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November 14, 2024

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Whitmer EV Chargers Caught Up in Driveway Controversy

LANSING, Mich. – Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s effort to install two electric vehicle chargers at the state’s Executive Residence have gotten caught up in a controversy over a driveway project at the house.

The state’s Administrative Board last week approved a slightly less than $1 million contract to build a new driveway and install the EV chargers at the residence in the Moore’s River Drive neighborhood — an upper-income neighborhood convenient to both the state Capitol and a large General Motors plant.

Ad Board actions generally are little noticed by the public, but once concrete started getting laid at the residence on July 28, the project gained controversy because it involves all taxpayer funds, and the contract was awarded with a no-bid contract.

Whitmer and her office have said adding the EV chargers is an effort at “leading by example,” as the state has taken major steps to be a leader in EV production and battery development.

But Rich Studley, the former chief executive of the Michigan Chamber of Commerce and a frequent critic of Whitmer, tweeted that the driveway and EV chargers are really an example of “greed.”

It isn’t the chargers themselves that are causing the controversy, but the whole nature of the project.

Michigan has two executive residences for the governor: the Lansing ranch-style house and a cottage on Mackinac Island. Michigan did not have a gubernatorial residence in Lansing until the 1963 Constitution required one, and the current residence was donated to the state. Then-Gov. George Romney was the first governor to live at the house.

While routine upkeep and maintenance of both residences is paid for by the state, major projects usually are financed through private donations. One of the most recent major renovations of the Lansing residence, done while U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm was Michigan’s governor, was funded privately.

The new driveway must be commercial grade, twice as thick as most residential driveways, because the residence has a fair number of commercial and city vehicles — including garbage trucks to handle the building’s dumpsters — use the property. That accounts for much of the cost.

With the Legislature is on summer break, and controlled by Democrats, it’s unlikely there will be any attempt to block the project, which should be complete in August. Whether there will be an effort to refund the state for its cost through private donations has not yet been discussed, publicly at least.

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FERC Interconnection Rule Sets Penalties, Ends ‘Reasonable Efforts’ Standard

FERC’s long-awaited revamp of its generator interconnection procedures will make it more costly for developers to enter and leave queues and impose penalties on transmission providers that fail to complete studies on time.

Order 2023 (RM22-14) sets a 150-calendar day deadline for completing stability analyses, power flow analyses and short circuit analyses required to study complex clusters involving numerous interconnection requests.

FERC said the 150-day deadline gives transmission providers “sufficient time to perform these technical cluster studies while providing certainty about the timeline for the interconnection process.”

The commission cited reports filed by transmission providers that showed of the 2,179 interconnection studies completed in 2022, 68% were issued late and another 2,544 studies were still ongoing and past their deadlines as of the end of the year. All RTOs/ISOs except CAISO and 14 non-RTO/ISO transmission providers reported delayed studies for the year.

About 80% of transmission providers reported delayed studies in at least one of the past three years (2020-2022) and 57% had delayed studies in at least two, FERC said. The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners complained to FERC that “nearly all transmission providers across the country, including many transmission providers that have implemented queue reforms, regularly fail to meet interconnection study deadlines.”

‘Reasonable Efforts’ Standard

Previously, the pro forma large generator interconnection procedures held transmission providers to a “reasonable efforts” standard for completing studies, defined as “actions that are timely and consistent with good utility practice and are substantially equivalent to those a party would use to protect its own interests.”

Transmission providers argued that many of the delays resulted from situations outside of their control, including large numbers of speculative interconnection requests, a shortage of qualified engineers, delayed data from interconnection customers and cascading restudies caused by withdrawals. MISO said most of its delays resulted from the need to wait for affected systems studies.

Some commenters warned that firm deadlines might lead transmission providers to prioritize speed over accuracy and the identification of the most efficient solutions. National Grid said it could result in later corrections to engineering requirements and cost estimates, causing more late-stage queue withdrawals.

The Edison Electric Institute and Eversource Energy complained that FERC’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) failed to make the case for why reliance on good utility practice remains sufficient in other situations, but not for interconnection studies. New York’s Transmission Owners and Eversource said FERC should postpone penalties until it has allowed the other process changes to take effect.

But public interest and clean energy groups said the transmission providers were ignoring potential solutions, such as policy and process improvements and increasing spending on staff. Advanced Energy United (formerly Advanced Energy Economy) said accepting high interconnection queue volumes as a legitimate cause for delays would provide providers “a permanent free pass” to miss deadlines.

Losing Patience

FERC demonstrated little patience for the providers’ excuses.

“The reasonable efforts standard worsens current-day challenges, as it fails to ensure that transmission providers are keeping pace with the changing and complex dynamics of today’s interconnection queues,” the commission said. “Contrary to the assertions of some commenters, we believe that there are steps within transmission providers’ control, from deploying transmission providers’ resources to exploring administrative efficiencies and innovative study approaches, to better ensure timely processing of interconnection studies to remedy existing deficiencies.”

It noted that the order seeks to reduce speculative interconnection requests with stricter requirements for entering and remaining in the queue (site control requirements, commercial readiness deposits and withdrawal penalties) and also seeks to improve efficiency by switching to the first-ready, first-served cluster study process from the serial, first-come, first-served process.

The penalties, FERC said, “ensure that transmission providers are doing their part as well.”

Penalties

The NOPR proposed a penalty of $500 per business day that the study is late, but the commission said it was persuaded that was too low, noting that a study delayed by six months (126 business days) would result in a penalty of only $63,000. “We view such a penalty as insufficient considering that the purpose of the penalty is to incentivize timely study completion that may be achieved, for example, by hiring additional personnel or investing in new software,” FERC said.

Instead, it imposed per-day penalties of:

    • $1,000 for delays of cluster studies;
    • $2,000 for delays of cluster restudies;
    • $2,000 for delays of affected system studies, and
    • $2,500 for delays of facilities studies.

Penalties will be distributed to interconnection customers on a pro rata per interconnection request basis to offset their study costs.

As a concession to the transmission providers, FERC said it will not impose penalties until the third cluster study cycle (including any transitional cluster study cycle) after the effective date of the transmission provider’s compliance filing.

The commission also will waive penalties for studies submitted within a 10-business-day grace period and will allow a deadline extension of 30 business days by mutual agreement of the transmission provider and all affected interconnection customers. Penalties will be capped at 100% of the initial study deposits.

FERC rejected the NOPR’s proposed force majeure penalty exception, instead saying that transmission providers will be permitted to appeal penalties to the commission.

“Transmission providers may explain in any appeal to the commission any circumstances that caused the delay, including any events that qualify as force majeure, and the commission will consider such circumstances as part of its evaluation of whether good cause exists to grant relief,” FERC said.

RTOs and ISOs will be allowed to submit a Federal Power Act Section 205 filing to recover penalties from at-fault transmission providers.

“Non-RTO/ISO transmission providers and transmission-owning members of RTOs/ISOs may not recover study delay penalties through transmission rates,” FERC said. “… Because the at-fault transmission provider’s shareholders will pay the penalty, this prohibition addresses commenters’ concerns that study delay penalty costs will ultimately be borne by customers and ratepayers through increased transmission costs.”

Transmission providers will be required to make quarterly postings making public the penalties incurred from the previous quarter.

Other Studies Rejected

The commission rejected NOPR proposals for optional resource solicitation studies or optional informational interconnection studies and adopted a modified proposal to require evaluation of certain advanced transmission technologies. The commission said those changes “should reduce the burden on transmission providers as compared to that under the NOPR.”

The NOPR sought comment on whether state agencies required to develop a resource plan or conduct a resource solicitation process should be defined as a resource planning entity and be able to request initiation of an optional resource solicitation study.

But the commission concluded there was “insufficient evidence” to justify the optional resource solicitation study as a “generic solution” across all regions for coordinating state-level resource planning with the interconnection process, noting that many transmission providers do not have load-serving entities that conduct resource solicitations.

“We are also concerned that the particular ‘one size fits all’ approach proposed in the NOPR would create uncertainty regarding the cost and timing of interconnecting to the transmission system, because the proposed study would not result in useful network upgrade cost estimates.”

It said it agreed the proposal “would divert transmission provider resources and potentially lead to delays.”

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Petition Drive Seeks to Repeal Wash. Cap-and-trade Program

REDMOND, Wash. — A conservative group has begun a petition drive to eliminate Washington’s new cap-and-trade program.

The organization, Let’s Go Washington, is collecting signatures on a petition asking the state Legislature to repeal the program, which went into effect this year, holding its first auctions of carbon allowances in February and May. (See Washington Confirms $300M Take for 1st Cap-and-Trade Auction.)

The state’s fledgling program is taking a huge amount of political heat from state Republicans, who blame it for leaving Washington with the highest gasoline prices in the nation. They argue that oil companies running Washington’s five refineries are passing on the high cost of the allowances they must buy from the state or other entities in the market. (See Cap-and-trade Driving up Washington Gasoline Prices, Critics Say.)

“It’s such a scam.  It’s a hidden tax,” Brian Heywood, head of Let’s Go Washington, said Saturday at a festival for Republican political candidates in the Seattle suburb of Redmond.

Heywood contended that Gov. Jay Inslee and Democratic legislators downplayed the threat of rising gasoline prices that he thinks came about because of the cap-and trade auctions. When the Legislature passed the program in 2021, Inslee’s administration predicted gas prices would rise only a few pennies as a result.

“He lied to begin with,” Heywood said.

February’s allowance auction raised almost $300 million, which the Legislature appropriated for fiscal 2024, which began July 1. That money went into 188 individual allocations for solar farms, climate planning, pumped storage projects, developing a hydrogen industry, installing solar panels on buildings, constructing infrastructure for electric vehicles, developing hybrid fuel-electric ferries and other projects.

A May auction of allowances raised $557 million for fiscal 2025, while breaking a soft cap for allowance prices that triggered an additional auction of allowances from a reserve intended to rein in carbon prices. If allowance auction sales continue at their current rate, the Legislature could be looking at more than $2 billion in cap-and-trade revenue for fiscal 2025. (See Wash. Cap-and-Trade Auction Prices Break Soft Cap.)

“That means the money is going to boondoggles that Inslee wants for his friends,” Heywood said. He argued that cap-and-trade is intended to raise gasoline prices to force people to switch from gasoline to electric vehicles.

‘Climate Denialism’

Inslee spokesperson Mike Faulk noted that the petition on Let’s Go Washington’s website calls for repealing cap-and-trade “regardless of whether the resulting increased costs are imposed on fuel recipients or fuel suppliers.”

“Sounds like it has more to do with climate denialism than addressing consumers’ concerns about gas prices,” Faulk said.

Inslee has acknowledged that gasoline prices have risen higher than projected. “But it remains speculative to lay exclusive blame for price increases on” cap-and-trade, Faulk said. This month, the governor accused oil companies of using confusion around cap-and-trade to gouge Washington drivers and take excessive profits. Democratic legislative leaders intend to introduce a bill next year to require oil companies to provide greater transparency into their finances. (See Inslee Challenges Cap-and-trade Role in High Wash. Gas Prices.)

Faulk said a third of the cap-and-trade program’s revenue goes to communities overburdened by pollution and climate impacts, with an additional 10% directed to the state’s tribes. The rest goes to transitioning away from a carbon-based economy.

Let’s Go Washington must collect 324,516 valid signatures for its petition by Dec. 29 to submit to the Legislature in time for consideration during the 2024 session. If the Legislature decides not to act on the petition, the initiative would go to a public ballot in the next general election. Democrats have significant majorities in both the Washington House and Senate, meaning any successful petition likely would receive a chilly reception.

The liberal Northwest Progressive Institute said in January that Let’s Go Washington collected signatures for 11 initiatives in 2022 but did not collect enough to send any to the Legislature.

The cap-and-trade petition is part of a Let’s Go Washington package of six petitions, which includes one calling for repealing a new tax on people earning at least $250,000 in capital gains. The group’s other petitions seek to: forbid the imposition of any state or local income tax in Washington, which does not have such a tax; allow residents to opt out of the state’s long-term care insurance program; remove some restrictions on police pursuits; and allow students to opt out of certain surveys, assignments and sex education, as well as allow parents access to their children’s school records and instructional materials.

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NAESB Forum Chairs Push for Gas Reliability Organization

The chairs of the North American Energy Standards Board’s Gas-Electric Harmonization Forum suggested establishing a natural gas reliability organization similar to NERC in their foreword to the board’s report on the forum issued last week, calling this step a “more significant, structural solution that … would accelerate the harmonization of the natural gas and electric power industries to the benefit of the country.”

The chairs proposed the organization as a means of addressing some “profoundly disturbing” differences of opinion between representatives of the two industries, revealed during the forum, that may require FERC’s direct intervention to prevent conflicts that could endanger the nation’s energy supply.

“Excuses can no longer substitute for sound planning and judgment,” wrote co-chairs Robert Gee, Susan Tierney and Pat Wood III, all members of NAESB’s advisory council. “If voluntary measures fall short owing to staunch opposition by some, it is time for the national regulator to consider more direct measures to ensure that both industries under its purview perform in tandem to ensure energy reliability and assurance for our country.”

NAESB initiated the forum last year at the request of then-FERC Chairman Richard Glick and NERC CEO Jim Robb, who said the board is “uniquely positioned” to organize the dialogue between the gas and electric industries called for in their respective organizations’ joint report on the February 2021 winter storm. (See NAESB Confirms Gas-electric Forum in the Works.)

During 14 meetings over the past 11 months, the forum’s participants — which included representatives of 370 companies in the wholesale and retail natural gas and electric markets — developed 20 recommendations that were offered to members of both industries for comment. While some recommendations met with broad support, others provoked “widely divergent opinions.”

These controversial measures included recommendation 1: that FERC direct NAESB to revise its standards to make data on gas pipeline availability and scheduling available to grid operators. This proposal drew the support of 85% of wholesale electric voters, but only 46% of those from the wholesale gas sector.

Also unpopular among the gas wholesalers was recommendation 7, which encouraged relevant state authorities to engage with producers, marketers and intrastate pipeline operators to ensure their operations are fully functioning ahead of extreme weather events that could cause high demand for both gas and electricity. Just 41% of wholesale gas respondents supported this proposal, as opposed to 87% of their electric counterparts.

Recommendation 15 — which encouraged state regulators to consider informational posting requirements for intrastate pipelines to improve transparency, similar to FERC’s reporting and posting requirements for interstate pipelines — met with approval from just 57.5% of wholesale gas respondents, versus 91% from the wholesale electric industry. Even NAESB’s standards efforts met with debate, with recommendation 4 — related to an effort by the organization to update its base contract for natural gas to encourage weatherization — drawing support from only 51% of voters in the wholesale gas quadrant, but 91% of the wholesale electric quadrant.

The forum’s chairs noted that not all of the recommendations were so controversial; several measures discussed in the report drew support from more than 80% of respondents in both industries. These included recommendations to align the electric and gas scheduling timelines, adopt multiday unit commitment processes, and have state public utility commissions encourage gas and electric demand response programs and voluntary conservation public service announcements.

But the writers remained dismayed at the tepid response generated by so many of the measures, which they considered not “to be so burdensome … that they would engender strong opposition.” They suggested a more fundamental change might be needed to implement the needed coordination ahead of future severe weather events.

“With [a gas reliability] organization in place, we believe the balanced solutions discussed in this report would find home at an institutional forum empowered to more timely address these and other related matters on an ongoing basis,” the chairs wrote. “Pending its creation, however, the … recommendations should be expeditiously addressed on an individual basis. … Although our work on this project is completed, resolution of these issues is only beginning.”

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Transmission Spending Should be ‘Like Going to Costco’

Developing transmission in the West should involve a long-term, comprehensive plan instead of a localized piecemeal approach, speakers agreed at last week’s webinar of the Western States Transmission Initiative – an effort led by Gridworks and former FERC Chair Richard Glick for the Committee on Regional Electric Power Cooperation (CREPC).

The second in a three-part series, the webinar addressed the West’s transmission needs and barriers to transmission development.

Glick, now a senior fellow at Gridworks and head of his own consulting firm, moderated a panel discussion with Rob Gramlich, president of consultant Grid Strategies, and Kris Raper, vice president of strategic engagement and external affairs at WECC and a former member of the Idaho Public Utilities Commission.

Gramlich and Raper both said that the West needs better regional planning to maximize the value of transmission built and avoid wasteful spending.

“I think you can look at the numbers and say, ‘a purely reactive short-term, just-in-time transmission approach is the most expensive way to do transmission,’” Gramlich said. “And we really are in most of the country doing just-in-time transmission.”

Building transmission to ensure grid reliability in the short term is necessary, but “if we proactively plan, we can almost certainly find a cheaper way to build a future system,” he said.

“From a consumer perspective, I think we need to do everything we can to move to more efficient operation of the existing grid and then plan for future needs,” Gramlich said. “And then I think the most important cost containment is to do good planning that does good, solid, benefit-cost analysis of what are the benefits, what are the costs. Let’s look at the portfolio, not the specific projects alone. Let’s look at the regional efficiencies and get the economies of scope brought in to bear.”

“There’s been a lot of transmission investment in the country, but most of that is on local systems,” he added. “There’s been almost none on the large regional and interregional [scale] over the last decade.”

Raper said large amounts of up-front spending on transmission could be difficult to sell to consumers and state regulators concerned about rising costs. But she suggested using a simple analogy to explain why it makes sense.

“It’s like going to Costco to buy things,” Raper said. “If you go to the regular grocery store, you buy for the short-term generally. And per item, you’re probably going to spend a little more. But if you have the ability to go to Costco, are you spending more upfront when you go there? Yes, but it lasts you longer.”

“From the most simplistic standpoint of explaining to a consumer,” planners could say, “yes, it looks like a lot of money, but if we do it onesie-twosie, you’re actually spending more, because you don’t gain the efficiencies from buying at Costco,” she said.

Raper outlined WECC’s efforts to study Western transmission needs in the next 20 years and interregional transfer capabilities, as required by recent federal law. (See NERC FAC Approves Transfer Study Funding.)

A WECC four-part study process is underway to study transmission needs, including during extended periods of extreme heat and cold in the West. Four scenario studies could be finished this year, with the 20-year analysis to be completed in 2024.

“We are working to develop a process for building out our 20-year planning model,” Raper said. “We think it’ll be valuable both for longer term transmission planning and reliability assessments of the West, and also to meet evolving FERC expectations that have come out recently under proposed rules that are focused on improving regional transmission planning processes.”

As an impartial entity that oversees reliability across the entire Western Interconnection, WECC’s long-term transmission analysis may carry more weight with regulators in Western states, where views on the need for green energy and transmission development can vary widely.

“We’re excited about the growing dialogue regarding transmission needs,” Raper said. “We see the urgency as now, and we do believe that with our stakeholders, we’ve identified a way for WECC to fill an important void in the conversation, providing a high-level, interconnection-wide view of transmission needs.”

“All of this has been done with the objective of maintaining our independent voice of reliability, remaining policy-neutral and resource-agnostic and fitting within WECC’s delegated authority to perform reliability assessments for the Western Interconnection,” she said.

The first webinar in the WSTI series on July 20 dealt with transmission planning. The third and final webinar in the series on Aug. 16 will tackle cost allocation.

“I look forward to seeing you all again on Aug. 16 for a discussion of … who pays for transmission and how much do they pay,” Gridworks Director Kate Griffith said. “And perhaps we’ll get a little bit deeper into Kris’s analogy of spending our money at a transmission Costco instead of a fancy food store.”

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FERC Accepts Niagara’s Cost Recovery Plans, Orders Rate Proceeding

FERC on Friday approved Niagara Mohawk Power’s construction recovery requests for the Smart Path Connect project while partly accepting its rate schedule revisions.

The commission also ordered a proceeding to determine the justness of its proposed transmission service charges (ER23-973/ER23-974).

The National Grid subsidiary sought to recover all costs from the construction work in progress costs for the Smart Path project it is building alongside the New York Power Authority, as well as revise its RS15 mechanism and create a new RS18 requirement, which set rates for transmission service charges and establishes a Smart Path charge recovery standard, respectively.

FERC accepted Niagara’s Smart Path cost allocation plan and its request for construction cost incentives, as well as the RS18 proposal, but only partly accepted the proposed RS15 revisions.

Smart Path would rebuild roughly 100 miles of 230-kV transmission lines, replacing them with either 230-kV or 345-kV lines and upgrading associated substations, creating a continuous 345-kV path from northern New York to the downstate region to mitigate congestion. The project was designated a “priority transmission project” by the state’s Public Service Commission and was one of the key products to come out of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act.

FERC previously rejected Niagara’s Smart Path cost allocation and recovery plans, but the utility adjusted its proposal to create RS18, which sets a 10.3% return on equity and applies a capital structure that becomes possible if the RS15 revision to add a project-specific incremental formula rate to the mechanism is accepted as well. (See FERC Rejects Niagara Mohawk Tx Cost Formula, ROE Adders.) NYISO submitted these filings on behalf of Niagara.

Niagara also proposed a 20% ROE cost containment mechanism for when actual costs exceed the $481.9 million project cost cap.

The commission approved the utility’s RS18 proposal to allocate Smart Path’s costs on a statewide volumetric load-ratio share basis, noting that it “accepted a similar participant funding agreement allocating costs for local transmission projects needed to meet the CLCPA.”

FERC also accepted RS15 revisions that comply with Order 864, which required transmission providers to revise their formula rates to account for changes caused by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.

However, after finding that the part of the RS15 proposal related to the allocation of general plant and administrative expenses “raises issues of material fact that cannot be resolved based on the record before us,” the commission ordered hearing and settlement proceedings to address the matter.

Concurrence

Commissioner Mark Christie wrote a concurrence emphasizing that Friday’s order does not suggest that one state’s public policy costs can be forced onto consumers in another.

Christie wrote that “costs related to a public policy project — which the Smart Path Connect Project is — should be borne by the sponsoring state and not shifted to consumers in other states.”

“That is how democracy is supposed to work,” he added.

“There is nothing in the record in this matter to indicate that any of the costs of the transmission projects that will be built to implement New York’s public policies under the terms described in this proposal will be forced on consumers in other states,” he said.

“Any suggestion that this order can be read to permit shifting a state’s public policy costs to consumers in other states or to suggest that the consumers in other states benefit from those projects without the express agreement of those other states is incorrect and it is not the order I support here or would have supported here,” Christie concluded.

The proposals accepted by FERC became effective April 1. National Grid estimates Smart Path’s total capital cost will be $1.2 billion and its in-service date will be December 2025.

The company declined to comment on the ruling.

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ERCOT Demand Breaks 83 GW with Latest Record

ERCOT again saw load reach record levels Monday and Tuesday as searing heat continues to bake the already well-done region.

Average demand exceeded the 83 GW barrier for the first time when it hit 83.05 GW during the late afternoon Monday. Demand bettered that mark during three hourly intervals Tuesday, with a new high of 83.59 GW established during the hour ending at 5 p.m.

ERCOT has now bettered its previous record of 82.59 GW set July 18 eight times this week.

Solar resources are again carrying a heavy load for ERCOT during the afternoons, producing a near-record 13.35 GW of energy Monday. Solar set a new high July 28 when it peaked at 13.42 GW.

Batteries are also helping fill in the afternoon gap, exceeding 1,000 MW for the first time Monday.

Average hub prices settled as high as $3,148 Monday between 6:45 and 8 p.m., but they have remained in double digits for most of the time.

The Texas grid operator is projecting demand to peak above 83 GW for the rest of the week and to exceed 85 GW Aug. 7. Average demand has been above 80 GW for 70 hourly intervals this summer after reaching that mark just once last year.

The National Weather Service on Sunday issued an extreme heat warning for much of North Texas; temperatures in the Dallas area were expected to hit 107 degrees Fahrenheit Wednesday.

In far West Texas Sunday, temperatures only reached only 97 degrees in El Paso, ending a string of 44 straight days over 100. Austin, in Central Texas, has an active streak of 25 straight days over 100.

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NJ Ramps up EV Purchase, Charger Installation Programs

New Jersey is stepping up its electric vehicle promotional efforts, adding a fourth year to its main purchase incentive program and $13 million to a separate fund to encourage municipalities to buy electric trucks.

The fourth year of the Board of Public Utilities (BPU) program known as Charge Up New Jersey opened for applicants on July 12 with the same maximum available incentive as in the last round: $4,000 for the purchase of a vehicle priced below $45,000. However, the agency has cut the incentive for a vehicle priced between $45,000 and $55,000 to $1,500, from $2,000 in the third year.

The program, which awards incentives totaling at least $30 million a year, so far has paid out $73.5 million in incentives, providing subsidies for more than 16,000 vehicles, according to the BPU. That is equal to about 17.5% of the 91,560 EVs the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) reported in the state at the end of 2022. Yet EVs still account for less than 4% of the 2.53 million vehicles of all types research firm Statista said were on New Jersey roads in 2021.

The new phase of the Charge Up program is part of a multipronged state effort to promote EV purchasing and stimulate the development and installation of EV chargers to remove potential buyers’ range anxiety.

The push coincides with the release of New Jersey’s second Strategic Funding Plan for the state Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) for 2023-2025. Transportation is the state’s largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, at just over 40%. It’s one of four spheres of focus in the RGGI plan, which says the goal is to “continue to drive the transition to electric transportation throughout the state, with a focus on electrifying light-, medium- and heavy-duty vehicles benefiting environmental justice communities.”

Expanding Charger Access

As part of the push, the BPU began soliciting new applications on July 12 for three programs designed to incentivize the development and installation of electric chargers. They include the EV Tourism Charger Program, which provides incentives of up to $5,000 for a Level 2 charger and up to $50,000 for a fast charger installed at a tourism destination, such as a hotel, boardwalk or historic site.

Also seeking applications is the Multi Unit Dwelling (MUD) Charger Incentive Program, which encourages owners and operators of MUDs to provide EV chargers for residents and guests by offering up to $4,000 for a Level 2 charger and up to $6,000 for a Level 2 charging station in an overburdened community. The third program opened for new applicants, the Clean Fleet program, provides grants to local governments and nonprofit organizations. The program offers up to $4,000 for the purchase of a light-duty EV, up to $10,000 for trucks up to Class 6 and up to $5,000 for the installation of Level 2 chargers.

The BPU has budgeted $8 million for the tourism program, $15 million for the MUD program and $12 million for the Clean Fleet program in this fiscal year.

Gov. Phil Murphy (D) said the four programs together would help “establish EVs as an affordable and accessible option for all residents, regardless of their income or zip code.”

“In order to remain on track to meet our bold emissions-reduction goals, we must ensure that cost constraints and range anxiety no longer pose formidable obstacles for our hard-working families,” he said.

Stimulating ‘Incentive-essential’ Buys

The Charge Up program has awarded 6,933 subsidies totaling $19.6 million since July 1, 2022, with an average subsidy of $2,775, according to figures on the program website.

Tesla vehicles accounted for 4,600 of the subsidies, or about 62% of the funds awarded, the figures show. In 2020, the first year of the program, Teslas accounted for 83% of the incentives. In response, the BPU changed the rules so the largest subsidy would go to vehicles costing less than $45,000 in an effort to help “incentive-essential” buyers, those with lesser economic means who opt for a cheaper vehicle and might not buy an EV without the subsidy.

Purchases of Chevrolet Bolts accounted for 936 incentives, or about 19% of the subsidy funds awarded in the year from July 1, 2022, and Volkswagen buyers received 627 subsidies, or about 8.5%, the figures show.

Hyundai buyers received 332 subsidies (4.6%), and buyers of Nissans received 136 subsidies (2.4%), with most of funds going to purchase Leafs.

Helping Small Population Communities

The $13 million made available for local governments to buy EV trucks will be awarded in a competitive solicitation for projects that closes Sept. 4. The subsidy amounts are designed to offset the extra cost of buying an EV compared to a diesel vehicle, and to be eligible for an incentive, applicants must be replacing and decommissioning a fossil-fuel vehicle.

This year, the program for the first time will offer an incentive for Class 2 to 6 vehicles, such as garbage trucks, school buses and shuttle buses. The maximum incentive in that category is $10,000.

The program is part of the sixth round of awards of RGGI funds, and it prioritizes subsidizing local government vehicle purchases in overburdened communities, with additional incentives allocated to communities with a population of less than 20,000.

For example, the program would award a subsidy of $15,000 to a community that purchased a Class 2 non-passenger vehicle, the smallest size funded in the program. But the subsidy could be increased to $56,000 if the municipality is an overburdened community with a population of less than 20,000. At the top end, a Class 8 non-passenger vehicle could receive a basic subsidy of $305,000, with an additional $30,000 if it is an overburdened community and another $76,000 if the purchaser is a municipality with a sub-20,000 population.

To receive the funds, the new vehicle must be fitted for three years with a telematic device, which allows the collection of data on the use of the vehicle.

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NY Invites OSW Developers to Rebid with Lower Prices

New York has pushed back the contract award date in its latest offshore wind solicitation, and invited developers who submitted proposals to rebid at lower prices.

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) said the addendum is intended “to ensure the most cost-effective outcome of the solicitation for ratepayers.”

NYSERDA, which is leading the state’s offshore wind development efforts, said on its website the move was in response to guidance issued in April and May by the Internal Revenue Service regarding tax credit eligibility through the Inflation Reduction Act.

The deadline for bids in New York’s 2022 solicitation was Jan. 26, 2023. NYSERDA at the time called it a robust and record-setting response — 100 proposals for eight projects from six developers. The details not only would help the state make huge strides in its energy transition but help create the local offshore wind industry envisioned by the state.

It said Jan. 27 that it expected to announce awards in the spring of this year.

In the July 27 memo to bidders, NYSERDA said it now expects to announce awards in the fourth quarter of 2023.

NYSERDA said the addendum is “another opportunity for updated pricing to ensure the most competitive award group.”

It said bidders could submit prices identical to or lower than their original bids but could make no other changes or propose higher prices.

Headwinds

Offshore wind construction has become much more expensive in the past two years — so much so that many developers are seeking to renegotiate or even cancel their financial agreements.

Commonwealth Wind in Massachusetts has reached a deal to pay nearly $50 million to cancel its power purchase agreements with three utilities, and SouthCoast Wind is seeking a similar exit. Both have said they hope to rebid in the next solicitation, at a higher cost.

The developers of the Beacon, Empire and Sunrise projects — every contracted wind project off the New York coast not already under construction — told the state Public Service Commission in June they may not be able to proceed without more money.

They want the type of inflation adjustment mechanism that was offered in New York’s 2022 solicitation, but not in the two previous solicitations.

The situation is similar in other states: Most developers who locked in their revenue but not their costs before surges in inflation and interest rates now say their projects cannot be financed as negotiated.

Much of the overrun likely will trickle down to the general population through some combination of higher utility rates, taxes and consumer prices.

That does not sit well with some stakeholders, especially given the secretive nature of offshore wind development. Most substantive details and dollar figures are redacted from public versions of developers’ supporting documentation.

The City of New York and a group of 55 large commercial/industrial/institutional energy users filed a motion (PSC Case 15-E-0302) on Thursday to force Beacon, Empire and Sunrise to disclose more information on their request for more money.

“Petitioners’ excessive redactions of critical information means that customers do not know the total amount of additional compensation that these developers are asking them to pay, nor can they evaluate the claimed need for such relief, and they are being deprived of the opportunity to develop fully-informed comments responsive to the Petitions,” they wrote.

“Petitioners’ overbroad use of redactions reveals a lack of regard for the right of utility customers to be adequately informed as to the costs they are being asked to bear.”

Inflation has eased in 2023 but interest rates have not.

Rhode Island Energy in July rejected the lone proposal submitted in Rhode Island’s latest offshore wind solicitation as too expensive for that state’s ratepayers.

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FERC Updates Interconnection Queue Process with Order 2023

WASHINGTON — FERC on Thursday unanimously issued Order 2023 revising its pro forma generator interconnection queue rules to speed up the backlogged process (RM22-14).

The rule will ensure that generation resources are able to connect to the grid in a reliable, efficient, timely and transparent manner, acting Chair Willie Phillips said at a press conference after the commission’s monthly open meeting.

“The final rule is one of the largest in FERC’s history. It represents the largest and most significant set of interconnection reforms since the pro forma interconnection procedures were created two decades ago,” Phillips said. “Our country has a severe interconnection backlog. Currently there are 2,000 GW of resources in interconnection queues, the largest backlog in history.” (See LBNL: Interconnection Queues Grew 40% in 2022.)

The rule would shift the pro forma interconnection rules from a first-come, first-served serial process to a first-ready, first-served cluster study process. It ramps up financial requirements for developers and sets penalties for transmission providers that fail to meet deadlines for completing interconnection studies. (See FERC Proposes Interconnection Process Overhaul.)

The rule also requires interconnection studies to consider grid-enhancing technologies (GETs) and sets new reliability standards for inverter-based resources.

Order 2023 comes out of the Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking issued in 2021 under Chair Richard Glick, which has also produced a still-pending NOPR on transmission planning and cost allocation. (See FERC Issues 1st Proposal out of Transmission Proceeding.)

“We will not stop work on the long-term and regional planning transmission NOPR,” Phillips said. “We look forward to, in the months ahead, finalizing that proposal as well. And together … we will have the greatest transmission reforms in a generation to come out of FERC.”

All of the other commissioners praised the process around developing the final rule, with Commissioner James Danly saying that while he would have preferred looking into the six ISO/RTO interconnection queues individually, the final rule was a successful collaboration among the four sitting commissioners.

“Take me at my word when I say it because I don’t give compliments,” Danly told Phillips. “I pay you one here: You set up a set of circumstances where there was genuine collegiality amongst the offices in shaping the rule.”

Reforming the queues is important, Commissioner Allison Clements said, as many grid operators have signaled they will need additional resources soon to help keep the lights on.

“While we’re not looking to replace retiring thermal units on a one-to-one basis with solar and wind, getting these resources online, as the grid operators have told us, is critical to help alleviating their own concerns,” she added.

Clements also lauded Order 2023’s embrace of GETs, many of which are mature technologies that have been around longer than some consumer items that have long since gone out of fashion, such as floppy disks and the Sony Walkman.

Commissioner Mark Christie said the rule was a step toward unclogging the queues around the country. Ideally it will not conflict with any revisions that grid operators have made on their own, such as PJM’s, he added. (See FERC Approves PJM Plan to Speed Interconnection Queue.)

“That’s one of the issues that I address in my concurrence … the question of whether we have appropriate hold-harmless language with regard to existing reform efforts,” Christie said.

As with the old pro forma rules, ISO/RTOs will be able to seek an “independent entity” variation from FERC, and even vertically integrated utilities can get an exemption if they prove their rules are consistent with, or superior to, the new minimum standards. Some grid operators are engaged in changes that go well beyond what FERC has required with Order 2023. (See CAISO Tries to Shake up Its Interconnection Process.)

Given that the country has 2,000 GW of projects in the queue, which is double the amount of generation actually operating today, it is clear that the backlog needs to be worked through, Phillips said.

“Our government rules and regulations need to keep pace with the needs of our energy grid,” he added. “And so, while I applaud the RTOs that have moved forward with reforms, I think they’ve done it because, quite frankly, they know that FERC was moving aggressively to finalize this rule. And that’s a good thing. We want to make sure we recognize regional flexibility. What works in Alabama may not work in the Northwest, or what works in New York may not work in Arizona; we recognize that. But let me say this: No one region does every single thing that we put forward in this rule.”

Stakeholders Applaud Rule, but Await Changes on Transmission

Most initial reactions to Order 2023 were in praise of FERC for addressing the issue of clogged queues, but they also called on it to continue with its work on transmission reforms.

“Advanced Energy United and our members applaud the commission for identifying the urgent need for interconnection reform and for working diligently to put forward a final order that will start to improve the broken interconnection process,” said Managing Director Caitlin Marquis. “In light of the scope of the interconnection challenge, we also appreciate acting Chair Phillips’ recognition that there is ‘so much more to do’ and hope to see this momentum maintained with follow-up efforts by the commission to address additional interconnection reform needs.”

All were commenting based on what information FERC released at its meeting, with the order not being released as of press time Thursday evening. But AEU welcomed the commission’s decision to move away from non-financial “readiness” requirements that were unworkable while keeping provisions to hold transmission providers accountable to deadlines, with penalties growing every day they are late.

“While ACEG welcomes approval of these reforms, the best way to address interconnection delays is still to improve the planning and development of new transmission lines,” said ACEG Executive Director Christina Hayes. “As the commission begins its August recess, it is critically important that it continue to make progress on several outstanding items, including the planning and cost allocation rule. FERC has a crucial role to play in protecting the long-term reliability of our energy system, which is why it needs a full complement of members. We hope the president will expeditiously fill any vacancies so FERC can continue its important work.”

The Sierra Club also welcomed the rule, saying it was hopeful it would help grid operators clear out the 2,000-GW backlog.

“Moving these renewable generation and storage facilities from the queue to the real world is a critical step toward creating a clean, reliable and efficient energy grid, and we look forward to ensuring any process improvements here are implemented swiftly and fairly by grid operators across the country,” Sierra Club Senior Attorney Greg Wannier said.

The rule’s requirements for transmission providers to meet deadlines or face fines are a welcome new development because previously the onus was put on the developers of wind, solar and storage who were creating the demand for interconnection, Jason Burwen, a vice president at the storage firm GridStor, said in an interview.

The final rule changes how storage’s impact on the grid is studied in the interconnection process. Current interconnection planning processes often assume the worst-case scenario with storage charging at the peak demand hours, but the NOPR proposed shifting that to a more real-world use of the technology, Burwen said.

The new rules will allow storage developers to submit a business case to grid operators that lays out how the facility will actually be used, thus avoiding overestimates of their grid impacts, according to the order. Standalone storage, hybrid facilities and co-located storage can all submit such business cases, which transmission operators can disagree with if they are not consistent with “good utility practice.”

The order sets up a process in which the transmission owner explains its disagreement in writing and the storage project seeking interconnection can come back with a second attempt that address those concerns.

While storage is not as dependent on transmission expansion as wind and solar, it does need to see the grid expand to reach its maximum potential, Burwen said.

“Even these interconnection reforms … are probably a few years out from really kicking in and changing the way in which business is done,” Burwen said. “But it’s much more matching the timescale of the pain that wind, solar and storage project developers are facing as they try to build stuff and do so on the timelines that any rational investor is going to expect of them.”

RTOs React

RTOs had limited response to the order, as the text of the 1,481-page final rule wasn’t posted until Friday evening.

MISO said it is assessing how the new rules will interact with its proposal to limit queue submissions to about 73 GW annually, triple its entry fees and establish more rigorous land obligations and escalating penalty charges. (See MISO Aims for Manageable Interconnection Queue.)

“The commission has acknowledged MISO’s leadership in developing innovative solutions to the interconnection challenges. MISO appreciates the commission has codified many of them in Order 2023, and MISO is already assessing additional reforms to improve the quality and viability of future submissions,” RTO spokesperson Brandon Morris said in a statement to RTO Insider. “MISO is reviewing how the current rule can support these efforts and not slow these future reforms to help address the interconnection challenges in the MISO region.”

NYISO referenced its ongoing engagement with stakeholders to improve its interconnection processes. (See NYISO Stakeholders Still Questioning Interconnection Queue Proposal.)

“The NYISO began efforts to improve the interconnection process in 2022, recognizing the need and urgency for reform. Efforts to accommodate new technology proposing to interconnect to the grid and developing efficiencies in the process are well underway,” said Kevin Lanahan, the ISO’s vice president of external affairs and corporate communications. “As part of these efforts, the NYISO has held numerous open forums where stakeholders have provided valuable feedback and proposals.”

PJM spokesman Jeff Shields said the RTO would postpone comments until it had reviewed the order but noted that it implemented its new interconnection queue process in July. (See ACORE Report Highlights Billions of Dollars in PJM’s Generator Queue.)

“PJM expects to study the interconnection of more than 260,000 MW of mostly renewable resources. The process will speed up and streamline generation interconnection requests, improve project cost certainty, and significantly improve the process by which new and upgraded generation resources are introduced onto the electrical grid,” Shields said.

CAISO referred to its NOPR comments, which supported eliminating the “reasonable efforts” standard and imposing penalties for missed deadlines. It also noted it was the only ISO/RTO that did not report missing any study deadlines in 2022.

ISO-NE and SPP declined to comment.

Amanda Durish-Cook, Tom Kleckner, Devin Leith-Yessian, Hudson Sangree, Jon Lamson and John Norris contributed to this story.