 MW of gas-fired generation, two new electric transmission lines and two wind farms with about 250 MW of generating capacity.
Companies Conducting Ad War for Guaranteed Income Plans
American Electric Power, FirstEnergy and their opponents are conducting a television ad war over the utilities’ guaranteed income plans currently before the Public Utilities Commission.
FirstEnergy began its ad campaign last week, in response to a spot from the Alliance for Energy Choice, a group of independent power producers, including Dynegy, NRG Energy and Talen Energy. The alliance has enlisted former PUCO chairman Todd Snitchler to its cause.
Both utility companies have asked for eight-year power purchase agreements for their power plants, saying that they are needed to protect ratepayers from volatile natural gas prices and the reliability risks of plant retirements.
Solar industry supporters in the state say Oklahoma Gas & Electric’s proposed demand charge for customers with rooftop solar panels would harm the nascent industry.
An OG&E attorney said the utility had provided enough evidence to show a subsidy existed for distributed generation customers under current rates. The Corporation Commission is currently considering the utility’s request to implement the demand charge.
Administrative Law Judge Jacqueline Miller recommended in December the commission prospectively approve the utility’s proposal but said the rates could be subject to a refund if the commission did not ultimately approve the demand charge. She suggested the issue of potential cross-subsidization should be fully vetted under OG&E’s pending $92.5 million rate case.
Gov. Tom Wolf is proposing to tax natural gas drillers 6.5% on Marcellus Shale production. He estimates the assessment would bring in $217.8 million in the upcoming fiscal year.
Detractors of the plan say it flies in the face of market reality, in which production has slumped because of record low gas prices.
The state already charges a per-well impact fee but is the only state not to impose an extraction tax on natural gas.
PUC Finalizes Pa. Gas & Electric Polar Vortex Penalties
The Public Utility Commission accepted a settlement that directs Pennsylvania Gas & Electric to pay $6.8 million in customer refunds, a $25,000 civil penalty and a $100,000 contribution to a customer Hardship Fund as a result of alleged deceptive business practices after the Polar Vortex in 2014.
According to the settlement, reached with the Office of Consumer Advocate and the commission’s Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement, the supplier engaged in “slamming,” or enrolling customers in more expensive plans. Investigators also alleged that PG&E mishandled complaints, failed to provide accurate pricing information and charged prices other than those in its disclosure statements.
The OCA and the attorney general’s Bureau of Consumer Protection will determine who is due a refund. A third party will be designated to distribute the refunds.
Davison County commissioners, expressing concerns about neighboring property values from 446-foot-tall wind turbines, rejected a $40 million wind project proposed by Juhl Energy in Beulah Township. The project would have featured up to 11 turbines.
“Once this precedent is set, we could have these all over the county,” Commissioner Denny Kinder said. Commissioner John Claggett said he also was concerned with setting a precedent. “I think it would be presumptuous for us as a county commission to rule on something that is a new industry,” he said. The measure failed on a 4-1 vote.
Juhl Energy Vice President Corey Juhl said he didn’t think the company would try to appeal the ruling. “It seemed like they still don’t have a full grasp of the project, unfortunately,” he said. “And that’s sad, because you’re going to miss an opportunity here.”
Legislators Deciding Support for State’s Fossil Plants
Wiik
State Rep. John Wiik is sponsoring a resolution asking EPA to reconsider its Clean Power Plan. The Republican’s resolution argues that EPA “has proposed several regulations that would enact a de facto ban on the construction of new, efficient and cost-effective coal-fired power plants, and threaten the continued operation of existing coal-fired power plants.”
Wiik’s constituency includes Otter Tail Power’s Big Stone plant. The plant’s owners spent $384 million on its new air-quality control system that was completed in December.
The state House of Representatives voted 65-3 in favor of the resolution Feb. 4. At the same time, the state’s Department of Environment and Natural Resources is building a compliance plan for EPA’s approval, while the state’s attorney general has joined several dozens of other states in challenging in federal court EPA’s authority on the new regulations.
The State Corporation Commission approved Dominion Virginia Power’s plan to build out its system with several 230-kV lines in Fauquier and Prince William counties.
The SCC authorized Dominion to build the Vint Hill-Wheeler and Wheeler-Gainesville transmission lines, the Remington CT–Warrenton 230-kV double-circuit transmission line, the 230-kV Vint Hill switching station and the 230-kV Wheeler switching station.
The authorization comes after the SCC considered several routes. There was some issue about whether Dominion had issued public notice about one of the proposed routes, but the SCC indicated that it believes the selected route best serves the needs of the area. The order mandates that Dominion build and put into service the lines and substation by July 1, 2017.
The head of the nuclear industry lobby told Wall Street analysts last week that more of the nation’s nuclear fleet will retire prematurely, hurting efforts to meet carbon emission goals, without immediate action by federal and state policymakers to improve their finances.
Marvin Fertel, CEO of the Nuclear Energy Institute, noted that eight reactors have closed or announced closings in the last three years, half of them citing market issues.
Marvin Fertel, Nuclear Energy Institute
NEI says the nation’s 99 nuclear plants generate 63% of the country’s zero-carbon power. In 2015, the group says, nuclear plants had a record 91.9% capacity factor and reduced the average refueling outage to 36 days.
“It simply defies logic to shut down carbon-free nuclear plants, each of which employs 600-plus people, and replace them with natural gas plants employing maybe 30 people and whose cost of producing electricity is nearly 60% higher,” Fertel said during the group’s annual meeting with financial analysts Thursday.
Policymakers in Ohio and Illinois are considering actions that could bolster the finances of nuclear plants, whose revenues have been pinched as low natural gas prices have reduced clearing prices in wholesale energy markets.
New York utilities would be required to procure more than 15% of their forecasted load in 2020 from nuclear plants under a proposal last month by Gov. Andrew Cuomo. (See New York Would Require Nuclear Power Mandate, Subsidy.)
PJM’s Capacity Performance rules, approved by FERC last year, could boost capacity revenues over time.
But Fertel said aid isn’t coming quickly enough. “We have no time to waste. If we do not demonstrate a greater sense of urgency about addressing the problems in the electricity markets, we will lose more nuclear plants,” he said.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has accused NRG Energy of reneging on an agreement to repower the shuttered Dunkirk coal-fired power plant and ordered state regulators to investigate whether consumers were “defrauded.”
In a letter to the Public Service Commission on Tuesday, Cuomo said its report should determine why the repowering was not done, the financial impact on consumers and whether NRG should be allowed to operate in the state.
“New York welcomes fair-minded and public-oriented independent power producers as important members of our economic community and our electric industry. We cannot, however, tolerate companies that take advantage of consumers to achieve ill-gotten gains,” Cuomo wrote.
Dunkirk power plant (Source: NRG Energy)
Cuomo said NRG received $110 million from National Grid ratepayers from 2012 to 2015 to keep Dunkirk operating after it announced its decision to mothball the plant. Repowering to natural gas was supposed to have been completed last September.
NRG responded on Thursday that it is “very surprised” by the letter and said Cuomo’s assertion “contradicts the facts.”
“NRG’s Dunkirk facility kept the lights on in Western New York for the past two years, based on a 2012 contract approved by the governor’s own Public Service Commission. Over that time, our Dunkirk employees delivered near flawless performance — at the price agreed to in advance by the state,” company spokesman David Gaier said in a statement.
“NRG has invested in the Dunkirk facility and the local community, and we made more than $16 million in property tax payments over the past two years. We stand by everything we’ve done to support the power grid and ratepayers in Western New York. We’ll respond more fully in the days ahead with the facts,” he continued.
Repowering of Dunkirk to natural gas was approved by the PSC after the company negotiated financial incentives with the governor. The plant ceased operations on Dec. 31 at the conclusion of a reliability support services agreement that paid it above-market rates to remain operating to ensure grid reliability.
However, the repowering agreement was challenged in federal court by another generator who claimed it illegally suppressed wholesale prices in New York. NRG put the repowering project on hold, saying the lawsuit created too much uncertainty to proceed. (See NRG Plant Closures Could Impact Reliability in NY.)
Cuomo said he wants the PSC report “as soon as practicable.”
MISO’s System Operation Training Working Group (SOTWG) is at risk of disbanding after a request for new leadership went unanswered. The working group has lacked a chairperson since former chair Steve Zimmerman stepped down at the end of December.
“It looks like if we’re not going to get any stakeholder volunteers for leadership, this might be an opportunity … to move this into a MISO user group,” Reliability Subcommittee Chair Tony Jankowski said during a Feb. 10 meeting. Although user groups don’t participate in policy decisions, he said the RSC would still provide a forum for stakeholders on training operations should the change be made.
“If we move to the user group, it would be temporary, for me at least, and if we get way off-track or out-of-kilter, we may have to move it back to more stakeholder-driven than a user group. It isn’t going to happen overnight, but truly this is a call-out,” Jankowski said. “There’s a lot of groups and organizations that attend these meetings. Stakeholder leadership, even at a working-group level, is a valuable thing. We’re just short of that stakeholder participation, and we need to have that.”
He added that the leadership vacancy should be reported to MISO’s Steering Committee, which could order the change. He didn’t put a timeline on it but urged participants to come forward with nominations before that happens.
The working group is charged with identifying and meeting MISO stakeholder training needs. Last year, it worked with MISO to publish an online training catalog, developed training sessions on natural gas coordination and made NERC continuing education classes available. The SOTWG said it trained 2,015 people and provided about 384 hours of continuing education in 2015.
SOTWG Vice Chair Will Behnke said participation was low during 2015 training sessions, with people signing up for courses and often failing to attend. He reminded the subcommittee that the courses are provided free of charge.
“I really strongly recommend that folks send someone out to attend these meetings,” Behnke said.
2016 Priorities
Jankowski outlined issues the RSC plans to address in 2016.
He said the RSC began asking stakeholders to compile a list of reliability issues in January and identified frequency response as an issue that “needs to be kept alive.”
Although MISO should be compliant with the new NERC standard taking effect April 1, Jankowski said he’d like to follow up on the issue because MISO’s renewable power growth could affect how operations and emergency protocols work. (See “MISO Ready for Frequency Response Standard,” MISO Reliability Subcommittee Briefs.)
He added that the issue needs to be examined at length before action is taken.
“We think it’s premature to spend any appreciable time on revamping how reliability works. … It’s too difficult when you don’t know what you’re chasing,” he said.
Bill SeDoris, director of MISO integration for Northern Indiana Public Service Co., asked that the RSC keep an eye on how the SPP and MISO settlement payments play out after the elimination of the hurdle rate.
Power Restoration Drill
The RSC was reminded that MISO’s 2016 spring power system restoration drill is scheduled for March 23.
“We’re going back and looking at the original drivers of the project,” he said. “We had put it in RTEP in 2008-09. Clearly, there have been a number of changes. We’re looking back to see if the reliability driver is still there.”
The Solar Foundation, a D.C. solar power advocacy nonprofit, has released its annual Solar Jobs Census for 2015. The report details the number of people working in the solar industry in each state. Overall, the workforce experienced rapid growth over the past year, increasing by 20.2% and at 12 times the overall U.S. economy, according to the report. And the organization expects it to continue to grow.
Northern Indiana Public Service Co.’s requested 82% increase in its monthly fixed-rate charge has drawn flak from consumer advocates and solar energy supporters in the state. Clean energy advocates say the increase is a punitive measure on the state’s solar power sources, while NIPSCO says it simply wants ratepayers to fund their fair share of grid upkeep.
The Utilities Board conducted hearings last week on the proposed $3.8 billion Dakota Access pipeline project, which would deliver crude oil from North Dakota to terminals in Illinois. Regulators in North Dakota, Illinois and South Dakota have already approved the 1,168-mile pipeline.
Two incentives for solar generation have reached their limit for participants, putting the brakes on the incipient solar boom in the state.
Four state senators and 64 state representatives want to intervene in the Northern Pass transmission project now before the state’s Site Evaluation Committee.
A bill aimed to breathe new life into a proposed offshore Fishermen’s Energy wind project passed the Senate by a vote of 23-11 on Thursday. Gov. Chris Christie vetoed a similar bill last year that called for approval of the 24-MW wind project.
The Public Regulation Commission voted 5-0 to open a new regulatory case to examine whether large electricity customers are receiving undue fuel savings as a result of Public Service Company of New Mexico’s investments in renewable energy.
The Department of Environmental Quality has fined Duke Energy $6.6 million for the 2014 Dan River spill, in which 39,000 tons of ash and 27 million gallons of water flowed unchecked from a failed pipe under a 27-acre coal ash pond.
The Public Service Commission said it approved almost $2.1 billion worth of siting permits for energy-related projects last year. That number is slightly down from more than $2.7 billion in 2014, but still significantly higher than the $1 billion approved in 2013.
Solar industry supporters in the state say Oklahoma Gas & Electric’s proposed demand charge for customers with rooftop solar panels would harm the nascent industry.
The Public Utility Commission accepted a settlement that directs Pennsylvania Gas & Electric to pay $6.8 million in customer refunds, a $25,000 civil penalty and a $100,000 contribution to a customer Hardship Fund as a result of alleged deceptive business practices after the Polar Vortex in 2014.
