Pilot Project Tests Potential Of Solar Energy For Grand Island, Neb.
July 23, 2020
by Taelor Bentley
APPA News
Posted July 23, 2020
A solar panel array built in 2018 is a part of a pilot project in Grand Island, Neb., which is testing the potential of solar as a source of energy for Grand Island.
The intent is to get operational data on projects and give the City of Grand Island Utilities Department hands-on information on how it might interact with their system.
Grand Island solicited proposals for renewable energy projects in the summer of 2016, with a 50-megawatt wind project being the primary goal, noted Tim Luchsinger, Utilities Director, in an email. A contract was awarded to Sempra Renewables in January 2017. That project has since been assigned to AEP Energy Partners.
The solar project size and term were based on iterations during the contract negotiations, “which enabled a price point that we were comfortable to propose to our city administration and council,” Luchsinger noted.
The solar project is connected to an adjacent substation through a dedicated 13.8 kV feeder breaker. This arrangement minimizes possible system effects on customers and allows the project output to be recorded through the substation Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA).
The supplier provides additional information through a web portal that includes forecasted versus actual generation along with inverter performance.
The project represents a 25-year commitment by the city at no cost. The solar farm is owned by private investors who sell the city the power it produces. The solar panels generate 1-MW, producing about 1% of the city’s load when it’s at full operation.
Luchsinger said that Grand Island anticipates that this project will be considered for a future storage arrangement, “but we don’t have a set plan at this time as the current pandemic situation has affected our immediate and short term future outlooks.”
Additional information about the City of Grand Island’s renewable energy supplies is available here.
DOE Issues RFI Seeking Input On Its Draft Energy Storage Roadmap
July 22, 2020
by Peter Maloney
APPA News
Posted July 22, 2020
The Department of Energy on July 14 released a Request for Information (RFI) seeking stakeholder input for its energy storage roadmap.
In January, the DOE released its Energy Storage Grand Challenge Draft Roadmap, which aims to accelerate the development, commercialization, and utilization of next-generation energy storage devices.
The goal of the program is by 2030 to create and sustain U.S. leadership in energy storage utilization and exports, with a secure domestic manufacturing base and supply chain that is independent of foreign sources of critical materials.
The draft roadmap provides planned activities for each of the five tracks:
* The technology development track will focus DOE’s ongoing and future energy storage research and development around user goals and leadership;
* The manufacturing and supply chain track will develop technologies and strategies for U.S. manufacturing;
* The technology transition track will work to ensure that DOE’s R&D transitions to domestic markets through field validation, public private partnerships, bankable business model development, and the dissemination of high quality market data;
* The policy and valuation track will provide data, tools, and analysis to support policy decisions and maximize the value of energy storage; and
* The workforce development track will educate the workforce, who can then research develop, design, manufacture, and operate energy storage systems.
The DOE says that between fiscal years 2017 and 2019, it has invested over $1.2 billion into energy storage research and development, or $400 million per year, on average establishing a long-term strategy to address energy storage.
The draft roadmap also identifies six use cases that will be translated into a set of technology neutral functional requirements. The use case topics include facilitating an evolving grid, serving remote communities, electrified mobility, interdependent network infrastructure, critical services, and facility flexibility, efficiency and value enhancement.
The DOE intends to use those categories to help identify new and augmented research and development paths for a portfolio of energy storage and flexibility technologies that meet emerging needs.
The draft roadmap focuses on three key challenges that it is applying to each of the five tracks:
* Innovate Here – How can the DOE enable the United States to lead in energy storage R&D and retain intellectual property developed through DOE investment in the United States?
* Make Here – How can the DOE work to lower the cost and energy impact of manufacturing existing technologies, and strengthen domestic supply chains by reducing dependence on foreign sources of materials and components?
* Deploy Everywhere – How can the DOE work with relevant stakeholders to develop technologies that meet domestic usage needs and enable the United States to successfully deploy technologies in domestic markets, as well as export technologies?
Responses to this RFI are due Aug. 21. Interested stakeholders can view the draft roadmap and the RFI on the ESGC website.
Oregon Public Power Utility Gets OK To Monetize Clean Fuel Credits
July 22, 2020
by Peter Maloney
APPA News
Posted July 22, 2020
The Ashland, Oregon, city council has approved the monetization of clean fuel credits accrued by Ashland Municipal Electric Utility.
As of June 2020, the public power utility had 2,876 clean fuel credits. If monetized at the last published price of $120 per credit, the sale would yield $345,120 for Ashland Electric.
The City of Ashland, through its Electric Utility, participates in the Oregon Clean Fuels program, which aims to reduce the CO2 intensity of Oregon’s transportation fuels over time.
The city’s initial goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions on average by 8% every year from a 2015 baseline until 2050. The city also aims to reach carbon dioxide neutrality in its operations by 2030 and to reduce its fossil fuel consumption 50% by 2030 and 100% by 2050.
The clean fuel program was authorized in 2009 when the state legislature passed HB 2186, which set up the Environmental Quality Commission (EQC) to adopt a low CO2 fuel standard to reduce the CO2 intensity of the state’s transportation sector. Currently, the program aims to reduce the average CO2 intensity of transportation fuels used in Oregon by at least 10% below 2015 levels by 2025.
The clean fuel program was implemented in 2016. Ashland Electric began participating in the program in 2018 and began generating credits “in earnest starting 2019,” Stu Green, climate and energy analyst for the utility, said via email. In 2020, the credits the utility accrued became available for sale.
Credits generated through the program may be bought and sold using an online exchange hosted by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality.
Ashland Municipal Electric Utility receives clean fuel credits based on the operation of city owned electric vehicle charging stations and the registration of electric vehicles within the utility’s territory. Electric vehicle registrations generate about 98% of utility’s clean fuel credits. Ashland ratepayers are more than five times as likely to drive an electric vehicle than the Oregon average, Green said.
With city council authorization to monetize its clean fuel credits in hand, Ashland Electric now has to submit a budget amendment to appropriate the funds. “There is a solid argument to be made that the funds should be reinvested in clean fuels projects, primarily electrification of fossil fuels,” Green said. Those types of projects will “decrease emissions, move us closer to our climate goals, provide benefits to ratepayers, increase utility sales, and benefit our general fund through an electric utility tax.” The city council could choose to use the funds to cover shortfalls, but “that is not the course of action that I recommend,” he said.
“I would like to see the funds stay in Electric and be used to incentivize more EV purchases, both for utility sales and to perpetuate the income from the clean fuel credits,” said Ashland Electric Director Tom McBartlett.
In the past, Ashland Electric offered incentives for new and used electric vehicles and for charging stations, but the funding pool was “quite small and ran out quickly,” Green said.
The utility still offers an electric vehicle charger incentive, but it is for commercial customers only. “The incentive program I am cooking up would be more generous and targeted at new/used vehicles less than $30,000,” Green said. “The clean fuel revenue is a critical part of getting the new incentives going.”
CISA Tabletop Exercise Package Assists With Pandemic Recovery And Continuity Planning
July 22, 2020
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
Posted July 22, 2020
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has developed a COVID-19 Recovery CISA Tabletop Exercise Package (CTEP) to assist private sector stakeholders and critical infrastructure owners and operators in assessing short-term, intermediate, and long-term recovery and business continuity plans related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The CTEP also provides organizations with the opportunity to discuss how ongoing recovery efforts would be impacted by concurrent response operations to a potential “second wave” of global pandemic infections.
CISA notes that its tabletop exercise packages are designed and developed to provide a customizable virtual exercise for critical infrastructure and private sector partners to review their emergency plans for a multitude of different scenarios.
CTEPs are intended to assist organizations in developing their own tabletop exercises to tailor meet their specific needs, from planning to execution.
CISA’s CTEPs allow users to leverage pre-built exercise templates with realistic scenarios, to build tabletop exercises to assess, develop, and update information sharing processes, emergency plans, programs, policies, and procedures.
The COVID-19 Recovery CTEP includes instructions and templates to help users conduct an exercise within an organization that follows Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program guidance including a Situation Manual.
The manual includes scope, objectives, core capabilities, exercise agenda, the scenario, and discussion questions. It can be tailored by an organization to meet specific needs and objectives.
Additional information about the COVID-19 Recovery CTEP is available here.
Court Again Turns Down Trump’s Challenge of California’s Cap-And-Trade Program
July 21, 2020
by APPA News
Posted July 21, 2020
A federal court on Friday ruled against the Trump administration’s attempts to block California’s greenhouse gas emissions trading program.
It was the second setback for the administration’s efforts to limit California’s cap-and trade program.
In October, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a civil complaint against California in United States District Court for the Eastern District of California, arguing that the state’s cap-and-trade agreement with the Canadian Province of Quebec is unconstitutional.
The DOJ sought a permanent injunction against the agreement.
The California legislature passed the California Global Warming Solutions Act in 2006, The California Air Resources Board (CARB) finished the regulation to implement a cap-and-trade program in October 2011. The law included a “framework for linkage” to accept the compliance instruments of other states and provinces.
In 2016, the United States entered into the Paris Agreement of 2015. 2017, President Donald Trump announced the United States would withdraw from the Paris Accord and negotiate a new deal. The United States’ withdrawal from the Paris Accord will be complete on Nov. 4, 2020.
Meanwhile, California linked its cap-and-trad program with those of Quebec and Ontario in January 2018, although the relationship with Ontario ended shortly thereafter.
In the October filing, the DOJ argued that California’s agreement with Quebec was unconstitutional because it was in violation of the Commerce and Treaty clauses and the Foreign Affairs Doctrine.
In March, the district court denied DOJ’s attempt to shut down California’s emissions program on the basis that it violated the Commerce and Treaty clauses. The court left for a subsequent hearing the claims made under the Foreign Affairs Doctrine.
The DOJ complaint cites the supremacy of the president’s authority to conduct foreign affairs as granted by the Constitution and says the agreement between California and Quebec falls “outside the area of any traditional state interest” and interferes with the United States’ foreign policy on greenhouse gas regulation, including but not limited to its intention to withdraw from the Paris Accord.
The DOJ argued two main points. First, DOJ argued that California’s cap-and-trade program creates an obstacle to the president’s ability to implement the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change of 1992 and the Global Climate Protection Act of 1987, which aims to increase worldwide understanding of the greenhouse gas effect and to foster cooperation and coordination among nations on scientific research regarding the greenhouse effect. Second, the DOJ argued that California’s program is inconsistent with President Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Accord and should be preempted.
California responded that its program is consistent with both the Global Climate Protection Act and the 1992 Convention and that the program has little to no effect on the president’s ability to withdraw from the Paris Accord.
Citing case law, Judge William Shubb of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California ruled that without a “clear conflict between the policies adopted” by California and federally in the Global Climate Protection Act and the 1992 Convention, conflict preemption is inappropriate.
Regarding the Paris Accord argument, the DOJ argued that California’s program conflicts with Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Accord and undermines the federal government’s ability to develop a new international mitigation arrangement.
However, the district court noted that neither California nor Quebec are parties to the Paris Accord and are, therefore, incapable of authorizing the use of compliance instruments. Nor could California facilitate Canada’s participation in the Paris Accord because as of November, the United States would no longer be a party to the accord.
The DOJ also argued that the California program would “undermine the federal government’s ability to develop a new international mitigation arrangement.” And while the DOJ argued that the administration need not state and exact foreign policy, the district court ruled that “case law holds otherwise.” Both “the Supreme Court and the Ninth Circuit [Court of Appeals] have recognized conflict preemption only in the face of a clear and definite foreign policy.”
The DOJ “cites no authority for the proposition that an intent to negotiate for a ‘better deal’ at some point in the future is enough to preempt state law. Indeed, there is a clear distinction between the act of negotiation and the resulting policy,” Shubb wrote, concluding that the DOJ’s case falls short of meeting the requirements of conflict preemption and California’s program is not barred by conflict preemption.
That left the broader challenge of field preemption, which can occur in the absence of a treaty or federal statute if a state attempts to establish its own foreign policy.
While the district court acknowledged California’s authority to enact legislation to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution, the court found that California’s cap-and-trade program exceeds traditional state interests because of its expressed intent to have “far-reaching effects,” including “encouraging other … countries to act.” That, according to the district court, extends California’s cap-and-trade program beyond the area of traditional state responsibility.
On the issue of intrusion into federal government powers, however, case law holds that a state’s action “must have more than some incidental or indirect effect on foreign affairs,” Shubb wrote. He noted that the DOJ failed to offer evidence that “California’s cap-and-trade program interferes with the President’s powers” or that the program has interfered with either negotiations for a better deal or the nation’s imminent withdrawal from the Paris Accord.
In conclusion, Shubb ruled that the DOJ failed to show that California’s program impermissibly intrudes on the federal government’s foreign affairs power “because the court must find both that a state law has exceeded a traditional state responsibility and intrudes on the federal government’s foreign affairs power to be preempted.”
The court granted the California parties’ motions for summary judgment on DOJ’s field preemption claim and denied DOJ’s motion for a summary judgment.
Boulder Issues RFP For Power Supplies, Financing Tied To Possible Municipal Utility Formation
July 21, 2020
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
Posted July 21, 2020
The City of Boulder, Colo., recently issued a request for proposals that seeks power supply and innovative financing for a potential city municipal utility.
Responses to the RFP, which are due Aug. 14, will allow the city to finalize key details of the utility, the city noted.
“We are interested to see what the open market can provide to Boulder,” said Steve Catanach, who heads the city’s Local Power project. “We know there are companies eager to show Boulder they can provide high levels of renewables and meet our energy goals at reasonable costs, and I look forward to seeing their proposals.”
The RFP seeks bids that will help the city determine key details for the electric utility, including:
* The cost to purchase power from an independent power supplier;
* The amount of renewables a city-run electricity could achieve on day one of operations, and by 2030, when the city seeks to achieve 100% renewable electricity; and
* Opportunities to participate in community-scale renewable power within the city limits and Boulder County, as well as large-scale renewable projects in the region.
The city is also seeking innovative financing mechanisms to help the city complete municipalization. This could include financing for work leading up to the community vote, and/or — after voter approval — financing for start-up costs, separation costs and costs to purchase the necessary electric distribution infrastructure from investor-owned Xcel Energy.
A core focus of this phase of the city’s municipalization work is determining key details of the costs and benefits of a local electric utility prior to the community decision, the city noted.
Boulder said that the RFP released last week has long been in the Local Power work plan and builds on a 2018 request for indicative pricing that demonstrated that there are power providers that can provide a reliable electricity supply to the city while meeting the city’s energy goals at reasonable costs.
Negotiations with Xcel Energy continue in parallel with Local Power work
Meanwhile, the city’s negotiations with Xcel Energy continue in parallel to the city’s Local Power work.
An update on the negotiations and a summary of public feedback is scheduled to be provided at a city council meeting on Tuesday, July 21.
Boulder, Colo., and Xcel Energy in May initiated discussions that could lead to different options for the city to pursue other than a city-run, community owned electric utility in order to reach its energy-related goals.
Gainesville, Fla., City Commission Approves Solar Plus Storage Project
July 21, 2020
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
Posted July 21, 2020
The Gainesville, Fla., City Commission on July 16 unanimously approved a project that will bring 50 megwatts of solar power to the public power community by 2022. The project also includes 12-MW of energy storage.
Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU) previously reached an agreement to add 50 MW of solar power generation to its renewable energy portfolio through a power purchase agreement with Origis Energy.
The agreement moves the city closer to a goal of 100 percent renewable by 2045.
GRU’s current renewable resources include the Deerhaven Renewable Generating Station (103 MW), landfill gas-fueled power (3.6 MW), and Solar Feed-in-Tariff (18.5 MW).
GRU also has approximately nine MW of customer-owned and net-metered solar connected to its distribution system.
The solar facility will be located approximately two miles south of GRU’s Parker Road substation.
SMUD Board Commits To Pursuing Goal Of Delivering Carbon Neutral Power By 2030
July 20, 2020
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
Posted July 21, 2020
The Board of Directors of California public power utility SMUD recently adopted a climate emergency declaration that commits to working toward a goal of delivering carbon neutral electricity by 2030.
“The Board’s adoption of the climate emergency declaration acknowledges the ambitious steps SMUD has already undertaken and will continue to take to reduce the carbon footprint in our region, while continuing to deliver safe, reliable and affordable power,” said SMUD Board President Rob Kerth. “This resolution commits SMUD to finding reductions in the quickest way possible and investing in our most vulnerable communities.”
SMUD noted that it has a long history of environmental leadership, helping to pioneer renewable energy programs and standards.
In 2018, SMUD successfully reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent from 1990 levels, the equivalent of removing 377,000 vehicles from the road.
Furthermore, SMUD has reduced the carbon intensity of its power mix, which is now 50 percent carbon free on average. SMUD has also partnered to plant more than 500,000 shade trees throughout the Sacramento region to improve air quality, sequester carbon and reduce customer bills, it noted.
In 2018, then-California Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill that puts California on a path toward reaching 100% clean energy by 2045.
SMUD also helped grow the local market for solar development by providing $130 million in customer incentives to install solar on over 15,000 local rooftops.
IRP
SMUD adopted its most recent integrated resources plan in 2018 that set a roadmap to achieving carbon neutrality by 2040, five years ahead of the state.
The plan, approved in January 2020 by the California Energy Commission, focuses on local renewables and includes a $7 billion investment to achieve the following aggressive goals:
Nearly 2,900 megawatts (MW) of new carbon-free resources including:
* 670 MW of wind
* 1,500 MW of utility-scale solar, of which, nearly 300 MW will be built in the next 3 years
* 180 MW of geothermal
* 560 MW of utility-scale energy storage
An aggressive strategy to expand demand-side resources including:
* Nearly 600 MW of installed rooftop solar
* The equivalent of 900,000 local electric vehicles and 400,000 all-electric homes
* Nearly 200 MW of demand response programs
* Over 200 MW of customer-installed batteries
SMUD said the resolution “indicates a strong commitment to finding additional opportunities to accelerate decarbonization, and staff will work to immediately support the goals of the resolution.”
Public Power, Other Industry Officials Weigh In On COVID-19 Response At FERC Conference
July 20, 2020
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
Posted July 20, 2020
Public power leaders from the New York Power Authority, Seattle City Light and City Utilities of Springfield, Mo., were joined by a wide range of officials from other parts of the energy sector at a recent two-day technical conference held by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that examined the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the energy industry.
“The Commission has been thinking a lot about how this pandemic may affect the energy industry going forward as we recover from the economic upheaval it unleashed,” FERC Chairman Neil Chatterjee said in remarks made on July 8 at the start of the conference.
“Since March, we’ve been seeing decreased demand for electricity, gas and oil,” he noted. “We expect to see demand to rebound as we enter summer peak season, but ultimately we don’t know yet where these trends are heading and we all face uncertainty, especially as we see a resurgence of cases in various regions of the country.”
FERC Commissioner Richard Glick said that the energy sector “has risen up to the challenge” of the pandemic, “keeping the air conditioning running, keeping the heat on, keeping the lights on.”
Glick said that a significant reason for that is the emergency planning and drills that the energy industry regularly conducts.
FERC Commissioners James Danly and Bernard McNamee also participated in the two-day conference.
One of the panels on day one of the conference that focused on system operations and planning challenges included Mike Haynes, Chief Operating Officer at public power utility Seattle City Light.
Glick asked panelists to comment on how the pandemic could lead to long-term teleworking and, if that materializes, the implications for residential energy efficiency.
“What’s very important to us – especially in the municipal world – is not to lose sight of the underserved communities,” said Haynes. “We think that energy efficiency – in home measures in particular,” offers a “huge opportunity to fill a gap there,” he said.
“These recent events over the last three, four months have highlighted our need to really focus on, I think, the underserved communities so we’re going to create that opportunity and work really hard to make sure that energy efficiency proliferates, but also that the opportunities that are made across the board to everybody who wants access will get access to those measures,” Haynes said.
Gil Quiniones, President and CEO of the New York Power Authority (NYPA), who participated in a separate panel on the first day of the conference, said that “energy efficiency is extremely, extremely important in many aspects.”
He noted that energy efficiency “saves money in the utility bills of our consumers and our businesses and makes our businesses more competitive.”
He further pointed out that energy efficiency “is the biggest job creator in all of the clean energy sectors. It’s been hit very hard because of this COVID pandemic.”
Moreover, “if done right, it can also help our buildings and homes be more flexible and really take advantage of that demand flexibility in transforming our grid from the current system to a smart, integrated and cleaner grid.”
Quiniones said that “if we do more and more electrification, we must do energy efficiency. Otherwise, the investment in reinforcements of the grid will be too expensive.”
NERC’s Robb says there has been no degradation to reliable operation of bulk power system
Meanwhile, Jim Robb, President and CEO of the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, said that “throughout the crisis thus far, we have not observed any degradation” to the reliable operation of the bulk power system.
He noted that “our efforts at NERC have focused on three primary areas – heightened situational awareness, active coordination with government partners and industry and use of regulatory discretion.”
Robb said that “basic cyber hygiene remains extraordinarily important.”
He said that there have been a number of key patching events “over the last couple of months with Microsoft products and other ubiquitous products across the sector. It’s critical that utilities keep their systems patched.”
In a recent interview with the American Public Power Association, Robb said the power sector deserves “a tremendous amount of credit” for the way in which it has responded to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Quiniones says power industry is doing an “exemplary job”
NYPA’s Quiniones echoed the praise of the industry’s handling of the COVID-19 emergency. “The electric industry is doing an exemplary job of maintaining reliable service while managing through the many challenges presented by the pandemic,” said Quiniones, who participated in a panel that focused on electricity demand and transmission planning.
“Trade groups like the American Public Power Association, Large Public Power Council and collaborative bodies such as the Electricity Subsector Coordinating Council, in coordination with government partners, are supporting collective industry response efforts,” he said.
“They include the sharing of planning considerations and mutual aid for utilities particularly impacted by COVID-19,” Quiniones said.
He noted that New York, which was one of the original epicenters of the pandemic, experienced a nearly 10 percent reduction in electric load statewide at the height of the pandemic.
“In addition, New York State’s strong economy, a prime driver of the state’s electric load, has seen a decline and might not return to 2019 levels for quite some time,” Quiniones said.
The reduction in load and the uncertain pace of recovery will have a direct effect on “planning the much-needed expansion and upgrades to major power infrastructure. While transmission planning might be difficult, now is the time to invest in the power grid to meet clean energy goals and to help restart the economy.”
NYPA recently resumed work on certain projects that were suspended so that the Authority could focus on the continued safe operation of its power plants and transmission system in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Quiniones also said that it is critical “that we help address the disproportionate impact of pandemics such as COVID-19” on low-income communities, especially communities of color.
Panel looks at oil and natural gas supply
On Thursday, July 9, a panel during the second day of the conference explored the impacts of COVID-19 on natural gas and oil supply, demand, transportation, and infrastructure planning, including the number and types of proposed projects, pipeline construction, and rate filings.
Included among the panelists was Gary Gibson, General Manager and CEO for City Utilities of Springfield, Mo. Gibson appeared on behalf of the American Public Gas Association (APGA).
Gibson, who noted that APGA members are locally owned and governed to be accountable to the communities they serve, said APGA members – including City Utilities – “have taken significant steps to ensure natural gas continues to safely flow to all during this crisis, especially to those with emergency financial needs.”
Gibson said that APGA members have been pausing shut offs, waiving fees and penalties for late payments and restoring services to those in need.
“As a result, many APGA members have had customers request deferrals of payments, resulting in the deferrals of hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue for some systems,” he noted.
He said that APGA members and other pipeline operators have developed COVID-related procedures to ensure that personnel have the resources and technologies they need so that they can perform their roles and minimize exposure to the virus.
Gibson said that “pipeline safety has remained the top priority during these challenging times. Employees of APGA members have been on the front lines, supporting their customer owners by responding to a variety of service calls.”
He further noted that municipal gas utilities “have also fallen victim to the hardships presented by this pandemic, having lost roughly $140 million since March” and being projected to realized additional revenue losses in the coming months.
“While Congress has acted swiftly to provide much needed aid to various industries, local governments, including municipal utilities, have been largely ineligible for many of these programs. Consequently, APGA has requested congressional assistance to help offset revenue losses as a result of COVID-19,” Gibson said.
“Until public utilities receive appropriate support, APGA members will continue to have significant financial hardships, which could impact infrastructure projects moving forward,” he said.
“With these challenging times, there has been heightened awareness of many APGA members’ dependence on one pipeline for gas supply. While no issues were experienced during this pandemic, the Commission is encouraged to ensure that it is taking the appropriate steps in improving infrastructure that allows for America’s abundant energy resources to reach the homes and businesses that need them.”
COVID-19 Has Minimal Effect On Power Plant Startups, EIA Says
July 20, 2020
by Peter Maloney
APPA News
Posted July 20, 2020
Efforts to mitigate the spread the COVID-19 have delayed the start dates of proposed power plants slightly more than average, according to the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) March and April preliminary monthly electric generator inventory data.
About 20% of the power projects due online within 12 months in 2018 and 2019 experienced some delays. In March and April, 21% and 29% of projects, respectively, experienced delays, some of which were attributed to efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the EIA reported.
The minimal increase in delays suggests that COVID-19 mitigation efforts “may have been a contributing factor” in some project delays reported in March and April, but not the only factor involved, EIA said. “The majority of projects in development are still on schedule,” the authors said.
Generating projects that expect to begin commercial operation within 12 months report their status to the EIA. If a project is delayed, project developers must provide the EIA with a cause for the delay.
In an effort to better understand the impact of COVID-19 mitigation efforts, such as state-mandated stay-at-home orders and business shutdowns, the EIA emphasized an existing survey question that allowed respondents to specify whether or not project delays were attributable to COVID-19.
In March 2020, 163 of the 772 proposed power projects reported delays in their startup dates, with 41 citing COVID-19 for the delay. In April, 746 power projects reported they expected to begin operation within 12 months. Of those, 220 reported delays and 67 cited COVID-19 as a reason.
The COVID-19 related delays reported in March and April represent 3.1 gigawatts (GW), or 18% of total delayed capacity. The median delay reported was two months, regardless of whether or not COVID-19 was cited as the cause of delay.
The EIA data showed that projects in construction were more likely to be delayed as a result of COVID-19 than projects in earlier stages of development. Sixty-one projects, totaling 2.4 GW, that were under construction in March and April were delayed as a result of the COVID-19.
Even though construction workers are considered essential, building a power project requires scheduling of simultaneous and dependent activities that involve numerous components, equipment, and specialized workers, EIA noted. The impacts of COVID-19 mitigation efforts, including supply chain disruptions, permitting delays, and restricted travel of specialized workers, affected project scheduling and increased the risk of project delays, the EIA report said.
COVID-19 related delays aside, most of the delays reported in March were for project in construction while most of the delays reported in April were for projects in the permitting process.
Among technology types, solar photovoltaic projects were most affected by COVID-19 restrictions.
In March and April, 53 solar projects, totaling 1.3 GW, were delayed as a result of COVID-19. Wind power projects were the second most affected by COVID-19, with 1.2 GW of wind projects citing the pandemic’s mitigation factors as a cause for delays.