Page 1565 – RTO Insider

April 14, 2015

Stakeholders Skeptical of PJM Proposal for ‘Historic’ Capacity Transfer Rights

By Suzanne Herel

VALLEY FORGE, Pa. — Stakeholders last week continued their debate over PJM’s proposal to create “historic” capacity transfer rights for some load-serving entities, with the Independent Market Monitor cautioning the Market Implementation Committee that the new Tariff language would constitute a “fundamental change.”

The proposal resulted from a problem statement approved by the MIC in December to review modeling practices that the RTO said may be shortchanging loads with transmission agreements that pre-date the RTO’s capacity market.

The changes would allow market participants to use generation resources outside of their locational deliverability areas (LDA) to meet their internal resource requirements if that external capacity agreement was in place before June 1, 2007, when PJM implemented its Reliability Pricing Model. Previously, there was no locational differentiation made among capacity resources.

The proposal would address the situation faced by the Illinois Municipal Electric Agency, which last year won a federal waiver to allow it to use capacity resources outside of the Commonwealth Edison LDA to meet its internal resource requirement in serving its Naperville, Ill., load.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission granted IMEA a waiver for the 2017/18 delivery year after the ComEd LDA last year was modeled for the first time with a separate variable resource requirement curve (ER14-1681).

In January, however, the commission rejected IMEA’s request to continue use of the waiver for future delivery years, saying it had enough time to prepare to meet its internal resource requirement (ER14-1681-001). The commission also rejected a specific waiver request for the 2018/2019 delivery year (ER15-834). (See Illinois Regulators, IMM Line Up Against IMEA Capacity Waiver Request.)

PJM estimates 1,037 MW of historic external resources would qualify under its proposal: 122 MW in the DOM zone, 533 in COMED, 261 in AEP and 121 in DAY.

“This isn’t a piddling amount of megawatts,” GT Power Group’s Dave Pratzon said.

One stakeholder, who declined to be identified by name, said the rule change would be fair if it protects the property rights of load-serving entities that had funded transmission upgrades that increased the capacity emergency transfer limit (CETL) into their region.

But he said it may be “inequitable” if it also covers those whose only claim is a firm transmission reservation that predates RPM. Others observed the change would give such LSEs a preference over their neighbors for available transmission capacity.

Pratzon said he was concerned that PJM would be unable to set a “bright line” to distinguish between entities that have legitimate claims from those that don’t.

“It does seem to be creating a preferential set of rights for a certain group of people. I wouldn’t want us to set something up where in effect we’re giving people a second bite of the apple for certain decisions they made in RPM that they wish they hadn’t made,” he said. “I want to make sure we’re not putting ourselves on a slippery slope to other requests for special treatment.”

Mark Hanson, an economic analyst for the Illinois Commerce Commission, said the proposal goes too far. “It seems like maybe [entities such as IMEA have] gone from being too much at risk to being immunized from risk,” he said.

Market Monitor Joe Bowring said the change “represents a very substantial, fundamental change to the way [capacity transfer rights] are allocated within LDAs.”

Stu Bresler, PJM vice president of market operations, said the proposal would apply to a “well-defined subset” of LSEs. “It could never grow. We’d never have a new one,” he said.

Bresler said PJM will provide additional information on its proposal at next month’s MIC meeting.

April 14, 2015

Union: Void ISO-NE Capacity Auction Results

By William Opalka

The union representing workers at the Brayton Point Power Station say the plant’s pending closure caused massive price spikes in recent capacity auctions and that the results of the ISO-NE Forward Capacity Auction 9 should be voided (EL15-1137).

Utility Workers Union of America Local 464 filed a protest Monday with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission seeking to cancel the auction that was held in February for the 2018-2019 capacity commitment period. Comments on the ninth auction were due Monday. (See ISO-NE Files Capacity Auction Results; Comments due April 13.)

They charge that the plant’s former owner, Energy Capital Partners, removed the 1,510-MW plant in Somerset, Mass., from FCA 8 and FCA 9 to inflate prices offered for other generation plants that it owned. ECP in 2013 said the plant would close in 2017.

“Energy Capital Partners intentionally raised the prices to be paid by purchasers of capacity market-wide in the FCA 8 auction by approximately $1.6 billion to $2.4 billion — an approximately 200% increase over prices in the prior annual capacity auction — and increased market-wide capacity prices by an additional approximately $1 billion in the FCA9 auction,” the protest states.

Results at FCA 9 came in at just about $4 billion, $1 billion higher than FCA 8 from February 2014. FCA 8 saw prices triple, to just over $3 billion from the previous year’s results of about $1 billion.

UWUA says the “illegal” actions by ECP were a violation of the ISO-NE Tariff. Retirements of generation plants that result in higher prices and profits for the owners’ other plants are only allowed if the closed plant was uneconomic on its own. Brayton Point’s sale to Dynegy was announced in 2014 as part of multi-state acquisition of four other plants totaling 1,902 MW. (See Dynegy Becomes New England Player Overnight.)

Dynegy reiterated its intention to close Brayton Point immediately after the sale was announced. The union cited a presentation to investors made last summer by Dynegy that said Brayton Point would have operating profits of $105 million in 2015.

The union made a similar protest a year ago when FERC began its review of FCA 8. The results became effective as an operation of law when the commission was deadlocked 2-2. (See FERC Commissioners at Odds over ISO-NE Capacity Auction.)

An amended complaint filed by the union in February did not prompt any further commission action (ER14-1409).

FERC last month approved the transfer, saying it had not found credible evidence of the exercise of market power and had already rejected the union’s claims. (See Dynegy Wins FERC OK for $6.25B Duke, Energy Capital Partners Generation Deals.)

April 14, 2015June 15, 2023

Federal Briefs

The U.S. Supreme Court will consider the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s appeal of a ruling voiding its authority over demand response in its conference April 24. At least four of the nine justices must agree to hear the case (14-840) for it to proceed.

FERC filed a petition for a writ of certiorari in January, contending that the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals erred in its 2014 ruling (Electric Power Supply Association v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) that FERC lacked authority under the Federal Power Act to regulate energy market payments to DR providers.

The ruling, which voided FERC Order 745, was limited to the energy markets. But some stakeholders say the ruling also invalidates the commission’s regulation of DR in capacity markets. On March 31, FERC rejected as premature PJM’s proposed contingency plan for including demand response in its May Base Residual Auctions in the event the D.C. Circuit’s ruling is allowed to stand. (See FERC: PJM Demand Response Stop-gap Measure ‘Premature’.)

More: 14-840

Wisconsin Energy Takeover of Integrys Gets OK from FERC

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on April 7 approved Wisconsin Energy Corp.’s $9.1 billion acquisition of Integrys Energy Group.

Wisconsin Energy is the parent of electric utility We Energies. Integrys owns the Green Bay-based electric-natural gas utility Wisconsin Public Service Corp., along with Peoples Gas.

FERC dismissed concerns raised by a consortium of municipal electric utilities that contend that the merged companies would have undue influence over American Transmission Co., noting the new Wisconsin-based utility giant plans to limit voting rights in ATC.

The deal still requires the approval of four states: Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota and Illinois.

More: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Feds Consider Rules that Would Protect Bats, Hobble Wind Farms

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is studying whether it needs to modify some rules protecting the Northern long-eared bat in a move that could affect wind farms. The agency announced that it would list the species as threatened.

The designation could result in regulations increasing the wind speed at which turbines are allowed to start producing energy on the theory that fewer bats will be flying when wind speeds are high. The agency is taking comments on the proposed rule changes and is expected to finalize the rules by the end of the year.

More: Midwest Energy News

NRC Approves Use of Hotter Fuel Rods at FirstEnergy’s Perry Plant

A new type of fuel rod that has thinner metal walls encasing enriched uranium has been approved for use at FirstEnergy’s Perry nuclear generating station. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved the use of the fuel rods, which should result in an increase of energy production while allowing use of less enriched uranium.

FirstEnergy is replacing about a third of the 748 fuel rod assemblies during the current refueling outage. Opponents to the plan say that the thinner fuel rod walls could present a problem moving the fuel rods in the decades to come after the rods are exhausted. NRC is currently testing the rods for long-term storage issues.

More: The Cleveland Plain Dealer

Group Says RGGI Could be Way to Meet Emissions Mandates

A New England nonprofit energy policy group has released a report that says joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative could provide a solution for Virginia to meet upcoming federal emission reduction mandates. The Acadia Center said that by joining the nine states already participating in RGGI, Virginia could have a “plug-and-play” way of satisfying the requirements of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan.

“Virginia could build on this existing foundation by adopting the RGGI model rule, which would allow the commonwealth to participate in the market while preserving authority and enforcement at the state level,” according to the report.

“RGGI has been successful in the states that currently participate. It is helping to reduce carbon emissions, while offering a demonstrated record of advancing economic development, and saving consumers money on energy,” said Daniel L. Sosland, Acadia Center president.

It isn’t clear how much support such a move would have in Virginia. A bill calling for Virginia to join the RGGI never got past committee earlier this year in Virginia’s Republican-controlled legislature.

Nine states currently participate in the RGGI: New York, Maryland, Massachusetts, Maine, Delaware, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Vermont. New Jersey was a member, but Gov. Chris Christie pulled the state out two years ago.

More: Acadia Center

PPL Gets Approval for Transfer of Nuclear Asset to Talen

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved the transfer of PPL’s Susquehanna Steam Electric Station nuclear plant operating licenses to a new merchant generation company, Talen Energy. PPL is spinning off most of its generation, which will be combined with assets owned by Riverstone Holdings, to form Talen. The new company will be an unregulated, competitive generation supplier. Allegheny Electric Coop. has a minority ownership share of the two-unit plant.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the state Public Utility Commission have approved various filings relating to the Talen spinoff. Final approval is still needed from the U.S. Department of Justice under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements act. PPL still says it expects to close the transaction by the end of June.

More: PPL

Compiled by Ted Caddell

April 14, 2015June 15, 2023

UTC Trader: Firm was Ruined by ‘Unfair’ FERC Prosecution

By Ted Caddell

A Florida power trader under investigation for market manipulation over up-to-congestion trades says the transactions were lawful and that an “unfair” investigation by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has ruined his business. He asked for a review of his case by the full commission (IN15-5).

According to FERC’s Office of Enforcement, Stephen Tsingas and his firm, City Power Marketing, made $1.2 million in July 2010 through “fraudulent” and risk-free round-trip UTC trades placed solely to collect line-loss rebates. The allegation is almost identical to what FERC made in the pending case against Rich and Kevin Gates and their Powhatan Energy Fund.

Tsingas’ April 7 filing is in response to the demand by FERC Enforcement that it show why he and City Power shouldn’t return the profits and pay $15 million in fines.

Tsingas’ defense is similar to that of the Gates brothers: He argues that when the trades were undertaken there was no direct prohibition of them. When PJM’s Independent Market Monitor raised objections to the transactions, Tsingas says, he and City Power discontinued them.

Tsingas also denied an allegation that he concealed documents during the investigation. Tsingas and his attorneys say a series of instant messages that FERC purports to show collusion are taken out of context.

Tsingas’ legal team — which includes Todd Mullins, a former branch chief in the Office of Enforcement’s Division of Investigations — says the investigation effectively put City Power out of business.

“Staff’s investigation of this handful of trades has destroyed CPM,” they wrote. “Once a company with eight employees and gross revenues exceeding $8 million annually, CPM now only has one employee — Mr. Tsingas.

“The stress of an investigation that has lasted almost five years, along with the enormous expenses incurred as a result, have ruined the company even before any tribunal — judicial or administrative — has had the opportunity to determine the merits of staff’s accusations.”

The crux of the defense is that to be prosecuted for manipulation, there must be a showing of “fraud or deceit.” Tsingas claims that when the trades were undertaken there had not yet been a determination that the trades were anything but legal transactions that may have taken advantage of a market weakness.

“There was no false information injected into the marketplace,” Tsingas’ lawyers wrote. “There was no artificial price formation. There was no violation of the [commission’s] Anti-Manipulation Rule. CPM traders were simply responding to the predictable incentives created by the market.

“The commission cannot and should not turn into a violation every case in which [a] participant trades in a manner consistent with the rules as then written and involving no falsity just because the trader may have had a motive for the trade that was not what the commission … had in mind,” they argued.

April 14, 2015

FERC Requests More Info on NYISO Voltage Compensation Change

By William Opalka

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission says a filing made by NYISO to calculate payments for voltage support services (VSS) is deficient (ER15-1042).

The commission Friday requested more information before it can consider amendments to NYISO’s Market Administration and Control Area Services Tariff.

NYISO proposed paying VSS providers $2,592/MVAr for both leading and lagging capability, with annual increases based on the consumer price index (CPI). MVAr is the unit of measurement for reactive power capability. (See NYISO Rejects Protests on Voltage Compensation.)

FERC asked NYISO for more explanation of the methodology and assumptions used to determine the proposed rate. It also ordered the ISO to provide documentation demonstrating that the proposed amendments maintain the approximate total dollar value of the current VSS program in the near term.

The Independent Power Producers of New York and Dynegy Marketing and Trade filed separate protests asking FERC to order the ISO to increase the compensation rate to reflect inflation since the existing rate was set in 2002.

April 14, 2015

NYPSC Rejects Opponents’ Request for More Time in Ginna Rate Review

By William Opalka

Opponents of a financial lifeline for the R.E. Ginna nuclear plant were rejected Monday in their bid for more time to prepare their challenges.

Environmentalists and industrial consumers contended the current schedule will deny ratepayers due process in a case that could cost them $175 million.

The New York Public Service Commission has ordered initial “issue statements” by April 15 in a review of the ratepayer impact of a reliability support services agreement between Rochester Gas & Electric and Exelon’s Constellation Energy Nuclear Group, the plant’s owner. (See Action on Ginna RSSA Delayed 4 Months.)

The PSC ordered the utility to make a deal to keep the plant operating after regulators and NYISO determined the plant was needed to maintain system reliability. A flurry of filings have been made over the past two weeks as supporters and opponents of the deal vie for position (14-E-0270).

Those filings “have not established a basis for us to conclude that an extension of the deadline for submitting issue statements is necessary,” administrative law judges overseeing the case wrote. They also cited the coming summer peak demand, the reliability needs provided by the plant and Ginna’s right to cancel the agreement on July 1 as reasons to keep to the established schedule.

The judges said they were being asked to make rulings on the merits of the agreement in what is meant to be a procedural phase of the case. “We must establish a schedule that preserves the full range of possible outcomes for commission review and decision, without, in practical effect, deciding substantive issues,” they added.

Opponents asked the PSC for more time to make their case against the deal, while the utility, plant owner and PSC staff want to maintain a schedule that would close the case by July 29. If approved, the agreement would be retroactive to April 1 and last through September 2018.

The Alliance for a Green Economy and Citizens Environmental Coalition joined the opposition in an April 1 filing in which they also challenged the hearing schedule. The groups said the April 1 effective date of the contract was arbitrary.

“It is unreasonable to saddle Rochester-area customers with retroactive costs and interest payments that will start accruing before there has been time for [the] public to comment on the proposal or for the Public Service Commission to review the case,” they said.

They added that in a “major rate proceeding,” the PSC staff and interested parties have three to four months to conduct discovery. “The relief sought in this case is distinguishable from that which is sought in a typical major rate filing,” the judges wrote, citing the PSC order and the limited issue it posed.

The Utility Intervention Unit of the state’s Consumer Protection Bureau also challenged the effective date, “which was arrived at without the benefit of the parties’ input, [and] should not be used as a justification for limiting the parties’ due process opportunities to participate effectively in this proceeding.”

About 60 commercial, industrial and institutional customers said they support a one-month delay as a “reasonable” time frame to resolve issues before hearings with administrative law judges.

The PSC staff disagreed, saying that the schedule — which allowed 45 days for public comments — meets state law and balances the need to provide adequate time for the public to comment.

April 14, 2015June 15, 2023

Tx Developers Challenge PJM Choice on Pratts Project

By Suzanne Herel

VALLEY FORGE, PA — Two competing transmission developers are challenging PJM’s selection of Dominion Resources and FirstEnergy to resolve reliability problems near Pratts, Va. (See Dominion, FirstEnergy Recommended for Pratts Solution.)

ITC Holdings and Northeast Transmission Development sent PJM letters questioning the decision and arguing in favor of their own proposals.

In its letter, dated March 24, Northeast Transmission, a unit of LS Power, said the two proposals it submitted are more efficient and cost-effective than PJM’s choice.

“NTD does not believe that PJM appropriately considered the cost cap provided by NTD relative to cost ‘estimates’ for alternative proposals,” it said.

It also asked PJM to consider two project combinations, either of which it said would save an estimated $28.8 million to $58.8 million and provide cost containment. One of the combinations also would offer reduced risk through use of an existing right-of-way, the company said.

ITC’s letter, dated April 7, called on PJM to reconsider its proposal, which it called “nearly identical” to the one from Dominion and FirstEnergy.

“To resolve this issue equitably, and ensure the evaluation of proposals on an even playing field, we request the PJM perform additional analysis to compare the ITC proposal with the Dominion-FirstEnergy proposal before making a recommendation to the PJM board.”

Four developers suggested 16 proposed solutions, but PJM concluded only six of the proposals solved the violations. PJM said the Dominion-FirstEnergy proposal was selected in part because the companies own the substations involved and most of the rights-of-way required. In addition to project risk, PJM said it considered performance and cost-effectiveness in its selection.

Paul McGlynn, PJM general manager of system planning, told the Transmission Expansion Advisory Committee that planners will review the competitors’ letters and consider changes to their recommendation “if they are in fact warranted.”

McGlynn said planners will return the issue to the TEAC for another discussion before making a final recommendation to the PJM board.

Sharon Segner, a vice president for LS Power, questioned why the Dominion-FirstEnergy proposal should receive a preference for owning substations and rights-of-way when any developer selected would be able to invoke eminent domain to acquire needed land. She added later that Virginia has established precedent that new entrants can obtain public utility status.

“You’re certainly entitled to your opinion,” McGlynn responded.

Segner also said PJM should consider identifying the top three or four most important criteria it will consider when it issues future competitive solicitations, as she said is the practice in CAISO’s Order 1000 process.

McGlynn said performance, cost effectiveness and risk will always be top priorities although their relative weighting may vary from project to project.

April 14, 2015June 15, 2023

ISO-NE Error Could Cost GenOn Millions

By Rich Heidorn Jr.

The owner of a Massachusetts generating plant says ISO-NE is forcing it to pay millions in unnecessary capacity costs because the RTO mistakenly underestimated the plant’s capacity.

GenOn Energy Management, a unit of NRG Energy, asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last week for relief from what it called an “anomalous, illogical and patently unfair circumstance” (EL15-57).

GenOn said ISO-NE credited its Canal 2 oil- and gas-fired generator in Sandwich, Mass., with capacity of only 303 MW — rather than the plant’s actual 556.5-MW output — in the March annual reconfiguration auction (ARA) for the 2015-2016 capacity commitment period.

As a result, the RTO submitted a demand bid on GenOn’s behalf for the difference, forcing the company “to buy out of a capacity supply obligation that Canal 2 is fully capable of fulfilling.” Only a portion of the demand bid cleared because supply offers filled only two-thirds of the demand bids entered.

The company redacted specifics of how much it estimated the error could cost it, but based on the ARA’s clearing price of $11.466/kW-month, and the prorated apportionment of cleared bids, GenOn could be forced to spend more than $22 million.

GenOn said the plant’s output was derated after the failure of a step-up transformer in July 2013, but that it returned to full capacity in May 2014, as documented by the RTO’s capacity audits. The company noted that it offered the plant’s full capacity in Forward Capacity Auction 9 in February.

The company asked FERC to force the RTO to correct the “obvious mistake on ISO-NE’s part” or grant it a waiver to allow it to escape the capacity charges.

It asked for FERC action by May 25 so that ISO-NE can ensure that the appropriate capacity supply obligations are in place before the beginning of the 2015/16 capacity commitment period on June 1.

April 14, 2015June 15, 2023

MISO TOs Seek Base ROE of 11.39%

By Chris O’Malley

MISO transmission owners have told the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission it should order only a modest reduction in their base return on equity to 11.39%, not the 9.15% sought by industrial customers.

On April 6, the TOs filed an analysis contending 11.39% represented “a logical and supportable estimate of the cost of equity.” Omitting the FERC-approved ROEs for ITC Holdings — the only publicly traded transmission-only company in the U.S. — would result in an “absolute minimum” base ROE of 10.8%, the analysis said.

MISO industrial customers initiated the ROE dispute last fall, contending that transmission operators’ current base return on equity — 12.38%, except for American Transmission Co. at 12.2% — is too high (EL14-12).

The industrials contend the base ROE for TOs should not exceed 9.15%, citing changes in financial markets and other factors. They say the lower base ROE would cut transmission rates by about $327 million annually.

The dispute last year went into settlement discussions, but talks broke down in December.

After it became clear the case would not settle, the MISO Public Consumer Group sector joined in the fight, in what is its first-ever litigation in a FERC rate case.

In February the sector — which includes both non-profit groups and government agencies that represent consumers in utility cases before state regulators — asked MISO for $200,000 to help cover its legal costs in the dispute. (See MISO Advisory Committee Briefs.)

MISO spokesman Andy Schonert said last week that the RTO “continues to consider stakeholder feedback [on the request] and will be finalizing [its] decision quickly.”

On April 3, the consumer advocates asked FERC for approval to amend the group’s intervention by adding the Arkansas Attorney General’s Consumer Utility Rate Advocacy Division; the Kentucky Attorney General’s Office of Rate Intervention; the Louisiana-based Alliance for Affordable Energy; the Montana Consumer Counsel; and the Illinois Attorney General.

“As the outcome of the joint consumer advocates funding request has not yet been determined, it is even more important to broaden consumer advocate engagement in this proceeding in order to build up resources to support the Consumer Advocates’ participation in this case,” wrote Jennifer Easler, an attorney in the Iowa Office of Consumer Advocate.

The dispute follows FERC’s ruling last June that introduced a new, two-step method for calculating transmission owners’ ROEs. Ruling in a case involving New England TOs, FERC tentatively set the “zone of reasonableness” at 7.03 to 11.74%.

April 14, 2015June 15, 2023

Morningstar: PJM to Hit Record Spark Spreads in 2015-16

The next year will be a good one for natural gas-fired generators in PJM, according to Morningstar Commodities Research.

A new report by Morningstar analyst Jordan Grimes predicts on-peak prices at PJM’s West Hub will result in “historically high” spark spreads in delivery year 2015-16. Spark spread, a measure of gas plants’ gross profit margin, is the difference between the price received by a generator for power and the cost of the gas needed to produce it.

Grimes says physical reserve margins will tighten due to the retirement of more than 10,000 MW of older coal, gas and oil capacity before June 1.

“New combined-cycle capacity will replace some of this lost capacity, but much of the physical capacity will be replaced with demand response, renewables and expected imports from neighboring ISOs,” he wrote. “When DR replaces physical capacity, it will steepen the supply curve at the same time physical reserve margins drop this summer.”

For a gas plant with a 7,000 Btu/kWh heat rate purchasing gas at Tetco-M3 and selling power at PJM West, that could lead to spark spreads averaging $25/MWh in calendar year 2015 and $22/MWh in 2016, Grimes predicts.

But he says spreads will decline to $18 in 2017 and $16 in 2018 as more new combined-cycle plants are built in PJM and pipeline expansions allows Marcellus gas producers to obtain higher prices from more distant customers.

“There are a few scenarios … that would help keep spark spreads elevated in 2017 and 2018, but the most likely scenario is lower spark spread clears, given the new, more efficient supply stack and higher Tetco-M3 gas prices,” Grimes said.