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November 16, 2024

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State Officials Challenge EPA Assumptions on Carbon Rule

By Rich Heidorn Jr.

CHICAGO – State officials and generation owners promised last week to challenge the assumptions the Environmental Protection Agency used in its proposed carbon emission rule, saying the agency’s cost calculations are too low and its projections for energy efficiency and generator performance too high.

The EPA’s proposed rule was the subject of two panel discussions at last week’s annual meeting of the Organization of PJM States Inc. (OPSI). Members debated whether the EPA has authority to impose emission restrictions “beyond the fence line” of generating plants, discussed the role of PJM and other RTOs in leading a regional compliance effort, and agreed on the need for a reliability “safety valve.”

The costs of compliance was also a recurrent theme. (See related story, Va. SCC Staff Blasts EPA Carbon Rule.)

West Virginia Consumer Advocate Jackie Roberts said the EPA’s estimate that the regulations will increase rates by only one-half cent per kWh are not credible. “I’m having trouble accepting that,” she said. “The costs of the program are going to be enormous.” Roberts said the costs will be regressive, falling particularly hard on the poorest in West Virginia, itself the eighth poorest state in the U.S.

Ohio Public Utility Commissioner Asim Haque said his state’s comments on the rule will include ProMod analyses that show the regulations will cost its consumers billions. “We’re going to submit what we think will be a very strong set of comments that will describe our concerns about the Clean Power Plan. We will not speculate, pontificate or spew rhetoric. We are going to provide true data that support conclusions that we can assert that will effectively work against the [EPA’s] math.”

Kentucky Public Service Commissioner James Gardner said he feared his state might be forced to shutter coal generators on which it has spent $4.5 billion in retrofits to comply with the EPA’s mercury and cross-state air pollution rules.

carbon ruleBut Maryland Public Service Commissioner Kelly Speakes-Backman said Maryland and the other eight states in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) cap-and-trade system have seen less than a one-half percent increase in residential, commercial and industrial ratepayers’ bills while reducing carbon emissions 40% and achieving economic growth of 7% between 2005 and 2012.

“We are living proof that a mechanism that’s based on market dynamics can work and it can work to the benefit of our ratepayers and our environment at the same time. Those are not two mutually exclusive issues,” she said.

carbon rule“If you’re concerned about electricity prices — which I hear a lot of people are — I would encourage you to go out and lock in for the next 15 or 25 years the record-low wind prices so you will know exactly what your electricity prices will be under the Clean Power Plan,” said Tom Vinson, vice president of federal regulatory affairs for the American Wind Energy Association.

Heat Rate, Capacity Factor & Energy Efficiency

carbon ruleJohn Coleman, vice chairman of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, complained that the EPA did not give his state credit for being an early adopter of renewable portfolio standards and failed to acknowledge the economic impact of shutting down coal-fired generation. “A 32% reduction for Pennsylvania is very significant. In fact it’s probably to the point of being unachievable,” he said.

John McManus, vice president of environmental services for American Electric Power, said the industry can achieve only a 1-2% improvement in heat rates, far below the 6% the EPA assumes. “If you’re giving away 4% of your fuel price because you’re just not paying any attention, that’s not a very smart way to operate, so we think they’re very aggressive there.”

He also challenged the EPA’s assumption that gas generators can achieve 70% capacity factors. While some of AEP’s combined-cycle plants run as high as 70%, to “run all of them year after year at 70% — that’s another question,” he said.

carbon ruleDarren MacDonald, director of energy for Gerdau Long Steel North America, said the rules threaten the viability of his company, which transforms scrap into steel. MacDonald said the company has had to squeeze out energy waste to remain competitive globally. “We’ve been looking for high-hanging fruit for years,” said McDonald.

EPA Authority ‘Outside the Fence’

carbon ruleMcDonald said the EPA has no authority to regulate emissions “outside the fence” of electric generators. Virginia State Commerce Commissioner Mark Christie agreed: “I haven’t heard anyone say EPA can regulate outside the fence,” he said, asking: can the EPA force states to increase their RPS targets?

Speakes-Backman said the issue is a “false premise” for states that choose a mass-based compliance.

She noted that RGGI is limited to fossil fuel generators of 25 MW and above. “We are not going outside the fence,” she said. “But if we have energy-efficiency improvements [and] renewable energy that reduces the amount of generation from those affected units, then we’re complying.”

Start Planning for Wind

Vinson said PJM and other RTOs need to begin planning transmission for new wind generation to meet the EPA targets, saying “We know some version of carbon regulation will stand” after the anticipated court challenges, he said. “In our view, 111(d) is clearly a public policy requirement [under FERC Order 1000] that needs to be planned for,” Vinson said.

Vince Hellwig, senior policy advisor at the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, agreed that officials need to begin planning based on the preliminary rule.

But Hellwig said that the EPA’s proposal won’t give states credit for energy efficiency until 2020. With Michigan’s RPS due to sunset in 2015, Hellwig said some have asked the legislature “why shouldn’t we wait [to renew it] until we get credit for it?”

RTOs’ Role

Hellwig said his state’s compliance is complicated because it is split between PJM and MISO. “How are we going to deal with being in two different ISOs? We don’t know yet,” he said.

Ohio’s Haque called on PJM to be proactive in recommending a path forward for its member states. “PJM has to tell states how to best manage and craft plans based on the reality of the marketplace in which we live,” he said.

“There’s no one better suited than a regional transmission organization to [determine] how that would work,” concurred Speakes-Backman.

Craig Glazer, vice president of federal government policy for PJM, said the RTO is working with other members of the ISO/RTO Council (IRC) to draft a consensus response to the rule, similar to the one that helped persuade the EPA to add a reliability “safety valve” to its Mercury and Air Toxics Standard (MATS).

carbon rulePJM CEO Terry Boston urged state officials to include a call for a safety valve in their comments on the carbon rule. “We have gotten nowhere with EPA” on the issue, Boston said.

AEP’s McManus noted the emission targets don’t change after the final rule is issued next June. “That doesn’t make sense to us. There has to be an opportunity for a mid-course correction” if, for example, a state loses a nuclear plant to an extended outage.

Environmental Dispatch

State officials sparred over whether the EPA rule will require PJM to replace its security constrained economic dispatch (SCED) with “environmental dispatch.”

Ohio’s Haque said the rule is “effectively masked environmental dispatch.”

Speakes-Backman disagreed. “It wouldn’t work. That’s not what’s being proposed in the guidelines,” she said.

Glazer said PJM could use run-time limits on individual generators as a “back door” way to implement emissions rules. But he said “true environmental dispatch” – stacking units by emissions rate irrespective of cost – “is really something of a nightmare” that would threaten cost discipline and disrupt investment signals. “You’d have the reliability and environmental dispatch sort of at war with each other.”

Former Ohio Public Utility Commissioner Paul Centolella suggested a market-based solution, noting that a cap-and-trade program was able to reduce SO2 emissions for a much lower cost than most had projected.

carbon ruleMichigan Public Service Commissioner Greg White said a market-based solution would be the cheapest way to achieve compliance. But he said such a response would require agreements between states and action by the Michigan legislature.

“How we get there, I have no idea,” he said. “I’m not the decision maker. Not even close to the decision maker.

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Federal Briefs

YuccaA Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff report says that the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada would, “with reasonable expectation,” meet safety requirements.

The 781-page report was ordered when the license for the facility was still under consideration, back in 2008. Since then, the Obama Administration halted work on the project, about 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners welcomed the report and urged the administration and Congress to support the continued review of the facility’s license application. NARUC noted that consumers of nuclear energy have contributed billions of dollars over the past 30 years to fund a repository. “Our government owes it to them to finish the job.”

But opponents said the report did not fully consider all the probabilities that could affect safety. “It’s a pretty meek endorsement,” said Robert Halstead, director of the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects.

More: Las Vegas Review-Journal; NARUC

Duke Files for FERC Approval of NCEMPA Asset Purchase

Duke Energy Progress has asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to approve its $1.2 billion buyout of the North Carolina Eastern Municipal Power Agency’s shares of several Duke power plants.

NCEMPA is selling its stakes in four Duke Energy Progress power plants — about 700 MW at two coal-fired plants and three nuclear units. If the deal is approved, Duke will be the sole owners of the Roxboro Unit 4 and Mayo Unit 1 coal plants, and the Brunswick Units 1 and 2 and Harris Unit 1 nuclear stations. All of the plants are in North Carolina.

Duke also entered into a 30-year power-purchase agreement to supply wholesale power to the 32 municipalities represented by NCEMPA. The terms of that agreement were not released.

Duke will also need regulatory approval from North Carolina, South Carolina and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

More: Market Watch

Lockheed Martin Claims Breakthrough in Fusion Power

The magnetic coils inside the compact fusion (CF) experiment are critical to plasma containment, as pictured in this undated handout photo.
The magnetic coils inside the compact fusion (CF) experiment are critical to plasma containment, as pictured in this undated handout photo.

Defense contracting giant Lockheed Martin made big waves last week when it announced it had made a technological breakthrough in creating a power source based on nuclear fusion. It said the first reactors — small enough to fit in the back of a truck — could be ready in a decade.

The Lockheed research team, headed by Tom McGuire, has been working on the project at the company’s Skunk Works, its top secret research facility in California. McGuire told Reuters that its designed 100-MW reactor would be about 10 times smaller than current reactors.

The company said it planned to build and test a fusion reactor in the next year, and then construct a prototype within five years. The method, long sought after by researchers, attempts to capture the energy released during nuclear fusion, rather than nuclear fission. Nuclear fusion occurs when atoms combine into more stable forms and is inherently safer. Fusion reactors would use a deuterium-tritium fuel and not produce any radioactive waste.

More: Reuters

EPA Fines DOE for Missing Hanford Cleanup Deadlines

Hanford cleanupThe Environmental Protection Agency is fining the Department of Energy up to $10,000 for every week it fails to start removing radioactive sludge at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation on the Columbia River in Washington state.

The DOE had agreed to start the storage basin clean-up by Sept. 30 at the nation’s most contaminated nuclear site, where plutonium was produced. But it missed the deadline, blaming federal budgeting issues. The EPA said it will start the fine at $5,000 for the first missed week before fining the department $10,000 for each additional week of delay.

The DOE had requested a deadline extension but was denied by the EPA.

More: The Seattle Intelligencer

Last 44M Acres in Gulf Opened to Energy Exploration

Central Gulf Lease AreaThe Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is opening the last unleased areas in the central Gulf of Mexico to oil and gas exploration, it announced last week.

The lease sale, to take place in New Orleans in March, will mark the seventh such sale under the Obama Administration’s five-year Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program. The first six sales offered more than 60 million acres and produced $2.4 billion in federal revenue.

The blocks to be leased off Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama run from 3 to 230 miles offshore, in water from 9 feet to 11,000 feet deep. The bureau estimates the 44 million acres could produce 460 million to 894 million barrels of oil and 1.9 trillion to 3.9 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

More: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management

Baran Sworn in as New NRC Commissioner

Jeff Baran is sworn in as a NRC commissioner by Chairman Allison M. Macfarlane (right) as his wife Michelle Yau looks on. (Source: NRC)
Jeff Baran is sworn in as a NRC commissioner by Chairman Allison M. Macfarlane (right) as his wife Michelle Yau looks on. (Source: NRC)

Jeff Baran was sworn in as a member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and will serve until June 30, 2015, the remainder of William Magwood’s term. Magwood accepted a position with the Paris-based Nuclear Energy Agency.

NRC Chairman Allison M. Macfarlane administered the oath of office. “We have substantial work ahead of us and I am confident that Jeff will make a valuable contribution to our mission,” she said. Baran was staff director of Energy and Environment for the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and had NRC oversight duties in that position.

More: PennEnergy

Cove Point Opponents File Rehearing Request with FERC

A group of environmental and customer advocates filed a motion seeking a rehearing of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s approval of the Cove Point LNG export terminal, saying the agency’s OK was based on an inadequate environmental review.

Earthjustice, representing groups such as the Sierra Club, Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper and the Chesapeake Climate Action Network among others, also filed a motion to stay, hoping to stop initial construction at the site on the Chesapeake Bay in southern Maryland.

“In neglecting to prepare a thorough review of the environmental impacts of Dominion’s controversial project, FERC is prioritizing the desires of a powerful company over the health and safety of the people of Calvert County, Marylanders and communities throughout the Marcellus Shale region,” Earthjustice Associate Attorney Jocelyn D’Ambrosio said.

More: Earthjustice

TVA Builds First U.S. Nuclear Backup Facility

The Tennessee Valley Authority has completed the nation’s first nuclear backup facility built in response to the 2011 disaster at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi facility.

The fortified facility, serving the TVA’s Watts Bar Nuclear Plant in Spring City, Tenn., is an $80 million bunker protecting pumps and generators. It was built on bedrock with 18-inch concrete walls and designed to withstand earthquakes, fires and even a missile attack.

The TVA is the first U.S. utility to finish a backup center. Many other nuclear sites in the U.S. are either planning such facilities or already building them, in response to orders from federal regulators.

More: Chattanooga Times Free Press

DOE Funds Combined Heat, Power Project at Aberdeen

The Department of Energy is helping to fund a 7.9-MW combined heat and power (CHP) project to replace the aging steam plant at the Army’s Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. CHP, also known as cogeneration, uses a single station to provide both electricity and heat, usually in the form of steam.

The DOE will replace the facility’s steam plant, which is being decommissioned in 2016, with a CHP plant that will provide 86% of the site’s steam needs and 50% of its electricity. The project will also develop standard protocols — including design, air permitting and electrical interconnection — that can be replicated at other defense facilities.

Other projects included in the DOE’s $2 million in funding are a 13.7-MW plant at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston and the National Science Foundation’s Arctic Program at Thule Air Force Base in Thule, Greenland.

More: Air Conditioning, Heating & Refrigeration News

Low-Carbon Energy System Could Save Trillions, Study Says

Transitioning to a low-carbon energy system could free up trillions of dollars of investment capital, spurring economic growth, according to a report by the Climate Policy Initiative.

The report estimates the worldwide cost of building and maintaining low-carbon energy systems and transportation systems. A second section of the report calculates the economic costs of decommissioning existing fossil fuel assets. It concludes the transition could free up $1.8 trillion for investment between 2015 and 2035.

It said concentrating the phase-out on coal assets could provide the largest emissions cuts with the least financial loss.

“Our analysis reveals that with the right policy choices, over the next 20 years governments can achieve the emissions reductions necessary for a safer, more stable climate and free up trillions for investment in other parts of the economy,” CPI senior director David Nelson said. “This is even before taking into account the environmental and health benefits of reducing emissions.”

More: Climate Policy Initiative

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Company Briefs

Xcel Energy says changing environmental regulations are forcing it to shut down the 232-MW coal-fired units at Black Dog power plant in Burnsville, Minn.

Xcel told MISO last week that the Black Dog plant has been a cost-effective, reliable energy resource for more than 60 years. “But there is a cost associated with the modifications needed to operate these coal units under new federal air emission rules. Retiring the units will benefit our customers by not only avoiding those costs but also reducing emissions.”

A 300-MW natural gas-fired plant at the site will remain in operation. The two coal units will go dark in April.

More: Energy Central

Dynegy Picks Right Time for $5.1B Bond Offering

Dynegy issued $5.1 billion in debt just before bond yields increased to their highest levels in a year, lifting the prices of the underlying notes.

“They priced the deal in the middle of the carnage and prices popped right after the sale,” Andy DeVries, a CreditSights analyst said the day of the offering.

September saw a sell-off of junk-rated bonds – investors pulled $2.3 billion from funds that buy high-yield bonds in the week ending Oct. 1, according to Lipper data. Dynegy offered its bonds in three tranches, or sections: five-, eight- and 10-year notes.

More: Bloomberg

FirstEnergy Disputes Dark View of IEEFA Report

FirstEnergy says a recent report that contends the company is struggling to remain viable is “misleading and biased.”

The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis’s report said the company is too dependent upon aging coal generation and is relying upon ratepayer subsidies to “reverse a deepening spiral of debt service and revenue declines.”

But FirstEnergy spokesman Doug Colafella said last week that the company “has taken significant actions —particularly in the past 12 months — to improve our financial position, lower our cost structure and position the company for more stable and predictable growth through our regulated holdings, and overcome the lingering effects of the recession as well as challenging capacity and energy markets.”

“We believe the strategies we have put in place, together with our commitment to operational excellence and financial discipline, will provide long-term value and predictable, sustainable growth to our investors,” Colafella said.

More: Midwest Energy News

PJM to Sierra Club: You Don’t Understand

BL EnglandThe chief planning official for the grid operator took issue with an environmental group’s claim that continued operation of a generating plant in New Jersey would be a threat to the system.

At issue is the planned switch from coal to natural gas for the B.L. England plant in South Jersey. New Jersey Sierra Club Director Jeff Tittel, citing a PJM report, told area reporters that continued operation of the plant would be a threat to system reliability.

Just the opposite, PJM’s Steven R. Herling, vice president of planning, told Tittel in a letter.

“Recent media statements attributed to you about reliability and cost impacts associated with the B.L. England generating units remaining in service are based on a misunderstanding of PJM Interconnection’s planning process,” Herling wrote. “Simply put, the continued operation of existing generating units at the B.L. England site, absent the addition of significant amounts of new generation, is not projected to result in reliability problems.

“Our transmission-planning process is very complex, dynamic, and — as a consequence — can be misunderstood,” Herling continued. “I would have been very happy to explain the process and underlying facts to help you avoid confusion and would be willing to clarify PJM’s study results at any time.”

Tittel stands by his group’s claims and said PJM was changing its story at the behest of utilities. “They’re trying to spin it any way they can,” he said.

More: The Philadelphia Inquirer

Dominion’s Surry Plant Shuts Down Due to Malfunctioning Sensor

SurryDominion Resources’ Surry Unit 2 tripped and shut down unexpectedly last week after a sensor mistakenly detected a problem in the reactor protection system, the company announced. The reactor, in operation since 1973, went offline at about 8 a.m. Oct. 13.

“It did just what it was supposed to do,” Dominion spokeswoman Bonita Harris said. “Nuclear plants are designed to shut down automatically when that happens.”

The plant returned to service two days later. The plant last had an unscheduled shutdown in April 2011 after it was hit by a tornado.

More: The Daily Press

Farley Unit 2 Goes Offline After Lightning Strike

Operators of Southern Co.’s Joseph M. Farley Nuclear Plant in Alabama shut down Unit 2 after a lightning strike on a transmission line Oct. 14. The plant was already in the process of going offline for a refueling outage.

Each of the two Farley units requires refueling every 18 months, a process that takes about a month. About 900 Southern employees and 800 contractors will be involved in the effort. Farley Unit 1 remains in service, the company said.

More: Power Engineering

Top 25 US Companies Continue to Increase Solar Installation

(Source: NRG Energy)
(Source: NRG Energy)

The top 25 companies in the U.S. for embracing solar power installed 28% more capacity last year as equipment and installation prices continued to drop, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association.

Since 2012, the 25 companies — including Target, General Motors, Kohl’s and Walgreens — have doubled the amount of photovoltaic capacity installed on their facilities, from 279 MW in 2012 to 569 MW as of August, according to the trade group’s annual report.

SEIA spokesman Ken Johnson said the 30% Solar Investment Tax Credit helped maintain an impetus for the industry’s growth.

More: Midwest Energy News

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FERC Orders ROE Hearing on MISO TOs

By Chris O’Malley

MISO industrial customers will get a full hearing on their bid to reduce transmission rates by $327 million a year.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Thursday ordered an evidentiary hearing on the industrials’ complaint that the 24 MISO transmission owners’ base return on equity (ROE) — 12.38% except for ATC, which has a base ROE of 12.2% — is unjust and unreasonable.

The complaint “raises issues of material fact that cannot be resolved based upon the record before us and that are more appropriately addressed in the hearing and settlement judge procedures,” the commission ruled (EL14-12).

The commission rejected an attempt by the transmission owners — including Ameren, Duke Energy and Entergy — to dismiss the complaint on procedural grounds.

FERC opened the door to fights over the maximum allowable ROE in June, when it changed the way it sets return on equity rates for electric utilities that’s now more akin to the process it uses for natural gas and oil pipelines. Ruling in a case involving New England transmission owners, FERC tentatively set the “zone of reasonableness” at 7.03-11.74%. (See related story, New England TOs to Pay Refunds in ROE Case.)

MISO’s industrial customers say the base ROE for MISO TOs should not exceed 9.15%, citing “significantly changed economic circumstances since the base ROEs were first established.”

The commission rejected the industrials’ challenge to the use of capital structures that include more than 50% common equity.

“Complainants have not demonstrated that MISO TOs, individually or collectively, do not meet the requirement of the commission[’s] three-part test, failure of which would call into question the justness and reasonableness of using their actual capital structures for ratemaking purposes.”

The plaintiffs are six groups of industrial customers, including Illinois Industrial Energy Consumers, Indiana Industrial Energy Consumers, Minnesota Large Industrial Group and Wisconsin Industrial Energy Group.

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Va. SCC Staff Blasts EPA Carbon Rule

By Michael Brooks

scc staffThe Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed regulations on carbon emissions would increase electric bills and harm reliability, Virginia State Corporation Commission staff members said in comments filed last week.

SCC staff said EPA’s “arbitrary, capricious, unsupported and unlawful” plan could cost Dominion Virginia Power customers alone between $5.5 billion and $6 billion. “Contrary to [the EPA’s] claim that ‘rates will go up, but bills will go down,’ experience and costs in Virginia make it extremely unlikely that either electric rates or bills in Virginia will go down,” staff said.

The EPA’s proposed regulations, announced in June, call for a 30% reduction in carbon emissions from the country’s existing power plants’ 2005 levels by 2030, with individual targets for each state. (See Carbon Rule Falls Unevenly on PJM States.) Virginia would be required to reduce its generating plants’ emissions to 884 lbs./MWh by 2020 and to 810 lbs./MWh by 2030.

Stranded Investments

The EPA’s modeling predicts that Virginia utilities will have to retire 2,851 MW of fossil-fuel generation and build 351 MW of wind power before 2020, “a timeframe that compromises reliability,” staff said.

The retirements threaten “several billions of dollars of recent investments in existing coal-fired facilities in Virginia and West Virginia that Virginia ratepayers have only begun to pay off. Much of this investment has been constructed to comply with EPA consent decrees on which the ink is hardly dry,” staff wrote.

Staff also claims the regulation would impose more stringent emission requirements on existing generators than the EPA is requiring in a separate standard for new generation.

While existing plants in Virginia will eventually be limited to 810 lbs./MWh, new coal plants, built with the best available carbon-capture technology, are limited to 1,000-1,050 (depending on the size), while new natural gas plants are limited to 1,100.

“It would be hard to imagine the EPA advancing such a proposal in areas that are more familiar to everyday life,” SCC staff said. “Would it be rational to require the current owners of automobiles or lawnmowers throughout Virginia, for example, to meet an emission standard that is 26% more stringent than required for the production of new cars or lawnmowers that must use the best available technology?

“Turning regulation on its head in this way — requiring older, but still useful equipment to meet a standard that the EPA admits cannot be achieved even by entirely new equipment — is a recipe for stranding prior investments and requiring significant additional investment.”

Reliability Impact

SCC staff said that they analyzed Dominion’s 2013 integrated resource plan as a reference to estimate the cost of complying with the EPA’s rule. One of two scenarios in the IRP, the Fuel Diversity Plan, calls for the addition of a third unit at the utility’s North Anna nuclear plant. (See SCC: Dominion IRP Lacks Analysis of Nuclear Plans.)

This plan would allow the state to meet its 2030 goal, the SCC staff said, but they altered it to include 69 MW of wind generation and more coal plant retirements than originally called for to meet the interim 2020 goal.

“These retirements are of grave concern because the power plants involved are used today to ensure reliable service to Virginia customers, have years of useful life remaining and cannot be replaced overnight or without regard for impacts on the electric system,” staff said.

Staff said the regulations set “generic and unsupported expectations of levels” of renewable generation and energy efficiency that “are extremely ambitious, almost certainly unachievable and uneconomic under traditional standards.”

Enviros: SCC Staff ‘Playing Politics’

Several environmental groups, however, criticized SCC staff’s assertions as inaccurate.

“The SCC staff analysis is just plain wrong,” said Glen Besa, director of the Sierra Club’s Virginia Chapter. “They’re playing politics with climate change science and they have no business doing that, and they’re bringing discredit on the commission.”

“The SCC staff crossed the line in their hastily submitted comments to EPA and I think they’ll ultimately regret that mistake,” said Dawone Robinson, the Chesapeake Climate Action Network’s Virginia policy director. “I think they misread the rule.”

Specifically, Robinson questioned the use of Dominion’s Fuel Diversity Plan as a way to comply with the regulations.

“SCC staff seems to suggest that in order to comply with the Clean Power Plan, Virginia needs to invest in a third nuclear reactor at North Anna, and that simply isn’t the case,” Robinson said. “Additionally, many of the coal plant retirements and natural gas conversions that the SCC staff suggests will hamper the state … were proposed by the utility before the Clean Power Plan was even released.”

Robinson’s comments echo those made by Cale Jaffe, director of the Southern Environmental Law Center’s Virginia office, to The Richmond Times-Dispatch.

“It appears the staff has misread the rule,” Jaffe said. “Analyses that we have reviewed show that Virginia is already 80% of the way to meeting Virginia’s carbon pollution target under the Clean Power Plan.

“Almost all of those reductions are coming from coal plant retirements and natural gas conversions that the utilities put in place long before the Clean Power Plan was even released.”

The EPA, which will be accepting comments on the proposed rule through Dec. 1, will issue the final rule in June 2015.

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NIPSCO, Enviros Reach Pact on Renewables Pricing

By Chris O’Malley

Northern Indiana Public Service Co. has reached an agreement with environmentalists and consumer advocates on a new renewables tariff that will boost payments to small wind farms while cutting prices for solar power.

The pact on NIPSCO’s revised renewable feed-in tariff (FIT), filed Oct. 9 (Case #44393), awaits final approval from the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission.

Wind power generators of up to 100 kW would receive $0.25/kWh, up from $0.17.

“The purchase price for small wind in [the original FIT] was too low and as a result, the available capacity was not used,” said Kerwin Olson, executive director of Indianapolis-based Citizens Action Coalition. “Expanding small wind is important, so increasing that price will hopefully drive investment in small wind in Indiana.”

The settlement decreases payment for solar power to $0.17/kWh from $0.30/kWh.

Olson said the decrease reflects the falling costs of solar panels while still providing the price support needed to continue solar’s expansion in NIPSCO’s territory. “Solar is not at grid parity yet in Indiana, so it needs a ‘leg up,’” he said.

Residential customers would pay about $1 per month for renewables under the revised tariff, an increase of about $0.25. “We feel that’s reasonable,” Olson said.

Not everyone got what they wanted. The CAC and the Hoosier chapter of the Sierra Club argued that the definition of “qualifying renewable energy power production facilities” under the FIT should exclude facilities fueled by organic waste biomass derived from forest thinning.

The groups also sought exclusion of some types of waste-to-energy facilities, over air and water pollution concerns.

The FIT program is designed to incent customers who generate green electricity from solar, wind, biomass or new hydroelectric facilities. Facilities between 5 kW and 5 MW are eligible. Total capacity available under the FIT is capped at 30 MW.

Among those generally pleased with the settlement is Bio Town Ag, which operates the world’s largest on-farm anaerobic digester generating facilities with NIPSCO, according to Bio Town president Brian S. Furrer. Bio Town, in Reynolds, Ind., has sought multiple purchasers of electricity generated by methane from animal waste, including NIPSCO and other suppliers. The digester generation facility can produce 5 MW.

Also party to the FIT settlement with NIPSCO was the Indiana Distributed Energy Alliance and the Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor.

NIPSCO officials were not immediately available for comment.

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TEAC Briefs

A new constructability review of proposed Artificial Island solutions revealed no significant differences in the permitting challenges between the northern and southern Delaware River crossings, PJM told the Transmission Expansion Advisory Committee Thursday.

A PJM consultant compared the permitting challenges between a proposed line crossing the southern part of the Delaware River to a line that runs from the island to Red Lion, Del. “Both will have significant permitting challenges,” said Paul McGlynn, general manager of system planning. “Neither one will be easy.”

McGlynn noted that although two of the four finalists bidding for the job has offered to cap their costs, none has offered a firm “fixed” cost. “They all have exclusions in what’s included and not included” under the cap, McGlynn said.

PJM is continuing its review of the proposals.

Planners Studying EPA Carbon Rule, Ill. Nuke Retirements

PJM staff is analyzing the potential impacts of the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed carbon emissions rule in response to a request from the Organization of PJM States Inc. (OPSI).

In a letter to PJM CEO Terry Boston, OPSI said it would like the analyses based on several scenarios, including one that assumes a PJM-wide carbon price based on a “roll up” of EPA’s state emission targets and compliance with existing state energy efficiency and renewable portfolio standards. Other scenarios requested would include only renewable resources currently in the transmission queue or a 50% increase in natural gas costs.

Staff is conducting a production cost simulation and evaluating the reliability impacts from the potential loss of “at-risk” plants. Initial results are expected as soon as the end of the month.

Planners are also conducting an analysis of the potential loss of Exelon’s Byron, Quad Cities and Clinton nuclear plants at the request of the Illinois Commerce Commission. Exelon has said it may be forced to close some of its Illinois nuclear fleet because of low energy and capacity revenues. (See Exelon in Lobbying Push to Save Ill. Nukes.)

The ICC’s request asked PJM to calculate the potential impact on wholesale energy prices and the need for transmission improvements. Initial results are expected in mid-October.

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Operating Committee Briefs

The Operating Committee approved the following with little debate or opposition:

Transmission Owner Data Feed

Members agreed to Operating Agreement and manual changes to make it easier for transmission owners to access real-time generator data. The changes are intended to improve situational awareness and emergency response.

The Operating Agreement was revised to include a universal non-disclosure agreement, eliminating the need for a separate data confidentiality agreement.

Transmission owners will be able to obtain data from generators in their zone without justification. For generators outside its zone, the TO must confirm that the plant is in the current TO energy management system (EMS) model or will be included in an expanded model. (See Members to Consider Easier Sharing of Real-Time Generator Data.)

Manual 1: Control Center and Data Exchange Requirements

Members approved changes to Manual 1 to comply with a revised reliability standard given preliminary approval by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last month. COM-002-4 (Operating Personnel Communications Protocols) requires the use of a three-part communications process when issuing operating instructions. (See FERC Backs NERC, NAESB Standards.)

TO/TOP Matrix

Members approved version 8 of the Transmission Owner/Operator Matrix, an index between PJM manuals and NERC reliability standards.

Non-Voting Items

Eastern Interface Definition (Source: PJM Interconnection LLC)Eastern Interface Changes

The Eastern Transfer Interface definition will be revised, and its import capability increased, with the completion of the Susquehanna-Roseland 500-kV project.

The definition, currently comprised of five paths, will be expanded to include the Lackawanna-Hopatcong line. The new definition will change the distribution factors for some generators and increase import capability to the east.

The revision won’t have an impact until the Lackawanna-Hopatcong line goes in service. Completion of the line is expected about June 2015.

Warren Pricing Interface Expanded

PJM has added the Four Mile Junction-Corry East 115-kV line to the definition of the Warren pricing interface. The interface was created last month to set LMPs when operators take actions to address voltage issues in the Warren, Pa., area. The Warren interface, which is within the larger Seneca interface created in February, is effective until further notice.

Renewable Integration Study Recommendations

Members of the Intermittent Resources Task Force compiled a to-do list for the RTO as a result of the PJM Renewable Integration Study. The study found that PJM could get 30% of its generation capacity from wind and solar power without harming reliability but that coal and combined-cycle generators would face reduced run times and lower energy prices. (See Renewables Study Has Bad News for Coal, Gas Generators.)

PJM’s consultant on the study identified seven recommendations and topics for future study, but a survey of task force members indicated interest in pursuing only three. They would like PJM to:

  • Explore the reasons for ramping constraints on specific units and identify methods for improving performance. This would require approval of a problem statement.
  • Consider the impact of reduced energy market revenues for conventional generators in future capacity market discussions.
  • Investigate how wind and solar plants could contribute to frequency response. The Planning Committee last week approved an initiative on this issue based on the recommendation of its Enhanced Inverter subgroup. (See related story in Planning Committee Briefs.)
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MIC Briefs

Reserve Pricing Solutions Comparison (Source: PJM Interconnection LLC)The Market Implementation Committee approved new rules to reduce uplift and ensure energy prices better reflect operator actions, including a more flexible version of the short-term fix approved by stakeholders in May.

The rules would increase synchronized and primary reserve requirements under emergency conditions (Hot and Cold Weather alerts, Maximum Emergency Generation Alerts) when additional intraday resources are scheduled.

The volume added to reserves would be based on the Eco Max rating of the resources committed as opposed to the static 1,300-MW adder included in the short-term fix, which expired in September. (See PJM Reserve Proposal Gets OK for Trial Run.)

PJM’s proposal won 84% support, and it will be the primary proposal considered by the Markets and Reliability Committee Oct. 30. A proposal from the PJM Industrial Customer Coalition that added a transition mechanism won 61% and will be considered by the MRC if the primary motion fails to win a two-thirds, sector-weighted vote. A proposal from the Independent Market Monitor failed with only 30%.

Separately, 87% of the MIC also approved PJM’s proposal to set limits on interchange during emergency conditions. The limit would be used when operators have made firm resource commitments and anticipated interchange schedules are sufficient to meet projected load for the hour.

Spot imports and hourly non-firm point-to-point transactions submitted after the cap is implemented would be blocked once net interchange reaches the limit. Schedules with firm or network-designated transmission service would not be curtailed.

The change is intended to prevent markets and operations from being whipsawed by large swings in imports.

A competing proposal by the IMM fell short at 23%.

Residential Demand Response

Members approved rules that would allow use of statistical sampling to calculate the performance of residential demand response resources providing synchronized reserves. The sampling would apply to direct load control resources without meters reporting data hourly or in shorter intervals.

The sampling would replace outdated studies such as the Deemed Savings Estimate Report, which is based on data from 2001–2005 from zones in Maryland and New Jersey. Since then, PJM’s footprint has grown to include Kentucky and Chicago, and air conditioners and other appliances have become much more efficient.

Sampling is a way to improve accuracy without the cost of installing one-minute meters on every participating household, PJM said.

If approved by the MRC, the rule would take effect June 1, 2015, with a transition mechanism for resources that cannot meet new requirements for delivery years 2016 through 2018.

Replacement Capacity Transactions

Members approved a problem statement from Citigroup Energy to consider changes to the timing for recording replacement capacity transactions.

Under current rules, Citigroup’s Barry Trayers said, the transactions can’t be submitted to PJM until after the third incremental auction, a rule he called “overkill and overly conservative.”

“I have contracts sitting on the shelf and have a fear about not submitting them at the right time and causing all kinds of havoc,” he said. Trayers explained his concern after the meeting. “If I forget to submit the replacement capacity,  I have an obligation to perform which I won’t realize I have because, in my books, I am flat and have no obligations.  But in PJM’s eyes I will have separate long and short positions.  It is just an accident waiting to happen and can so easily be fixed by just accepting the transactions,” he said.

Trayers said the current rule is intended to ensure the replacement capacity exists. But he said suppliers of replacement capacity must show they have the capacity available before PJM will accept it in an incremental auction.

The change Trayers is seeking is similar to one he successfully pursued earlier this year for auction-specific transactions. (See Stakeholders Look to Expedite Auction-Specific Transactions.)

Trayers said he didn’t seek both changes initially because the first was a “much cleaner argument.”

Subcommittee Rejects Temporary Credit Change for Virtuals

The Credit Subcommittee voted down a proposal to change credit requirements for virtual transactions in January and February 2015, Chief Financial Officer Suzanne Daugherty told the MIC.

Members approved a problem statement last month at the request of Twin Cities Power, which said the change was needed because extreme conditions last winter would otherwise result in much higher reference prices and credit requirements next winter. Credit requirements for increment offers and decrement bids are based on nodal reference prices.

Members approved the problem statement despite opposition from PJM, which said changes could increase members’ exposure to defaults. Problem statements are rarely rejected. (See Members to Consider Changing Credit Rules Despite PJM Opposition.)

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Company Briefs

PSEGPublic Service Enterprise Group is again looking for a merger partner.

The Street reported last week that the New Jersey company was outbid for Pepco Holdings Inc. by Exelon. Quoting unnamed sources, it said PSEG later approached PPL about a merger but was rebuffed.

PSEG’s leadership is frustrated that it has been unable to get a deal done, one source said. Unfortunately, according to the source, “their peer group is getting smaller and smaller so the question becomes: who is left for them to merge with?” A proposed merger between PSEG and Exelon was scrapped in 2006. The report listed several other possible candidates for PSEG, including Consolidated Edison, FirstEnergy, Dominion Resources and American Electric Power.

More: The Street

FirstEnergy, AEP Request Subsidies from PUCO

FirstEnergy and American Electric Power are seeking Ohio ratepayer subsidies for their aging coal-fired power plants.

FE is trying any way it can to improve its finances, according to a report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis. The company is “turning to regulatory capture and ratepayer bailouts as it struggles to reverse a deepening spiral of debt service and revenue declines.” The report blames much of the company’s problems on its acquisition of Allegheny Power and an ill-fated gamble on coal-fired generation.

It said FE’s investments started losing their luster as natural gas prices fell and alternative energy sources gained market momentum. In response, according to the IEEFA, FE turned to federal subsidies and lobbying efforts at the state level. The company is pushing for guaranteed income at its merchant plants, a request currently before the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio.

Meanwhile, AEP has asked PUCO to allow it to charge ratepayers for the cost of running its plants if market prices are too low. It would mean a monthly charge of about $2 per household if approved. AEP says that ratepayers would eventually see savings within 10 years.

AEP identified four plants that require the subsidies to keep operating: the 1,149-MW Conesville plant, the 600-MW Stuart plant, the 592-MW Cardinal plant and the 330-MW Zimmer plant.

Environmentalists are opposed to the schemes. “Your family shouldn’t have to pay more for dirty energy from outdated coal plants,” says one of the Sierra Club’s media campaigns.

More: FierceEnergy; The Columbus Dispatch

Cove Point Owners Launch $350M IPO

Dominion LogoDominion Midstream Partners, the Dominion subsidiary created to own and operate the Cove Point LNG facility on the Chesapeake Bay, launched an initial public offering to raise $350 million.

Cove Point, an existing liquefied natural gas import plant, recently received Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approval to construct a liquefaction and export plant on the site. The $3.8 billion plant is scheduled to be in operation by June 2017. In addition to the plant, Dominion Midstream will own 136 miles of natural gas pipeline linking the plant to interstate pipelines.

The IPO is for 17.5 million shares, representing about 27.4% of Dominion Midstream, which will list under the ticker DM. Shares are expected to be priced in the range of $19 to $21. Underwriters will have an option to buy an additional 2.65 million shares at the IPO price.

More: Richmond Times-Dispatch

FERC Cove Point Approval Spurs More Protests

Protesters gathered outside Dominion’s Cove Point LNG plant just days after the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved plans to build a $3.8 million export facility at the site in Maryland. Construction is expected to begin immediately.

Protesters vowed the fight was not over, despite FERC approval. “It’s not a done deal; it’s merely the beginning of a new chapter,” one demonstrator said. Mike Tidwell, Chesapeake Climate Action Network director, faulted FERC’s review as “secretive and detached” and said the regulatory approval process was “rigged.” Another environmental group, EarthJustice, has promised to appeal FERC’s ruling.

More: Southern Maryland News

FE Wants to Allow Industrials to Opt Out of Energy Efficiency

FirstEnergy wants to allow its Ohio industrial customers to opt out of state-mandated energy-efficiency programs in the first big challenge to the state’s efficiency laws since legislators passed a law in June freezing the five-year-old program while it is under review. That law also allows utilities to amend programs.

FirstEnergy executive William Ridmann said the energy-efficiency mandates cost businesses and consumers about $1 billion in temporary rate increases and said efficiency efforts should be “customer driven.” If the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio approves FirstEnergy’s plan, its largest customers could drop out of programs as early as Jan. 1.

More: The Cleveland Plain Dealer

TVA Refuels Browns Ferry 1, Oldest Reactor in Fleet

Browns FerryThe Tennessee Valley Authority powered down its oldest nuclear reactor last week for refueling.

Unit 1 at the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant should remain down for refueling and maintenance for about a month, TVA said. An estimated 2,250 workers will be involved in the outage. The reactor, located on the Tennessee River near Athens, Ala., went into service in 1974.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2006 extended the operating licenses for all three Browns Ferry reactors for 20 years.

More: Chattanooga Times Free Press

New 175-MW Wind Project Starts Outside of Chicago

A new wind farm that already has a 20-year contract with Microsoft is under construction about 60 miles outside of Chicago.

EDF Renewable Energy, a subsidiary of the French Electricite de France, owns 96% of the Pilot Hill Wind Project on the border of Kankakee and Iroquois counties. The plant’s output is under contract to Microsoft, which has an energy-gobbling data center near Chicago. EDF says the plant should be in operation by next year.

More: Chicago Tribune (subscription required)

Court Rules Even Non-Customers Must Pay for AEP Shortfall

The Ohio Supreme Court decided that customers who switched from American Electric Power to third-party suppliers must help the utility to pay a $36 million transmission shortfall.

The ruling upholds a 2012 decision by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio that said all AEP customers would foot the bill for interstate delivery of electricity. An industrial users group had challenged the PUCO ruling.

More: Energy Central

PPL Energy Plus Wins 3-Year Federal Energy Bid

PPL Energy Plus, the retail marketing subsidiary of PPL, was awarded a three-year contract to supply electricity to federal prisons, hospitals and office buildings in central and eastern Pennsylvania. The contract requires 10% of the electricity to be from renewable sources.

More: Energy Central

ComEd Launches DM Program in Illinois

Commonwealth Edison launched its Peak Time Savings program last week, enabling customers to get credit for reducing their energy consumption during peak hours.

The Chicago utility is installing 4 million smart meters over the next four years, allowing customers to earn $1 credits for each kilowatt hour shaved during peak hours. The conservation events typically occur three to five afternoons during the summer.

The program is available only to customers who have ComEd as their energy delivery provider, who are not currently participating in the company’s air-conditioning-cycling program and are not net metering customers.

More: MarketWatch

Entergy Asks to Consolidate Its Louisiana Utilities

Entergy Louisiana and Entergy Gulf States Louisiana are asking the Louisiana Public Service Commission for permission to consolidate into one entity.

Entergy officials say it would help the companies make more infrastructure investments and ultimately benefit customers. The region is experiencing increased economic growth, and the companies expect an increase of up to 1,900 MW of industrial load by 2019. The company says consolidation could produce up to $128 million in customer benefits.

More: FierceEnergy

NRG Buys Solar Company to Boost Renewables

NRG Energy, expanding its residential solar business, paid an undisclosed sum for Pure Energies Group, a solar installer with headquarters in Toronto and San Francisco. NRG bought Roof Diagnostics Solar in April and acquired GoalZero, a portable power generator, in August. A recent report ranked NRG as the sixth-largest U.S. residential solar installer.

More: Greentech Media