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Last Entry: May 06, 2009 at 11:16:00

Federal Stimulus Funding Fuels DOE Loan Guarantee Program

Posted on May 06, 2009
The American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) appropriated $6 billion to the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Title XVII Loan Guarantee Program to support loan guarantees of up to $60 billion for renewable energy and electric power transmission projects...

DOE ARRA Funds Begin Roll Out

Posted on April 17, 2009
As we enter 2Q09, entities across all sectors of the energy industry are growing anxious to see how?and when?federal agencies will open the spigot on American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) funds. For its part, the Energy Department answered in two requests for proposals...

White House OMB Clears Way for EPA's Proposed Endangerment Finding on Greenhouse Gases

Posted on April 16, 2009
The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) completed Monday its review of EPA's proposed finding under the Clean Air Act that emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) endanger public health and welfare and concluded that the so-called "endangerment finding" will not in itself significantly affect the economy...

California ISO Launches Long-Awaited New Market

Posted on April 03, 2009
After protracted delays, the California Independent System Operator (ISO) launched operations in its long-awaited, new wholesale market on April 1, 2009. The ISO touted its new "Market Redesign and Technology Upgrade" (MRTU) market as making the wholesale power grid in California "more high-tech, friendlier to diverse resources, and sending key signals for when and where to expand infrastructure...

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Amaranth Calls FERC's Bluff in Settlement Rejection

Posted on March 27, 2009
On March 16, 2009, Amaranth Advisors asked FERC to reconsider its earlier order rejecting the settlement that it had reached with the FERC Staff. As previously reported, FERC rejected the uncontested settlement agreement with a simple statement that read: ""[h]aving considered the gravity of the alleged violations, the potential remedies for those violations if proven to have occurred, and the remedies offered in the Settlement, the Commission concludes that the settlement is not in the public interest and hereby rejects it...

Stricken Retroactive California Rate Likely Dooms Comparably Assessed Midwest Charge

Posted on March 27, 2009
The writing appears to be on the wall for FERC?s contested decision to tag retroactively financial-only traders in the Midwest ISO (MISO) with past Revenue Sufficiency Guarantee (RSG) charges. The writing on the wall comes in the form of a February 27 decision of a unanimous three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit in City of Anaheim v...

FERC Joins State Regulators to Champion Smart Grid Policy

Posted on March 27, 2009
In the hopes of accelerating development of a "smart" electric transmission grid, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on March 19, 2009, proposed a policy that will favor and incentivize investments in Smart Grid technology, which FERC believes will advance the efficiency, security, reliability, and interoperability of the electrical grid...

EPA Proposes Nationwide Greenhouse Gas Reporting

Posted on March 24, 2009
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed on March 10 a comprehensive national registry of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Under authority of the Clean Air Act, the registry will require a wide range of industrial GHG sources, including upstream producers of fossil fuels and industrial gases, manufacturers, electricity generators, and producers of chemicals, cement and metals, to monitor and report their GHG emissions...

FERC-DOI Signal Truce on Dispute over Renewable Projects on OCS

Posted on March 17, 2009
The US Department of the Interior (DOI) and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) announced an agreement in principal to resolve a longstanding inter-agency dispute over jurisdiction to regulate hydrokinetic power generation on the outer continental shelf (OCS)...

To Spur Investment in Transmission Lines, New FERC Policy Allows Merchant Transmission Developers to Pre-Subscribe "Anchor" Customers

Posted on February 24, 2009
In a policy shift intended to encourage the development of transmission lines for renewable power, on February 19, FERC issued an order allowing merchant transmission developers to set aside a portion of new lines' capacity for so-called "anchor" customers for an initial term of 25 years...

FERC Not Empowered to Overrule a State Denial of an Application to Site and Construct Electric Transmission

Posted on February 20, 2009
Congress did not in the Energy Policy Act (EPAct) of 2005 confer on FERC federal "backstop" authority to overrule timely state decisions denying applications to site and construct proposed interstate transmission lines, a divided (2-1) panel of a U.S...

FERC Rejects Amaranth Settlement

Posted on February 17, 2009
FERC issued an order February 12 denying approval of an uncontested settlement agreement negotiated between FERC Enforcement Staff and trader Amaranth Advisors. The settlement agreement was filed November 24 of last year and intended to resolve all the issues arising from the FERC's July 26 order demanding that Amaranth show cause why it should not be required to disgorge nearly $300 million allegedly garnered from market manipulation...

Despite Downturn, States Press Ahead with Renewable and Greenhouse Gas Initiatives

Posted on February 13, 2009
Despite the economic crash, a number of states are continuing to push ahead with various renewable energy and climate change initiatives. In the waning days of his tenure, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich signed the nation's first law authorizing the development of new clean coal facilities and mandating carbon sequestration in connection with electric generation...

Texas Commission Divvies Up Wind Power Transmission Development Rights

Posted on February 06, 2009
The Texas PUC finalized its proceeding to award development rights for the construction of as many as 2,900 miles of new transmission lines to carry wind-generated power. Wind resources are being developed primarily in western Texas, remote from urban centers in the rest of the state...

New FERC Acting Chairman ? Supporting the President's Green Energy Reforms

Posted on February 03, 2009
Consumer advocates and LNG opponents may take comfort in the recent appointment of Commission Jon Wellinghoff as the new acting FERC Chairman. As a Commissioner he has distinguished himself through a spate of dissents opposing rate incentives for transmission developers and opposing LNG projects, notably the Sparrow's Point and the Bradwood Landing projects...

Oregon Challenge to Conditional Licensing Could Have Broad Impacts for Project Developers

Posted on February 02, 2009
On January 27, the Oregon Attorney General (AG) filed a petition for review in the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit challenging FERC's conditional approval of the proposed Bradwood Landing LNG facility. Although briefs have not yet been filed, it appears that this appeal will present an issue of first impression concerning FERC's conditional licensing of projects that have not yet completed all necessary environmental reviews...

FERC Successfully Defends "Hybrid" Transitional Markets in New England

Posted on January 27, 2009
In a big win for FERC and supporters of electricity markets, on January 23, the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit rejected Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal's challenge to New England's market design. The Attorney General and a group of New England industrial customers challenged FERC's decisions approving a temporary "hybrid" market design in New England, under which generators are compensated for sales into the market on different bases?some at regulated cost-based rates and others at market prices...

Interstate Air Pollution Rule Granted Temporary Stay of Execution

Posted on January 05, 2009
In the waning days of 2008 a three-judge panel of the US appeals court ended months of uncertainty surrounding the regulation of power plant emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and oxides of nitrogen (NOx) when it ruled that the EPA?s Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) could remain in effect until the Agency develops a lawful alternative...

How to Regulate Emissions of Greenhouse Gases?

Posted on January 02, 2009
In a policy memorandum that the Obama administration will likely revisit, current EPA administrator Stephen Johnson announced December 18 that Clean Air Act (CAA) operating permits for new or modified power generating plants need not be conditioned on the developer implementing best available control technology (BACT) to reduce plant emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gasses that cause climate change...

Court Rules EPA Cannot Relax Strict Controls on Hazardous Air Emissions During Start-up, Shut-down and Malfunction

Posted on December 22, 2008
PIn a December 19 a href="http://energylegalblog.com/files/03-1219 Sierra Club v. EPA.pdf"decision/A of potentially broad applicability to fossil fuel-fired electric generators, a divided (2-1) panel of the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit ruled that the A href="http://www...

FERC Approves First Hydrokinetic Installation at Existing Hydro Project

Posted on December 16, 2008
In a December 13 order, FERC approved a hydrokinetic generator that City of Hastings, Minnesota proposes to install by April 2009 in the Mississippi River. Hydrokinetic projects generate electricity from waves or from the flow of water. Hastings proposed to suspend two 35-kW hydrokinetic from a floating barge in the tailrace of its existing 4...

FERC to Be Less Generous with Incentive Rates for Transmission Projects

Posted on December 05, 2008
At a time when investment wells are bone dry and credit unavailable, FERC ironically seems to have reversed earlier policies that liberally extended economic incentives to new transmission projects under FPA section 219 and Order No. 679. In a December 4, 2008 order, FERC denied Commonwealth Edison's (ComEd) petition asking the agency to declare that 22 transmission projects are eligible for rate incentives, even though each project had been approved in the PJM Interconnection's regional transmission expansion plan (RTEP) process...

Deseret Decision Regarding CO2 Avoids the Key Question and Creates Significant Uncertainty

Posted on November 21, 2008
In a noteworthy Clean Air Act decision in the wake of Massachusetts v. EPA, 549 U.S. 497 (2007), the Environmental Appeals Board (EAB) avoided the key question of whether carbon dioxide (CO2) is currently "subject to regulation" under the Clean Air Act (Act)...

Recent FERC Enforcement Efforts Reported

Posted on November 17, 2008
FERC's Office of Enforcement on November 6 released its "2008 Report on Enforcement," an annual report detailing FERC's enforcement program during the preceding fiscal year ending September 30. This report provides a statistical analysis of FERC's enforcement activities, including receipts of company self-reports and investigations opened by FERC staff...

Better Markets Through Demand Response, Forward Contracting and Accountability

Posted on October 27, 2008
FERC issued a final rule October 17 to strengthen competition in organized wholesale electric markets. The rule (generally consistent with the proposed rule FERC issued last February) seeks to improve wholesale markets by establishing a more forceful role for demand response and long-term contracts in organized markets, strengthening market monitoring, and improving the responsiveness of regional transmission organizations' (RTO) and independent system operators' (ISO) to their customers...

Fate of Ocean Power Projects Requires FERC and Interior Cooperation

Posted on October 22, 2008
Jurisdictional jockeying between FERC and the Department of Interior threatens development of Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) ocean power projects. The issue calls out for agency cooperation and possibly an interagency agreement similar to that between FERC and the U...

Employee Function Replaces Corporate Separation as Cornerstone of FERC's New Standards of Conduct

Posted on October 21, 2008
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission adopted revised Standards of Conduct (Standards of Conduct) for Transmission Providers ? both natural gas pipelines and electric transmission systems ? in its October 16 Order No. 717. The single largest change from earlier SC is replacement of corporate separation requirement adopted in 2003 with an ?employee functional approach? that dates back to the original 1988 natural gas Standards of Conduct and the 1996 electric transmission Standards of Conduct...

Boucher-Dingell Bill Would Have FERC Run Cap-and-Trade Carbon Market

Posted on October 21, 2008
If the "discussion draft" carbon cap-and-trade bill recently released by Congressmen John Dingell (D-MI) and Rick Boucher (D-VA) becomes law, then FERC would run the carbon market. Within FERC, the bill would create a new Office of Carbon Market Oversight possessing jurisdiction over brokers, dealers and certain others involved in carbon trading...

FERC Issues Policy Statement on Compliance

Posted on October 21, 2008
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) revised its Policy Statement on Compliance October 16. The revision posits four factors FERC will take into account when considering whether to reduce or eliminate civil penalties for violations: (1) The role of senior management in fostering compliance; (2) Effective preventative measures to ensure compliance; (3) Prompt detection, cessation, and reporting of violations; and (4) Remediation efforts...

Energy Beneficiaries of Economic Stimulus Package

Posted on October 13, 2008
The Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008 embedded in the economic stimulus legislation (H.R. 1424) that President Bush signed into law on October 3, 2008, provides nearly $17 billion in various tax credits to promote clean power generation technologies, alternative fuels, renewable energy and energy efficiency...

GAO Report Urges FERC to Be More Specific on Costs, Benefits of RTO Membership

Posted on October 09, 2008
The Government Accounting Office (GAO) issued a report to Congress on September 26 urging FERC to take additional steps to analyze the benefits and performance of the Regional Transmission Organizations (RTOs) that manage regional transmission grids. FERC's development of RTOs has been controversial from the beginning, with many arguing that they ultimately increase electricity prices...

Demand ?Very Strong? in Nation's First Carbon Allowance Auction

Posted on October 03, 2008
Despite the market turmoil and liquidity concerns on Wall Street in recent weeks, the nation's first government-run auction of carbon dioxide emissions allowances met with "very strong demand," according to the coalition of ten states, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiate (RGGI), that is implementing a mandatory carbon dioxide cap-and-trade program in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic United States...

PJM?s RPM Dodges Buyers' Bullets However Well Aimed

Posted on September 23, 2008
FERC stopped a rebellion of PJM Interconnection power buyers in a September 19 order that rejected their complaint against PJM's reliability pricing model (RPM) capacity obligation and auction. A motley crew of buyers and their representatives ? coops, state commissions, the Department of Defense and other federal agencies, industrial and consumer advocates ? had argued that recent phase-in auctions of capacity through the 2009-2010 delivery period occurred in a non-competitive market and produced unjust and unreasonable prices for that capacity...

FERC Seeks Industry Input on Uniform Definition of "Affiliate"

Posted on September 08, 2008
Seeking to clear up an apparent inconsistency in the definition of an "affiliate" in its regulations, on August 29 FERC issued an order asking for the industry's input on a uniform definition of "affiliate" for purposes of the agency'smarket-based rate program...

FERC Revisits Who in PJM Is Going to Pay for Transmission Upgrades

Posted on September 03, 2008
FERC conditionally approved a contested settlement on the allocation of transmission owner costs for projects approved through the regional transmission expansion plan (RTEP) of PJM Interconnection, LLC. The settlement directs how PJM will allocate the transmission owners? costs of RTEP upgrades that operate below 500 kV among PJM members through a "beneficiary pays" approach...

FERC Authorizes NYISO to Halt Circuitous Scheduling Around Lake Erie

Posted on August 27, 2008
On August 21, FERC issued an order accepting the New York ISO's (NYISO) emergency revisions to its tariff to prohibit certain scheduling practices around Lake Erie. In its order, FERC approved the NYISO's use of temporary action to reduce unscheduled power flows and directed that NYISO continue to work with market participants, neighboring ISOs, and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) to develop longer-term solutions...

PG&E Announces Plans to Buy 800 MW of Solar Power

Posted on August 19, 2008
One of the largest utilities in California, Pacific Gas and Electric Company ("PG&E"), has signed two contracts to purchase up to 800 MW of power from two new solar plants that will be constructed by photovoltaic (PV) systems manufacturers, OptiSolar, Inc...

Texas Commission Selects Plan to Deliver Wind Power from Competitive Renewable Energy Zones

Posted on July 28, 2008
The Texas Public Utility Commission (PUCT) recently selected one of the four transmission scenarios that the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) proposed for bringing a total of 18,456 MW of wind power from West Texas and the Texas Panhandle...

CAIR Court Throws Eastern Utility Markets into Financial Tail-Spin

Posted on July 28, 2008
A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit in a July 11 order threw eastern power markets into financial chaos by vacating the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR). (North Carolina v. EPA, No. 05-1244...

NYISO Asks FERC for Authority to Control Congestion and Loop Flow Around Lake Erie

Posted on July 24, 2008
Assailed by sharp increases in transmission congestion and loop flow in its Lake Erie region, New York's Independent System Operator (NYISO) in a July 21st emergency filing asked FERC to approve tariff revisions to prohibit scheduling on commonly used ? but not the most direct ? paths for wheeling power around Lake Erie between NYISO and neighboring RTOs...

British Columbia Launches North America's First Carbon Tax

Posted on July 11, 2008
On July 1, the British Columbia government implemented a consumer-based carbon tax on fossil fuels. The revenue neutral tax is the first of its kind in North America, and applies to all fossil fuels, including gasoline, diesel, natural gas, coal, propane, and home heating oil...

Severity Levels to Determine Penalties for Violating NERC Reliability Standards

Posted on July 10, 2008
In a June 19 order FERC approved with minor exceptions the Severity Levels that the North American Electric Reliability Corporation has proposed for violating requirements of its reliability standards. In an earlier order FERC requested NERC expedite development of Severity Levels to be used in setting penalties for reliability standard violations...

NYISO's Plan to Integrate Wind Power Wins FERC Approval

Posted on July 09, 2008
FERC issued an order June 17 approving the New York Independent System Operator's (NYISO) proposed tariff revisions intended to accommodate wind generating resources in its day-ahead and real-time energy markets. One revision increases the amount of intermittent renewable capacity eligible for special market rules from 1,000 MW to 3,300 MW; in effect, this would increase the amount of intermittent renewable resources eligible for an exemption from persistent under-generation charges...

WestConnect Utilities Experiment to Eliminate Rate Pancaking in Southwest

Posted on June 30, 2008
Eight WestConnect utilities, including Arizona Public Service Company, El Paso Electric, Nevada Power, Public Service Company of Colorado, Public Service Company of New Mexico, Southwest Transmission Cooperative, Tri-State, Tucson Electric Power, and WAPA, petitioned FERC on June 10 for guidance on a proposed two-year experimental transmission pricing initiative that would eliminate rate pancaking in the Southwest...

Divided Supreme Court Stirs Ashes of the 2000-01 California Energy Market Conflagration

Posted on June 28, 2008
A divided US Supreme Court in June 26 opinions argued over the meaning and existence of the eponymously named, half-century-old Mobile-Sierra doctrine. Morgan Stanley Capital Group, Inc. v. Public Utility District No. 1 of Snohomish County ruled on consolidated buyer challenges to the prices in long-term wholesale energy contracts entered during the 2000-01 western energy market meltdown...

Wisconsin Power & Light Offers Emission-Saving Goodies to Make New Coal Plant Proposal Palatable

Posted on June 25, 2008
In an effort to counter opponents of its proposal to expand an existing coal-fired generating station by 300 MW, Wisconsin Power & Light (WP&L) has offered to take several steps to offset the increased greenhouse-gas emissions that would result from the expanded plant's operation...

ERCOT Imposes New Price Controls

Posted on June 23, 2008
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) reduced its shadow price cap from $5,600 to $5,000/MWh and collared the market-clearing price for energy (MCPE) between a cap of $2,250/MWh and an floor of -$1,000/MWh. These price controls, which took effect on June 18, 2008, are designed to prevent the MCPE from rising above the current offer cap for balancing energy services of $2,250/MWh...

Michigan Legislators Consider State RPS, Rolling Back Electric Choice

Posted on June 23, 2008
The Michigan Legislature currently is considering legislation that would enact a renewable portfolio standard (RPS) and that would limit electric choice in the state. At issue are three bills that have been passed by the state's House of Representatives and are now under Senate consideration...

San Francisco to Fund Nation's Largest Municipal Solar Program

Posted on June 20, 2008
The City and County of San Francisco Board of Supervisors on June 10, 2008, approved a program that will create a fund to provide rebates for residents and businesses that install solar power systems. Under the Solar Energy Incentive Program, the nation's largest municipal solar program, residents could receive between $3,000 and $6,000 for photovoltaic systems...

Amaranth Court Explicates Elements of Attempted Price Manipulation under Commodity Exchange Act

Posted on June 13, 2008
In a May 21 opinion US District Court Judge Denny Chin denied defendants Amaranth Advisors' and natural gas trader Brian Hunter?s motion to dismiss the Commodity Futures Exchange Commission?s (CFTC) complaint against them alleging attempted price manipulation in violation of �13(a)(2) of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA)...

First NERC Penalty Notices Suggest Focus on Enforcement

Posted on June 06, 2008
On June 4, 2008, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation made its first public announcement of its Notices of Penalty when it filed at FERC the first batch of proposed penalties for reliability standard violations. Most Notices of Penalty filed with FERC were for a zero penalty amount, however, Baltimore Gas & Electric and MidAmerican Energy Company received penalties of $180,000 and $75,000, respectively, for violations of the Transmission Vegetation Management Standard, FAC-003-1...

DOE Belatedly Files License Application with the NRC to Approve the Yucca Mountain Spent Nuclear Fuel Repository

Posted on June 05, 2008
On June 3, 2008, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) finally submitted its initial license application to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) seeking construction authorization pursuant to 10 C.F.R. � 63.31 for a high-level radioactive waste repository at a geologic repository operations area at Yucca Mountain in Nye County, Nevada...

FERC Augments, Revamps Enforcement Guidance and Procedures

Posted on May 20, 2008
FERC has taken several steps to clarify its policies for conducting enforcement investigations, carrying out its authority to impose penalties on violators, and broadening the scope of issues to be covered by its ex parte rules and no-action letter procedures...

FERC Mostly Affirms Market-Based Rate Program

Posted on May 02, 2008
On April 21, FERC issued an order generally affirming its market-based rate program, promulgated last June in Order No. 697. FERC left many of its prior determinations in place, including much of the analysis sellers must provide in order to receive or maintain authority to sell electric energy, capacity, and/or ancillary services at market-based rates...

Bonneville Holding Transmission Open Season to Speed Interconnections

Posted on April 22, 2008
Transmission providers and customers alike are increasingly complaining about the lengthy queues for interconnecting to the transmission grid. Scores of generator projects sign up for interconnection service, which is then delayed for years while the transmission provider conducts an array of studies...

ERCOT Identifies Scenarios for Texas Wind Transmission

Posted on April 21, 2008
Texas Senate Bill 20 (2005) directed the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT), in consultation with the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and the Southwest Power Pool (SPP), to designate Competitive Renewable Energy Zones (CREZ) and develop transmission plans for areas in Texas with significant renewable resource potential and developer commitment to facilitate new electricity generation from renewable resources...

Too Much Adieu about Mobile-Sierra?

Posted on April 11, 2008
Did a panel of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit bid adieu to the half century-old Mobile Sierra doctrine on contract stability when it otherwise affirmed the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's approval of a multi-party settlement that phases in a Forward Capacity Market in New England? Notwithstanding alarms to the contrary, it did not...

FERC Blesses Midwest ISO Plan for Resource Adequacy

Posted on March 31, 2008
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has conditionally accepted a Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator (Midwest ISO) plan for ensuring long-term resource adequacy in the RTO?s 15-state territory. Most other RTOs and ISOs have spent years grappling with how to ensure sufficient capacity is available to meet peak demand, and contentious FERC proceedings have led to different market models in NYISO, PJM, and ISO-NE...

Standards of Conduct Proposal Retreats from Structural to Functional Separation

Posted on March 28, 2008
A recent FERC Standard of Conduct rulemaking proposal retreats from its Order 2004 expansion of the standards of conduct, expressly finding that expansion too complex and unworkable. FERC proposes a return to its 1990s vintage functional separation model of Order 497 (natural gas) and Order 889 (electric power), eliminating both Order 2004's concept of "Energy Affiliates" and its emphasis on corporate separation...

ERCOT blames inaccurate wind predictions for February emergency event

Posted on March 26, 2008
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) recently released its Operations Report to explain why it was forced to cut electric supply to interruptible customers on February 26, 2008. The emergency event was caused largely by the convergence of the normal rapid load growth that occurs around 6:00 p...

DC Circuit Orders Immediate Tightening of Mercury Control Rules

Posted on March 25, 2008
On March 21, a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit made clear that its February 8, 2008 order mandating a return to tighter mercury control rules on coal-fired power plants must go into effect immediately...

CAISO Says It Will Announce MRTU Start in July

Posted on March 14, 2008
It is still unclear when the California Independent System Operator's long-awaited Market Redesign and Technology Upgrade (MRTU) will take effect, but the CAISO recently suggested it will announce the startup date in July 2008. Ever since the California energy crisis, the CAISO has worked on designing and implementing a new wholesale power market with features such as locational marginal pricing, financial transmission rights (called congestion revenue rights), and a day-ahead market energy market...

FERC Proposes Sundry Changes to Organized Power Market Rules

Posted on March 07, 2008
In a new rulemaking, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has resisted pressure from various groups to examine the foundations of organized wholesale power markets administered by RTOs and ISOs, and instead proposes various tweaks to the rules in these markets...

Southern California Edison Asks FERC to Step into Arizona Transmission Siting Dispute

Posted on March 06, 2008
In the first test of the "backstop" transmission siting authority given to FERC in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct 2005), Southern California Edison (SCE) recently discussed with FERC staff the siting of a 230-mile, 500 kV transmission line from the Palo Verde nuclear plant near Phoenix, Arizona to Devers, California, near Palm Springs (known as the Palo Verde-Devers II Line)...

FERC Takes Action to Prevent Cross-Subsidization between Affiliates

Posted on March 04, 2008
FERC continues to tweak its rules regarding mergers and acquisitions under section 203 of the Federal Power Act (FPA), issuing new regulations that impose restrictions on affiliate transactions between certain public utilities and their unregulated affiliates...

FERC Orders Review of Sellers Using WSPP Agreement Demand Charge in Markets where They Lack Market-Based Rate Authority

Posted on February 28, 2008
Last week, following an investigation under Federal Power Act section 206, FERC issued an order finding it is unjust and unreasonable to allow power sellers to keep using the WSPP-wide "up to" demand charge as a ceiling rate in markets where the seller does not have market-based rate authority, unless the seller can justify that rate based on its own costs...

Department of Energy Pulls Plug on FutureGen Program

Posted on February 05, 2008
The Department of Energy has cancelled the FutureGen project in which the DOE and a coalition of energy industry companies would have constructed a nearly emissions-free, coal-fired generator. The futuristic project involved carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) underground as part of an integrated gasification combined cycle 275 MW plant producing both electric power and hydrogen...

FERC Allows Duquesne to Exit PJM, but with Conditions

Posted on January 29, 2008
FERC on January 17 conditionally approved Duquesne Light's request to withdraw from the PJM Interconnection and join the Midwest Independent System Operator. Last November, Duquesne filed an application with FERC seeking approval to leave PJM over rising capacity costs as a result of PJM's new forward capacity market...

Maryland Energy Administration Calls for Efficiency and More Local Generation

Posted on January 17, 2008
The Maryland Energy Administration (MEA) released its Strategic Electricity Plan on January 14 in an effort to help customers lower their energy bills. The plan, focused on conservation, efficiency and local new generation, also came in response to Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley's recent warning that the state could face serious power shortages in the near future...

New Reliability Standards for Cyber Security and Facilities Design Adopted for North American Grid

Posted on January 17, 2008
FERC in a January 17 order approved eight new Reliability Standards developed by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) regarding Cyber Security (CIP). These approvals come on the heels of FERC's approval last month of three new standards relating to Facilities Design, Connections and Maintenance (FAC)...

Revised Contents of Sellers' Market-Based Rate Tariffs Clarified

Posted on January 15, 2008
In a late December order addressing National Grid USA's proposed revision to its market-based rate (MBR) tariff in compliance with last summer's Order No. 697, FERC clarified several aspects of that order. First, FERC reminded MBR power wholesalers that they must specify in their tariffs any limitations on or exemptions to their MBR authority...

Federal Trade Commission Examines Green Marketing and Carbon Offset Markets

Posted on January 14, 2008
With increased concern about climate change, but limited government action, voluntary carbon markets have bloomed in recent years. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which regulates advertising claims, is now taking a closer look at these new carbon offset markets to gauge how the money they attract is being invested...

Final Skirmishes in Enron Contract Wars Draw to Close

Posted on January 11, 2008
Resolving the last remaining claims against Enron stemming from the 2000-2001 California energy crisis, over the past week, FERC approved two settlements involving Enron: one with the Port of Seattle, Washington (Port), and the other with Public Utility District No...

FERC Tweaks Open-Access Reforms in Order No. 890-A

Posted on January 10, 2008
In late December FERC issued Order No. 890-A, clarifying and modifying the reforms it made in Order No. 890 to open-access transmission requirements originally established by Order Nos. 888 and 889 and revising the associated pro forma open access transmission tariff...

FERC Provides Clarification to Financial Houses' Utility Security Acquisition Authority

Posted on January 10, 2008
Following up on its grant last fall of extensions of blanket authorization to Goldman Sachs (Goldman) and two other financial houses to acquire securities of electric utilities without prior FERC authorization, FERC has now responded to a Goldman request for clarification regarding this new authority...

Incentive Rates to Support Transmission from Midwest Wind Projects

Posted on December 31, 2007
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) granted Xcel Energy Services, Inc.?s request for incentive transmission rates as part of Xcel?s plan for a $1 billion upgrade of its transmission grid inside the territory of the Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator (Midwest ISO)...

FERC Rules to Promote Transparency in Natural Gas Markets

Posted on December 27, 2007
On December 21 the FERC adopted a Final Rule that establishes an annual reporting requirement designed, as Chairman Kelliher said, "to boost our efforts to carry out Congress? mandate [in the Energy Policy Act of 2005] to protect consumers by protecting the integrity of the markets for physical [natural] gas...

First Hydrokinetic Energy Project Conditionally Approved

Posted on December 27, 2007
On December 21, the Finavera Renewables Ocean Energy, Ltd conditionally secured a FERC license for its hydrokinetic power project located 1.9 nautical miles offshore Washington State. The 5-year license to the Makah Bay Offshore Wave Pilot Project is designed "to demonstrate the economic and environmental benefits of wave energy conversion power plants near coastal communities...

Senate Joins House in Passing Measures to Expand CFTC Authority over Energy Markets

Posted on December 21, 2007
The U.S. Senate reauthorized the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) in a farm bill, strengthening the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's (CFTC) authority over energy (and other commodity) trading platforms such as the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) that are currently "exempt commercial markets...

No Free Pass for Absconding Duquesne Light, Say PJM and Capacity Suppliers

Posted on December 21, 2007
In December 4, 2007 pleadings to FERC, PJM Interconnection and several PJM member utilities and power suppliers did not oppose Duquesne Light's right to exit PJM?s organized market, but did ask the agency to impose conditions on Duquesne?s withdrawal...

No Common Denominator on Capacity Markets

Posted on December 10, 2007
While organized energy market operators generally agree on locational marginal pricing (LMP) as the basic framework for valuing energy, no similar consensus attends capacity markets. The New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) presently is retooling its capacity market for New York City in response to a FERC order, and the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) continues to wring its hands over the issue of capacity markets...

Live from Platts Global Energy Awards: Interviews with industry leaders

Posted on December 07, 2007
New York City welcomed leaders from more than a dozen sectors within the global energy industry at the 2007 Platt?s Global Energy Awards, held last Thursday at Cipriani Wall Street. Platt?s Global Energy Awards annually recognize the highest achievements in the industry...

Competing FERC and CFTC Jurisdictional Claims Are Court Bound

Posted on December 05, 2007
FERC in a November 30 order refused to reconsider its July 26 decision to impose $291 million in civil penalties against Amaranth Advisors (Amaranth) for gaming the natural gas futures market and manipulating the price of natural gas. FERC upheld its own jurisdiction to impose penalties on Amaranth, rejecting the Commodities Futures Trading Commission's (CFTC) insistence that it alone has jurisdiction over manipulation of gas futures contracts...

FERC, Industry Exchange Views on Enforcement

Posted on November 29, 2007
Two years after Congress granted FERC enhanced enforcement authority in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and FERC issued its Policy Statement on Enforcement, and following the first year in which FERC has acted on this authority, FERC this month held a technical conference to discuss how it is implementing its new authority...

Parties Submit Joint Settlement of Pacific Intertie Dispute

Posted on November 28, 2007
On November 21, PacifiCorp, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), the California Independent System Operator (CAISO), and several others proposed to FERC an uncontested settlement that would resolve disputes over a 94-mile segment of the Pacific AC Intertie (PACI) transmission line between Oregon and northern California...