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July 26, 2024

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Mass. EJ Groups Rally Behind Permitting, Siting Reforms

Consulting with host communities at the beginning of planning processes for new clean energy projects would expedite development timelines and prevent unnecessary impacts on vulnerable communities, Massachusetts environmental justice leaders said at a forum Jan. 20.

The meeting was convened by the Massachusetts Environmental Justice Table, a coalition of environmental, civil rights and Indigenous organizations focused on promoting environmental justice policy in the state.

permitting reforms

Reverend Vernon Walker, Climate Justice Program Director for Clean Water Action | Massachusetts Environmental Justice Table

The speakers emphasized the negative effects existing permitting and siting procedures have had on vulnerable populations in the state.

“The process has not been working and is not working,” said Paula García, senior bilingual energy analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists. “Most of the fossil fuel power plants are concentrated in environmental justice neighborhoods, with their associated negative health impacts.”

The coalition is promoting a bill in the state legislature that would make significant reforms to the state’s Energy Facilities Siting Board (EFSB), adding climate, environmental justice and public health to the EFSB’s priorities and introducing representation for environmental justice and indigenous communities.

The bill would also require early engagement and cumulative impact assessments prior to a project’s approval, while expediting the process for approving clean energy generators and storage projects. Top legislators have indicated that permitting and siting reform will be a major focus of an omnibus climate and energy bill this year. (See Mass. Lawmakers Aiming for an Omnibus Climate Bill in 2024.)

“We support a transition to renewable energy but need laws and regulations that carefully consider the costs, risks, benefits, burdens and needs of hosting environmental justice communities,” said Rusty Polsgrove, an environmental justice organizer at Springfield-based Arise for Social Justice.

Polsgrove spoke about the group’s ongoing fight against Eversource’s contested proposed pipeline project in Western Massachusetts. (See More Environmental Information Required for Western Mass. Gas Pipeline.) Polsgrove said Eversource engaged with the community too late in the planning process, after the company had already spent a significant amount of time and money on planning and permitting the pipeline.

“That’s tokenism,” Polsgrove said, adding that the late engagement prevented meaningful consideration of community needs and existing burdens in the planning process.

John Walkey and Noemy Rodriguez of Chelsea-based environmental justice organization GreenRoots discussed their experiences with Eversource’s community engagement process for the long-fought substation in East Boston.

“We didn’t find out about the plans for the substation until the project was well underway and moving forward,” said Rodriguez, translated into English by Walkey. “When we tried to get involved with the project, the state proceedings were not translated into Spanish.”

Greasing the Skids

Walkey contrasted the community engagement around the substation in East Boston with a battery project in Chelsea, in which the developers solicited input from GreenRoots early in the process.

“They’re interacting with us. We’re helping them grease the skids basically to move this project forward, and we’re pleased with it,” Walkey said.

He added that GreenRoots and other environmental justice activists who long opposed Eversource’s substation in East Boston are “not against electrical substations — in fact, we think if they’re needed, they should be built.”

At the same time, utilities and project developers should work with communities to develop the best solution for all involved, and consider options like efficiency and demand reduction, distributed energy, and batteries, Walkey said.

“We definitely need more capacity, but that capacity can’t be met by using the same tools of the last hundred years,” Walkey said, adding that utilities make significant rates of return on large infrastructure projects, which can disincentivize developing new methods to avoid these large projects altogether.

If the substation in East Boston, sited on the banks of Chelsea Creek, is damaged by climate-fueled flooding, “[ratepayers] will pay to repair it, and [Eversource] will be guaranteed a profit margin off of the repair,” Walkey said.

Eversource and National Grid, the state’s two largest electric utilities, have proposed to build a combined 40 new substations to meet growing electricity demand coming from heating and transportation electrification in the state. (See Mass. Utilities Submit Grid Modernization Drafts.)

In an email to NetZero Insider, Eversource spokesperson William Hinkle said permitting and siting reforms are “critical to ensuring that we can build the necessary infrastructure to help achieve the commonwealth’s decarbonization goals, and greater engagement and collaboration with our communities [are] essential to the process.”

He pointed to Eversource’s proposal with the state’s other electric utilities to create a Community Engagement Stakeholder Advisory Group “dedicated to ensuring communities are engaged early and often in project development and have a seat at the table as key decisions are being made over the next two decades.”

At the same time, Hinkle defended the company’s engagement with communities in East Boston and in Western Massachusetts, writing that the company has “always strived to engage our communities and solicit feedback from key stakeholders on projects.”

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NYPSC Approves Advanced Transmission Tech Working Group

The New York Public Service Commission on Jan. 18 approved the establishment of a utility-led working group to identify, study and deploy new clean energy technologies essential for achieving the state’s net-zero goals (20-E-0197).  

At its monthly meeting, the PSC approved the Advanced Technology Working Group (ATWG) to vet advanced transmission technologies and develop deployment strategies, as required by the Accelerated Renewable Energy Growth and Community Benefit Act. The law directed the commission to identify system upgrades necessary to achieve the mandates set forth in New York’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA). 

Proposed by some of the state’s largest utilities, known collectively as the Joint Utilities (JUs), the ATWG originated from their Research and Development Plan for Advanced Distribution and Transmission Technologies (R&D Plan), submitted to the PSC in July 2022. According to the JUs, the ATWG will “ensure that the necessary policies, procedures and standards exist to address technical, process, regulatory and economic concerns related to modern and innovative technologies.” 

The ATWG’s primary focus is to explore and analyze technologies that will aid in meeting the CLCPA mandates, concentrating on dynamic line ratings, power flow control and energy storage in the near term.  

Additionally, the group will support the Coordinated Grid Planning Process (CGPP), a two-year, six-stage framework initiated by the PSC last year with the aim of enhancing collaboration among New York’s stakeholders and aligning transmission system development with the state’s decarbonization goals. The ATWG will assess the viability of technologies proposed through the CGPP by stakeholders in forums such as the Energy Policy Planning Advisory Council (EPPAC). (See NY Utilities Propose Plan to Coordinate Decarbonization Efforts and NY Policy Council Holds Inaugural Meeting to Discuss CGPP.) 

The PSC directed the JUs to submit a revised version of the proposed ATWG plan within 30 days. 

Role and Requirements

In their R&D Plan progress report, the JUs highlighted the ATWG’s role in not only examining potential future technologies but also in standardizing their development and adoption throughout New York. 

The PSC’s order underscores the ATWG’s importance within the broader transmission planning process, recognizing the group’s “critical role to play in identifying advanced technology applications that will help reduce the cost of new transmission infrastructure developed through the CGPP.” 

Additionally, the JUs noted that the ATWG is expected to help “develop tools and methodologies to evaluate and apply advanced technologies as part of potential non-wires alternative solutions.” 

ATWG staff held their first technical conference in April, primarily presenting an overview of the group and its objectives rather than discussing any specific technologies. The PSC mandated that the ATWG conduct at least one open call for stakeholders to submit advanced technology proposals before another technical conference, which must be held in the first half of 2024. The ATWG must then file an initial assessment of the submitted proposals within 60 days of the conference’s conclusion. 

Starting in 2025, the ATWG must annually publish a calendar of its activities by Jan. 31 of each year. These reports will include assessments of technologies under review, results of relevant studies, budget allocations and recommendations for technology deployment by utilities.  

Overview of the ATWG’s role according to the JUs | Joint Utilities

Commissioner Comments

The commission unanimously approved the order, though some commissioners expressed concerns. 

Commissioner Diane Burman said she worried about the increasing number of groups and task forces involved in implementing state law, risking diminished public transparency and collaboration. She urged the creation of a single “regularly updated” document that cohesively details all the ongoing work or issues addressed by each of the groups, stressing the need for these efforts to be “coordinated, seamless and not have everybody doing something siloed.” 

She also warned state agencies against inadvertently favoring certain technologies or developers over others, saying, “We cannot be picking winners and losers.” 

Commissioner John Howard pointed out that while he understood the need to examine “other technologies down the road,” he argued that “this should in no way slow down the progress of what is already available today.” 

He encouraged transmission owners and developers to adopt “these very proven and very cost-effective technologies as quickly as possible,” adding that “in pursuit of the excellent, let’s not leave some really good stuff on the side.” 

Chair Rory Christian said the PSC’s decision to approve the ATWG “will ensure the state’s investments take advantage of cost-saving and efficient new transmission technologies.” 

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Former Md. PSC Chair Stanek Joins PJM Government Relations

PJM has hired former Maryland Public Service Commission Chair Jason Stanek to lead the RTO’s state government policy and state solutions teams.

“PJM’s work with states has been critical to helping states preserve reliability of the system as we move forward through the energy transition,” Stanek said in a statement announcing the hire. “I look forward to building on this solid foundation with some insight into what states need to succeed.”

The hiring is part of PJM’s effort to boost relations with state and federal governments by restructuring the State and Member Services departments, led by Senior Vice President Asim Haque, into the Government and Member Services branch.

“Jason brings a wealth of experience to PJM that will benefit both PJM and its stakeholders,” Haque said in the announcement. “He was a thoughtful, knowledgeable and independent regulator who will further bolster the depth and breadth of our engagement.”

Maryland PSC spokesperson Tori Leonard said the commission saw growth in its electric vehicle, renewable energy and consumer protection programs during Stanek’s leadership.

“Chairman Stanek’s tenure was notable for the commission’s embrace of novel ratemaking practices, specifically multiyear plans; promoting retail energy competition with progress on supplier consolidated billing, as well as tougher enforcement against suppliers who violated the commission’s consumer protection rules; greater grid reliability; and advancing the state’s clean energy policies, including investment in energy battery storage, and support for the development of solar and offshore wind,” Leonard said. “As an EV driver and advocate, he was particularly proud of the PSC’s efforts to advance electric vehicle adoption by supporting the build-out of a statewide public charging network.”

Stanek was PSC chair from July 2018 through 2023, during which time he served on several working groups as a member of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC), including its Joint Federal-State Task Force on Electric Transmission and the Electric Vehicle Working Group. He was also a board member of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) and the Keystone Policy Center.

Prior to joining the Maryland commission, Stanek was senior energy counsel for the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce and was branch chief of electric power markets at FERC between 2014 and 2017.

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$1.2B Con Edison Clean Energy Upgrade Approved

Consolidated Edison has been cleared to undertake another major system upgrade to meet growing electricity demand in New York City. 

The state Public Service Commission on Jan. 18 authorized the utility to proceed with its Idlewild Project, a $1.2 billion package that will add two substations and an electrical network in southeast Queens (22-E-0064). 

It is part of Con Edison’s Reliable Clean City initiative, through which the utility separately is making an $800 million investment in infrastructure. Those upgrades; the Idlewild Project; and the $810 million Clean Energy Hub the PSC authorized in 2023 all are designed to enable and prepare for the clean energy transition and its greater demand for electricity. (See Con Ed Completes 300-MW Line for Cleaner NYC Grid and NY PSC Approves $810M Con Ed Clean Energy Hub in Brooklyn.) 

Con Edison serves one of the most expensive and densely built places in the nation, and the cost of transitioning from fossil fuel to electricity likely is to be quite high. In a mid-2023 update, it valued its present investment plan at $11.8 billion. 

Commissioner Diane Burman cited the financial impact on New Yorkers from the ongoing series of expensive projects statewide before she cast the lone dissenting vote on the Idlewild Project at Thursday’s meeting. 

“I do not think it is sustainable, as we do more electrification — whether it is this company’s territory or other companies’ — that the ratepayers bear the bulk of this,” she said. 

In its petition, Con Edison said the Jamaica service network is the largest among its networks electrically and has the highest peak demand. The utility predicts that without changes, peak demand could exceed its 492-MW design capacity by as much as 6 MW in 2026, 30 MW in 2030 and 51 MW in 2032, with peak load shedding starting in 2028. 

It proposed to split the Jamaica network into two pieces; build two substations; and transfer 170 MW to the Idlewild Project. 

The work not only will address reliability needs as buildings and transportation are electrified but create points of interconnection for future clean energy projects and for the energy storage the utility seeks to add in the area. 

Con Edison said it considered non-wire alternatives to the proposal and is pursuing them for 2026-27, but they will be insufficient to meet anticipated growth in the Jamaica network. 

Con Edison also said transferring load to neighboring substations was not an option, as they, too, are at capacity.
The network includes the nation’s sixth-busiest airport, third-busiest train station and four major bus depots with a combined 700 buses. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority plans to electrify its bus fleet, most of the trains already are electrified, and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has set a net-zero emissions target for John F. Kennedy Airport. 

In a news release, Con Edison flagged the gradual electrification of medium- and heavy-duty fleets in the area as a driving force behind the Idlewild Project and said air quality would improve as a result.  

“By investing in our Reliable Clean City-Idlewild project,” CEO Tim Cawley said, “we are building New York’s clean energy infrastructure while creating good jobs, advancing New York’s climate goals and ensuring that our grid remains reliable for customers in Southeast Queens for decades to come.” 

The project budget breaks down to three components: 

    • The new Idlewild Distribution Area Substation, estimated cost $380 million, target in-service date May 2028; 
    • The new Eastern Queens Transmission Substation, estimated cost $592 million, in-service date April 2028; and 
    • The new Springfield Network, cost $242 million, in-service date not specified. 

Con Edison serves 3.6 million customers in the five counties of New York City and a suburban county to the north. 

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NYISO Stakeholders Approve LCRs for Upcoming Capability Year

NYISO’s Operating Committee on Jan. 18 approved the final locational minimum installed capacity requirements (LCRs) for the 2024/25 capability year.

The LCRs represent the minimum amount of capacity that New York load-serving entities must maintain within each of three downstate “localities” with transmission constraints. They are expressed as the percentage of the peak load forecast: 81.7% for New York City (Zone J), 105.3% for the rest of Long Island (Zone K) and 81% for the Lower Hudson Valley, including the city (zones G to J).

As detailed by the ISO’s LCR Study, the figures were calculated using the 22% installed reserve margin (IRM) approved by the New York State Reliability Council late last year, and transmission security limits (TSL) floors, which, respectively, establish the required reserve capacity and minimum transmission limits necessary for reliable operations.

Because the figures had already been presented to stakeholders, the OC’s vote proceeded without significant discussion. (See “Final LCR Results,” NYISO Finds No Need for New Capacity Zones.)

NYISO will now publish the final LCR values online, along with the 2024/25 locality bulk power transmission capability report, which documents the transmission capability inputs required to establish the TSLs for each locality.

December Operations

Aaron Markham, NYISO vice president of operations, told the OC that “December was quite a mild month, with no real cold snaps,” which resulted in “a pretty low peak load” of 21,001 MW and a minimum load of 13,136 MW.

In his December operations presentation, Markham noted that New York had added 215 MW of land-based wind and 20 MW of front-of-the-meter solar resources since the previous month’s report. (See NYCA Surpasses 5,000 MW of Installed BTM Solar.)

Markham last mentioned that New York is “in the midst of its first cold snap of 2024.” This led to a peak load Jan. 17 of 22,754 MW, which was about 94% of the baseline forecast of 24,200 MW for the winter season. However, he added that “transmission and generator performance has been very good” during this period.

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Bill Seeks to Study OSW Impact on Wash. Marine Ecosystem

OLYMPIA, Wash. — A Washington lawmaker has introduced a bill to authorize a study to gauge the ecological impacts of offshore wind projects along the state’s coastline. 

House Bill 2341 by Rep. Larry Springer (D) calls on the University of Washington School of Oceanography to study how the installation of OSW turbines would affect the fish, invertebrates, mammals and plant life that constitute the marine ecosystem near the coast. The report would be due to the governor’s office and Legislature by June 30, 2026. 

West Coast OSW development efforts currently focus on the waters off California and Oregon. And while there are no active government efforts targeting the Pacific Ocean off Washington’s coast, the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has received two unsolicited proposals for the area. 

Dale Beasley, Coalition of Coastal Fisheries | © RTO Insider LLC

In October, Gov. Jay Inslee (D) announced the beginning of a public-private partnership to develop an OSW industry in Washington, even to support out-of-state projects. The effort will have state agencies, ports, manufacturers and business associations meet to identify supply chain issues and map out approaches and goals for such a venture. (See Wash. Looks to Become Supplier to West Coast OSW Efforts.) 

“The issue for me is that we simply get it right,” Springer said during a Jan. 19 hearing on his bill before the Washington House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee. 

The proposed study would look at whether offshore turbines attract or repel fish and marine life. It would also study the effects of construction and operations on water cloudiness, noisiness, vibrations, thermal patterns and electromagnetic fields.  

It also would examine how turbines affect upwelling, which occurs when winds blow parallel to a coastline. The effect pushes surface waters offshore and brings up colder water from the deep to replace the surface water that was pushed away. The deeper water is rich in nutrients that encourage the growth of plants such as phytoplankton, a key part of the ocean’s food chain. Fish concentrate where upwelling occurs. 

Eric ffitch, Public Ports Association | © RTO Insider LLC

Committee member Rep. Debra Lekanoff (D) wondered how turbines would interact with oil tankers along the coast.  

Four people testified in favor of Springer’s bill at the hearing. No one opposed. It. 

“Whales do whale stuff. Crabs do crab stuff. The tuna — it just all explores. … Does it matter if we develop closer to the shore or farther from the shore?” former Democratic state Rep. Brian Blake said. 

“We need science so we can develop a no-harm solution,” said Dale Beasley, speaking on behalf of the Coalition of Coastal Fisheries and the Columbia River Crab Fisherman’s Association.  

Eric ffitch, executive director of the Washington Public Ports Association, also spoke in support of the bill.  

Stephanie Harrington, associate dean for administration for the University of Washington’s College of the Environment, which contains the oceanography school, said her department is willing and able to tackle the study. 

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Washington Auto Show Highlights Partisan Divide on EVs, Industrial Policy

WASHINGTON — Electric vehicles dominate the lower level of the Washington Auto Show, being held this week at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, with Volvo showing off its EX90 SUV, Polestar displaying its $97,000 model 3 (zero to 60 in 4.6 seconds) and Hyundai offering test drives of its IONIQ 5 on an indoor track.

But those carmakers are chasing an illusion, U.S. Reps. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) and Roger Williams (R-Texas) said during a panel discussion at the auto show’s Public Policy Day on Jan. 18.

“We see a situation where the manufacturer and the government are trying to shove these EV vehicles down people’s throats. They don’t want it,” said Williams, whose daughter now runs the dealership started by his father in 1939. “It’s a phony economy.”

Kelly agreed. “I don’t need people with more degrees than a thermometer to tell me what my market is. I’m there every day with them,” said Kelly, owner of Mike Kelly Automotive in Butler, Pa. “We should never force a market on anybody. If it’s market-ready, you don’t need to subsidize it.”

U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Ill.) | © RTO Insider LLC

Williams and Kelly sparred with Reps. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) and Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) during the panel, with the Democrats defending the Biden administration’s goal of making EVs 50% of new car sales by 2030. In later appearances, White House National Climate Adviser Ali Zaidi and senior officials from the departments of Energy and Transportation also defended the administration’s policies.

“We are competing in the global marketplace. China is subsidizing their products every single day. And we cannot let them win,” Dingell insisted. “We have to invest in R&D. We are competing with other countries where the government makes the investment.”

EV Subsidies, Performance Criticized

Williams said EVs should be judged on their own merits, without subsidies.

“I’m not against EV vehicles, but I’m for competition. And we don’t have that right now,” he said.

U.S. Reps. Roger Williams (R-Texas) and Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) criticized the Biden administration’s EV subsidies. | © RTO Insider LLC

Williams criticized EVs’ cold-weather performance and said they are particularly ill suited for a state as large as Texas.  “When you go from Weatherford, Texas, to Midland, Texas, and you’re pulling a two-horse trailer or pulling a jet ski and a boat, [with] the EV vehicle you’re never going to make it. You’ll have a gasoline[-powered] truck come and get you and pull you back where you started from.

“I can live with a hybrid,” he added. “It’s kind of a real thing; we sell many in Texas. But … you can’t compare to an EV vehicle, because that’s a product that is not going to exist in a few years.”

Affordability

Kelly said the government’s EV push is evidence that Washington is out of touch with Main Street Americans. He recalled a customer visiting his dealership seeking to trade in a Chevy Volt. “It needed a new battery. The car was worth $11,000. The replacement battery was $10,000,” he said.

Deputy Energy Secretary David Turk acknowledged, “The affordability story is something that’s not breaking through as much.”

But he said federal research and development spending has helped reduce the cost of batteries by 90%, with a further 42% reduction expected by 2030.

“It’s incredibly exciting to see the [Chevrolet] Bolt under $20,000 [after the $7,500 federal rebate],” he said. “It’s incredibly exciting to see a variety of new models that are very cost-competitive, especially when you factor in the fueling; the fact that it only costs you $15 [to charge a battery] versus $46 [for a tank of gas].”

No Role for Mass Transit?

The panelists also clashed over the role of mass transit and how the U.S. compares with Europe on EV penetration and mass transit.

“This country, what made it great to begin with was our ability to go from point A to point B, and to get there by ourselves with just private transportation,” Kelly said. “Why the hell would we follow anybody from Europe and the path that they’re on when they rely on us for their very existence?”

U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) | © RTO Insider LLC

“I don’t want to drive everywhere,” Kaptur responded. “I want … to have transportation options. We are very behind as a country in terms of road transportation, truck transportation and rail transportation. … We can’t live in 1950. We have to [prepare for] 2050. … We need a transportation revolution.”

Dingell said it’s the government’s role to lead the way on safety and environmental improvements.

“[Car] companies didn’t want CAFE [Corporate Average Fuel Economy] standards. Every consumer wants a more fuel-efficient car. … We didn’t want emission standards, and now everybody wants a cleaner environment. We didn’t want to wear safety belts; they’re saving lives. So sometimes when you’re doing what’s right, you’ve got to help educate.”

Charger Rollout, Reliability

The federal government’s charger buildout and reliability problems with existing chargers provided another flashpoint.

“I can tell you what a [public charging] station will look like. It’ll have graffiti all over it after a week and won’t be working. It will be broken,” Williams said.

From left, Gabe Klein, executive director, Joint Office of Energy and Transportation; Polly Trottenberg, Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department of Transportation and David M. Turk, Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department of Energy, defended the Biden administration’s EV policies. | © RTO Insider LLC

Zaidi and Gabe Klein, executive director of the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation, said the U.S. has increased the number of public chargers to almost 170,000 from 73,000 in 2019. At the current installation pace, Zaidi said, the U.S. could reach its 2030 goal of 500,000 chargers three or four years early.

“We’re starting to see some improvement in the J.D. Power [reliability] numbers,” Turk said. “Just a couple of percent improvement over the last few months.”

“I feel like this coming year, we’re going to see a dramatic increase … in charging, reliability and availability,” said Deputy Transportation Secretary Polly Trottenberg, who joined Klein and Turk on a panel after the House members.

The Department of Transportation has created more than 40 new programs and awarded money to more than 40,000 projects over the last two years, Trottenberg said. “2024 is the year of project delivery,” she said. “Now our goal — and the EV charging projects are in that bucket — we have to make sure we get those projects up and running.”

Industrial Policy and the ‘Chicken-and-egg’ Dilemma

Turk defended federal subsidies as a response to the “chicken-and-egg” dilemma.

“In order to get the cost down, you need to get the scale. In order to get the scale, you need to bring the cost down. So what we’ve seen in country after country that’s made success in EV transitions is you’ve got to have some … intentional investment and do it in a very targeted way to get to scale that then brings the cost down.”

Zaidi said funding from the Inflation Reduction Act, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 has used billions in private investment, including more than 40 factories with a combined capacity of 1 million chargers a year. “So that’s the transformational scale I think that we have unleashed,” he said. “And this isn’t some sort of pie-in-the-sky concept. We’re seeing steel go in the ground.”

“The future of automotives is electric plug-in hybrid, battery electric, hydrogen electric,” Zaidi continued. “The president’s policies have made the United States the [No. 1] destination for private investment to write the next chapter of automotive history here with our workers.”

Turk said federal funding has used $157 billion of private investment for EVs and batteries, with 340 new or expanded facilities producing 136,000 direct jobs. “That’s a remarkable amount of funding, even in an economy as big as our economy.”

“I grew up in a steel mill community in which the jobs just went away,” Turk continued. “If you want to … just sit there and watch all those jobs go to China, that’s one approach. The other approach is you use the tax incentives, you use the grants, you use the loans, you have an industrial strategy and you play offense. And that’s what we’re doing right now.”

Joseph Pittel, vice president of legal and public affairs for Samsung SDI, said tax credits from the IRA were “a critical component” of his company’s decision to invest $9 billion in the U.S., including two battery factories in Kokomo, Ind., and an expanded battery factory in Auburn Hills, Mich.

“That’s money we put on the table that would not be on the table, but for the policy,” he said during a panel on supply chain issues.

AM Radio

Toward the end of the House members’ discussion, Dingell offered the Republicans “something every one of us agrees on. And this is AM radio. … I want it in my car.”

The cowboy boot-wearing Williams agreed. “It’s the only one that plays my kind of music,” he said.

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Biden Administration Releases Tax Credit Guidance and Funding for EVs

The Treasury Department and the IRS on Jan. 19 released guidance on tax incentives from the Inflation Reduction Act meant to offset the cost of installing electric vehicle charging stations and other alternative refueling stations.

The IRA “has unleashed an investment and manufacturing boom in the United States unlike any we’ve seen in decades, with companies from around the world choosing to do business in America and electric vehicle sales surpassing 1 million for the first time in 2023,” Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said in prepared remarks. “Additional clarity around the law’s incentive to build new charging infrastructure in communities that need it most will help drive continued progress in 2024.”

The Alternative Fuel Vehicle Refueling Property Credit offsets 30% of the cost of a qualified alternative refueling property placed into service by the taxpayer; both individuals and businesses are eligible. The credit caps out at $1,000 for personal property and $100,000 for business property.

Taxpayers can also claim the credit through “elective pay,” meaning that governments and other tax-exempt organizations making investments in infrastructure can benefit.

The credit was expanded, but the IRA also limited it to either low-income census tracts or those that are not in urban areas.

Treasury’s notice announced an intent to propose regulations to define eligible census credits, with low-income tracts following the definition it proposed for the new markets tax credit and nonurban tracts, where at least 10% of the census blocks are outside of urban areas. The Department of Energy released a mapping tool to help taxpayers find out if their census tracts are eligible.

DOE also made two major funding announcements for clean cars last week: $131 million for the battery supply chain and innovation in plug-in cars and $46 million to improve charger reliability and for workforce development.

The biggest chunk of the $131 million is going to the United States Advanced Battery Consortium of Southfield, Mich., which is getting $60 million for advanced research and development. The research will be aimed at enhanced performance and using more common, domestic materials for batteries.

The other $71 million is being spread across 27 projects aimed at lowering battery costs, improving public transportation, increasing range and advancing EV charging systems.

DOE, the Department of Transportation and the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation are putting up the $46 million, which is going to be split by 30 projects in 16 states and D.C. The projects are meant to improve chargers, support equitable access to clean transportation and grow the clean energy workforce.

The projects support clean transit and school bus deployment, enhance charger resilience to hurricanes and wildfires, and accelerate workforce development through pre-apprenticeship programs.

DOT and DOE also announced $150 million to 24 grant recipients to upgrade almost 4,500 public charging stations, which comes from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

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NYISO Approves Update to Fast-start Pricing in Day-ahead Market

The NYISO Business Issues Committee on Jan. 17 voted to recommend that the Management Committee approve proposed tariff revisions that would provide all fast-start resources with their physical schedules for the day-ahead market (DAM) to avoid scheduling them below their minimum generation levels. 

The changes stem from FERC orders requiring NYISO to modify how it reflects and prices fast-start resources in its energy markets for more accurate representation of their contributions. (See FERC Orders Fast-start Rules for PJM, NYISO.) Although NYISO implemented the required changes, it realized that they inadvertently extended DAM eligibility to some units that are now receiving ideal schedules below their minimum generation level, potentially causing operational inefficiencies or market imbalances. (See “Enhanced Fast-Start Pricing,” NYISO OKs Changes on Hybrid, Fast Start Resources, TCCs.) 

In the DAM, the “ideal schedule” refers to a planned dispatch based on model or system predictions, whereas the physical schedule represents units’ actual operational outputs, reflecting real-time electricity production. 

Andres Flores, NYISO market design specialist, explained to the BIC that fast-start resources are divided into fixed-block and non-fixed-block units. Fixed-block units currently receive their physical schedules, but non-fixed block units are given their ideal schedule, which allows a unit’s minimum operating limit to be relaxed to zero. 

This led to a problem where some non-fixed-block units in the DAM are given ideal schedules that may result in them being scheduled below their minimum generation level. Allowing these units to receive their physical schedule in the DAM would ensure their minimum generation levels are respected. 

In response to questions, NYISO said that the proposed changes would not affect the FERC-required pricing logic adjustments already in place, nor would they require major software updates. 

Assuming approval from the MC, the revisions are expected to be filed with FERC in March. 

December Market Operations

Nicole Bouchez, NYISO’s senior principal economist, presented the December market operations report to the BIC, highlighting how the month’s average locational-based marginal price (LBMP) was $33.67/MWh, lower than November’s $34.90/MWh and significantly below December 2022’s $110.17/MWh. (See “November Market Operations,” NYISO BIC Stakeholders OK Modeling, Market Design.) 

Bouchez also noted that December’s natural gas prices also decreased, falling from $2.21/MMBtu in November to $2.11/MMBtu. That also marked an 83.7% year-over-year decrease in natural gas prices. 

She attributed the declines to the significant drop in natural gas prices, adding how this is “not surprising, given how warm our December was.” 

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Western Pathways Initiative Sets Budget, Seeks Funders

Backers of an effort to create the framework for an independent Western RTO know how much money they’ll need to get things off the ground this year. Now they’re seeking funders to help foot the bills.

“We have a budget estimate of about $570,000 to get us through the next several months,” Jim Shetler, general manager of the Balancing Authority of Northern California, said during a Jan. 19 virtual meeting of the West-Wide Governance Pathways Initiative (WWGPI).

Shetler is co-chair of the initiative’s Priority Admin Work Group, part of the Launch Committee tasked with establishing the entity.

Kathleen Staks, executive director of Western Freedom and the Launch Committee’s co-chair, said donations will help cover costs for the legal analysis the group will perform over the next few weeks, project management and the creation of a nominating committee to select the entity’s board of directors.

Staks encouraged meeting participants to contact their Pathways Initiative sector representative to arrange donations and said she was “feeling very positive” about the diverse set of commitments the group has received so far.

“I know for us an area of information that’s important is the disclosure of funding and who is funding — and the amounts,” Puget Sound Energy’s Jessica Zahnow said. “I really appreciate what you shared today about the bridge funding for the $570,000, and it sounds like that’s expected to kind of bridge for a period of months. But disclosures around that [are] really helpful as we see who’s engaged.”

Staks also told stakeholders the Pathways Initiative on Jan. 18 submitted its application to the Department of Energy to obtain $400,000 in annual funding over the next two years through an agency Funding Opportunity Announcement.

“This was the full application for the stakeholder engagement framework project proposed in the concept paper last fall,” Staks told RTO Insider in an email. (See Western RTO Group Seeking $800K in DOE Funding.)

That paper explained the need for the grants and described how they would be used, including to support “leadership, staffing, virtual meetings and administrative support”; facilitate four in-person meetings per year; and provide funding for 50 people to attend those quarterly gatherings.

Staks said the committee soon will post the proposal it submitted with the DOE application on the initiative’s landing page on the Western Interstate Energy Board website.

Definition of ‘Manage’

Speaking for the Launch Committee’s Functions and Scope Work Group, Evelyn Kahl, director of policy for Cal-CCA, told meeting participants that, after reviewing 16 law firms, the committee selected Perkins Coie to perform legal analysis for the effort.

The firm will first tackle what changes to California law would be needed to shift parts of CAISO’s governance to either the Western Energy Imbalance Market or a new regional organization. That analysis will factor in the range of Pathways Initiative governance options the committee shared with stakeholders at its meeting last month. (See Western RTO Initiative Outlines Governance Options.)

“Central” to the analysis, Kahl said, is California Public Utilities Commission Code Section 345.5 and state Corporations Code 5210, which oblige CAISO to “manage” the state’s electricity market.

“We’ll be assessing what ‘management’ means under these statutes, and in approaching the question, we’ll be looking at various aspects of governance, like the level of authority that’s granted to the WEIM, or regional organization, and whether it’s joint, primary or sole jurisdiction relative to the CAISO,” Kahl said.

“There’s a general sense that there may be changes that we can make without a change in California law to move the needle toward independent governance, but that somewhere along the spectrum, we’re going to be required to make a change to California law. So, we’re trying to figure out where is that and what kind of changes will be required,” she said.

Staks told RTO Insider the committee hopes to complete the legal analysis within the next couple of months.

“The analysis will help the Launch Committee identify the preferred structure, functions and scope of the new regional organization, including the legislative and legal steps and timing necessary to get there,” she said.

Asked whether the committee hopes to finish in time to influence the current California legislative session, Staks said the group “does not engage in any lobbying efforts in California or any other state.”

Getting It Right

During the Jan. 19 meeting, Lauren Tenney Dennison, director of market policy and grid strategy with the Public Power Council, asked whether the Launch Committee still expected to stand up an independent entity by late spring, in line with an earlier schedule.

Staks said the group still is trying to “nail down” the timeline and will not hit that target.

“I think we want to make sure we get the legal analysis done, and that is really going to help us make a more concrete decision and timeline that is associated with where we ultimately want to go with this,” Staks said.

Group members “are really committed to doing this as thoroughly and with as much input to increase our likelihood of success,” Staks said. “So, the timeline as we originally thought has shifted, but I think that’s OK.”