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.
AUSTIN, Texas — Making his first presentation to ERCOT’s Board of Directors as CEO, Bill Magness alluded to the unseasonably warm Texas weather as a calming influence during his first month on the job.
“This beautiful, fantastic weather [is] great for my nerves starting out as ERCOT’s CEO,” Magness said. “But it’s terrible for revenues.”
Magness said the milder-than-expected weather resulted in a $1.3 million shortfall in system administration fees for 2015, a major reason why net revenues for the year were $1.8 million below budget.
Magness also reported $2.7 million in over-budget costs for employee benefits and additional responsibilities under NERC’s new transmission-planning standard.
The increased costs were partially offset by lower interest and technology expenses.
“We had unusually high benefit costs … a number we’re really not happy about,” Magness said.
ERCOT’s 2016 operating budget will use a more “granular” load-forecasting methodology that will produce better results, Magness said. Staff recorded a -0.8% error in forecasting load last year, “and we think from an operations standpoint, [the new methodology] helps us better track our finances,” he said.
Warmest Winter Ever?
ERCOT meteorologist Chris Coleman told the board the “crazy winter” Magness lamented can be attributed to El Niño, the warming climate pattern in the tropical Pacific Ocean, and he said there’s a “greater potential for a warmer forecast” than a colder one for the remainder of the winter.
“This is the strongest [El Niño] has been at this point in the cycle ever. It will go down as one of the two strongest ever,” surpassed only by the 1997-98 El Niño, Coleman said. “This one is finishing stronger. We could be seeing our warmest winter ever.”
Austin has seen just three freezes since Nov. 1 after having recorded 28 over the previous two winters and has spent less than four hours at or below freezing this winter. Temperatures have yet to dip below 31 degrees so far, the warmest minimum temperature recorded through January in 20 years.
Looking ahead, Coleman projects a wet winter for much of Texas and an above-average number of ice events. He said the state’s northwestern portions could see a wet spring, but it will be drier elsewhere, which could lead to a return of drought conditions.
ERCOT’s next seasonal assessment of resource adequacy, early next month, will include an updated weather forecast.
ERCOT Unveils New Logo in State of Grid Report
ERCOT released its annual State of the Grid report Feb. 9, highlighting a new fluid, open-ended logo that it said reflects “the perfect flow of power on a high-demand summer day.” The report details ERCOT’s record in each of five areas: accountability, leadership, innovation, trust and expertise. It also provides updates on a number of initiatives and milestones, including successfully managing the first system peaks since 2011 and integrating the nation’s largest amount of wind capacity.
IMM Says Real-Time Prices Dropped
ERCOT’s Independent Market Monitor said real-time energy prices were down 34% in 2015, averaging $26.77/MWh compared to $40.64/MWh the year before, which began with a cold winter.
IMM Director Beth Garza said ERCOT’s implied heat rate indicated a number of inefficient units were being used to meet demand. Real-time and day-ahead heat rates peaked at 13.94 MBtu/MWh and 20.28 MBtu/MWh, respectively, in August, when ERCOT recorded its five highest daily demand peaks ever.
Special Meeting to Replace Director
The board unanimously approved staff’s recommendation for a special meeting to select an unaffiliated director before June 30. ERCOT bylaws call for five unaffiliated directors on the board, but the Texas grid operator’s Nominating Committee will not be able to meet and select a candidate to present to corporate members before June 30, when Jorge Bermudez’s second term expires. He will seek re-election for a third and final term.
The board also re-elected Craven Crowell and Judy Walsh as chairman and vice chair, respectively, and approved ERCOT’s two newest officers: Chad Seely, who replaced Magness as general counsel, and Senior Vice President and COO Cheryl Mele.
Randa Stephenson was re-confirmed as Technical Advisory Committee chair. Previous vice-chair Adrianne Brandt recently left Austin Energy for San Antonio’s CPS Energy; she will have to be re-elected to her position by TAC members before she can be confirmed by the board.
Finally, the board welcomed five new segment alternates: American Electric Power’s Wade Smith (Investor-Owned Utilities), DC Energy Texas’ Seth Cochran (Independent Power Marketers), Chapparal Steel Midlothian’s Sam Harper (Industrial Consumers), Invenergy Energy Management’s Mark Soutter (Independent Generators) and CenterPoint Energy’s Kenneth Mercado, (Investor-Owned Utilities).
Consent Agenda Passes Unanimously
The board unanimously passed its consent agenda, approving eight protocol revision requests and a nodal operating guide revision (NOGRR147, Reactive Power Testing Requirements) that were previously endorsed by the TAC. (See “Protocol Revision Requests OK’d,” ERCOT: No Consensus on Operating Reserve Changes.)
Closure of the FitzPatrick nuclear plant will leave New York at least 325 MW short of its generation requirement by 2019, according to a new assessment from NYISO.
FitzPatrick Nuclear Plant (Source Entergy)
The assessment, released Thursday, was ordered following Entergy’s announcement last year that the 882-MW plant would close at the end of its current fueling cycle, later this year or early in 2017.
“The resource deficiency equates to approximately 325 MW statewide but would likely require more than 325 MW of new or retained capacity resources to resolve, depending on forced outage rates and the location of the resources,” the assessment says.
NYISO is requesting solicitations for a “gap solution” from market participants that may include generation, transmission or demand response to address the shortfall. The RTO normally addresses reliability needs biennially but said the expected shortfall in 2019 requires action now.
About 2,600 MW of capacity is expected to leave the New York fleet by mid-2017. Besides FitzPatrick, NYISO has already lost, or is expecting to lose, the coal-fired plants Dunkirk, Cayuga and Huntley, along with the Ginna nuclear plant. (See Entergy Rebuffs Cuomo Offer; FitzPatrick Closing Unchanged.)
Currently inactive or close to deactivation are a 50-MW biomass plant in Niagara Falls and several gas peaking units in New York City. (See TransCanada may Mothball 3 NYC Gas Peakers.)
An 820-MW gas-fired plant in southern New York is expected to be in service by March 2018 and several transmission upgrades planned by mid-2020 are expected to mitigate the plant closures.
The assessment says new resources would be less effective to the state overall if they were added to Zone A in western New York. “Due to transmission system limitations between Zones A and B, capacity added in Zone A is not as effective as capacity added in other locations, unless that capacity also improves the transfer limitations,” it states.
Zone A is a relatively large area around Buffalo. Zone B is a narrow strip that runs from the Pennsylvania border to Lake Ontario and includes three nuclear power plants.
FitzPatrick Inspection
On Wednesday, meanwhile, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission released an inspection report that identified two violations of “very low safety significance” at FitzPatrick.
In November the plant took one of its backup emergency diesel generators offline while another backup generator was being serviced. In December, Entergy failed to tell NRC when a secondary containment ventilation system was inoperable.
The report, which summarized NRC’s three-month inspection ending Dec. 31, also included a third violation, self-reported by Entergy and considered of low significance. The company said it discovered it was operating during its previous fuel cycle, from October 2013 to October 2015 without the required number of safety relief valves.
Cold-weather testing continued into the second week of January due to the region experiencing one of the mildest Decembers on record.
The cost of the testing was cheaper than the previous year — $3.4 million compared with $4.9 million.
Two out of three eligible units declined to test, which Operating Committee Chair Mike Bryson said was a good thing because they would have been turned down anyway because of the warm weather. Some units have indicated they are going to test themselves, he said.
The success rate by unit was 97%; by megawatt, it was 98%.
The largest cause of failures, at 38%, was liquid fuel handling problems, followed by control system issues (15%).
Session will Study Transmission, Energy Scheduling Practices
An educational session will be held Feb. 24 on proposed changes to PJM’s regional transmission and energy scheduling practices.
The updates stem from the alignment of the gas-electric market timeline and generator offer flexibility proposals.
The changes add a five-minute “shotgun” start window for the hourly spot-in product — spot market imports — in which all reservations will be considered simultaneously.
“This process is going to give everybody a better shot at receiving the request they submitted,” PJM’s Chris Pacella said.
PJM Prepares for Annual Security Drill
PJM is asking members wanting to take part in the annual Grid Security Disturbance Drill to respond by March 11. The drill will be held on Nov. 9.
Transmission owners will participate in the drill from their workplaces. Generation owners will take part in a tabletop exercise at PJM.
The purpose of the drill is to assess the RTO’s ability to respond to disruptions caused by coordinated cyber and physical attacks and restore the grid to normal operations.
A kick-off meeting will be held in May. For more information, email BCP_Mailbox@pjm.com.
“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.
