Imperial Irrigation District’s Board Moves to Expand Financial Assistance for Customers
September 25, 2023
by APPA News
September 25, 2023
The Board of Directors for California public power utility Imperial Irrigation District on September 19 acted to significantly expand financial assistance to more customers through IID’s Residential Energy Assistance Program.
The board action lowers the minimum age requirement for a 30 percent discount for income-qualified customers’ electric bills from age 62 to age 60. Additionally, qualified customers under age 60 can receive a 20 percent discount on their electric bill through the same program.
IID also offers up to $400 a year in financial assistance for those REAP customers who face disconnection through the district’s Emergency Energy Assistance Program.
IID also provides a reduced electric rate for REAP customers who need electricity to operate medical equipment through its Medical Equipment Assistance Program.
Currently, IID has about 12,000 of its 160,000 metered accounts enrolled in REAP. This assistance program alone, as of early September, had $3.1 million in available funds.
There are also $1.4 million available for the EEAP program and $62,000 in available Medical Equipment Assistance Program funding.
Department of Transportation Moves to Accelerate Installation of EV Charging Stations
September 25, 2023
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
September 25, 2023
The U.S. Department of Transportation on Sept. 20 said it is accelerating the installation of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations by adopting a Department of Energy electric vehicle charging station categorical exclusion under the National Environmental Policy Act.
DOT filed a Federal Register notice announcing the adoption, taking advantage of a new provision in the Fiscal Responsibility Act.
“This will allow for faster environmental review processes for state and local governments as they work to build out a convenient, accessible, and reliable EV charging network by allowing the vast majority of DOT’s $7.5 billion in EV charging investments to be considered” under categorical exclusions, DOT said.
By adopting the Department of Energy’s EV Charging categorical exclusion, DOT now has an EV charging specific categorical exclusion that will help non-traditional grantees who are less familiar with the Federal Highway Administration’s currently available categorical exclusions, which cover many EV projects but require fluency with the NEPA process.
This is the first application of the FRA since President Biden signed it into law in June of 2023 and reflects the convergence of two administration priorities: EV charging and project delivery, DOT said.
DOT recently deployed $100 million in new funding through the Inflation Reduction Act to provide technical assistance for direct grant recipients, expand technical assistance for local and tribal governments — particularly those receiving discretionary grants for the first time and support the modernization of the NEPA process.
New Report Says Ann Arbor, Mich., Public Power Utility is Economically Feasible
September 25, 2023
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
September 25, 2023
The City of Ann Arbor, Mich., on Sept. 22 released a draft report that shows a city-owned municipal electric utility is both economically feasible and preferable to continued DTE Energy ownership of the local grid over the long term.
The report also indicates that municipalization is entirely consistent with the city’s climate action goals, including 100 percent renewable power.
The report, “100 Percent Renewable Energy Options Analysis,” was produced by policy consulting firm 5 Lakes Energy.
“With feasibility now established, we look forward to working with our elected city officials and city staff to advance the process of establishing a public power utility that replaces DTE,” said Ann Arbor for Public Power president Greg Woodring. Ann Arbor for Public Power has been leading the municipalization effort since 2020.
The report took over a year to complete, and included five separate tasks: an energy options analysis, the municipalization feasibility study, a sustainable energy utility rate analysis, and two procedural tasks. Several options for meeting the city’s renewable power goals were considered.
Ann Arbor for Public Power said that the report’s single most important conclusion was that municipalization makes long term financial sense for Ann Arbor.
Subcontractor NewGen Strategies & Solutions modeled operating revenues and costs of a city-owned electric utility versus continued DTE ownership of the grid, and concluded that a public utility can reliably deliver electricity to customers at comparable or lower rates.
“The report confirms what we already knew from the experience of other cities: that a public power utility can deliver superior service more affordably than DTE, because the millions in current annual DTE profits instead will remain in the community to be reinvested in infrastructure or returned to ratepayers,” said Woodring.
The city’s next step is to study municipalization in more detail in order to place an accurate valuation on DTE’s assets and to estimate more closely the likely acquisition cost.
“We suggest that the city authorize a Phase 2 Feasibility Study to characterize more precisely the costs and risks of the MEU approach,” writes 5Lakes in its executive summary. The report also recommends concurrent development of the SEU while laying the groundwork for full municipalization.
CAISO Board, WEIM Governing Body Adopt Market Rules Affecting California and the West
September 24, 2023
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
September 24, 2023
Several proposals related to rates and energy market rules that affect utilities in California and the West have been adopted by the California Independent System Operator Board of Governors and the Western Energy Imbalance Market Governing Body.
During a joint meeting, the two governing bodies that have shared governance authority over market rules that apply to WEIM participants approved:
- An amendment to the Rules of Conduct governing ISO market participants that stipulates sanctions for violations. The ISO’s Track 1 Rules of Conduct review resulted in limited change to eliminate disproportionate meter data penalties for small, long-term inaccuracies;
- The 2023 Cost of Service Study which set rates and fees for current ISO Balancing Area Authority participants while also establishing new rates for entities in the Extended Day-Ahead Market. The rates are based on the time and resources required to provide services offered by the ISO;
- An 18.73% inflation adjustment to the 2023 variable operations and maintenance default adder value to better reflect resources’ operational capabilities and maintenance costs in the day-ahead and real-time markets.
Following the joint meeting of the Board and WEIM Governing Body on Wednesday, the Board convened Sept. 21 where it approved initial EDAM Participation Rules, which will regulate how the ISO’s own balancing area would participate in the EDAM.
The Board also conditionally approved the extension of existing reliability must-run contracts for two energy resources in Oakland to help maintain local reliability conditions through 2024.
An RMR designation requires resources to be available during critical times for grid operations.
DOE Announces $325 Million for Long-Duration Energy Storage Projects
September 24, 2023
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
September 24, 2023
The U.S. Department of Energy on Sept. 22 announced up to $325 million for 15 projects across 17 states and one tribal nation to accelerate the development of long-duration energy storage technologies.
The announcement will help DOE realize its Long Duration Storage Shot goal of reducing the cost of LDES by 90% by 2030, DOE said.
Projects selected will feature a range of intraday (10 to 36 hours) and multiday (36 to 160+ hours) storage solutions, which can minimize the frequency and length of power interruptions caused by events such as severe weather or cyberattacks on the grid.
Some selected projects seek to pursue innovative approaches to the re-use and recycling of retired batteries—supporting the growing domestic electric vehicle industry and creating new economic opportunities while delivering environmental benefits to communities across the country.
A full list of projects selected for award negotiations under the FOA is available here.
DOE also announced six projects selected for the LDES Lab Call to demonstrate technology innovations and resiliency advantages in national labs at a range of scales. More information on the six selected lab call projects is available here.
Selection for award negotiations is not a commitment by DOE to issue an award or provide funding. Before funding is issued, DOE and the applicants will undergo a negotiation process, and DOE may cancel negotiations and rescind the selection for any reason during that time.
Developer Investigating Recent Fire at California Energy Storage Facility
September 23, 2023
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
September 23, 2023
Terra-Gen, a renewable energy developer, is launching an investigation of a recent fire at a battery storage unit in Valley Center, Calif.
The fire took place on the afternoon of Sept. 18 at a Terra-Gen energy storage facility located in San Diego County, Calif.
The Valley Center Energy Storage Facility is a stand-alone 139-megawatt energy storage project.
The four-hour lithium-ion battery energy storage system is connected to a nearby San Diego Gas & Electric substation and has contracted with the investor-owned utility to provide power under a 15-year Resource Adequacy contract.
In response to the fire, the Valley Center Fire Department, San Diego County Sheriff’s Department and other appropriate agencies were dispatched. They addressed the incident and left the premises around 9:15 p.m.
The facility’s design systems kept the incident contained. Terra-Gen personnel remained on scene to ensure no additional issues occurred.
A San Diego County Hazardous Materials team monitored the air and water around the site during the incident and found no hazardous conditions.
Now that the incident is over, Terra-Gen said it will investigate the cause of the fire with the support of the Valley Center Fire Department.
In September 2022, a fire occurred at Pacific Gas & Electric’s Moss Landing battery storage facility in California. The fire was isolated to a single battery pack at the facility, according to the County of Monterey, Calif.
New York Governor Forms Working Group to Examine Energy Storage System Safety
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul this summer announced the creation of a new Inter-Agency Fire Safety Working Group to ensure the safety and security of energy storage systems across the state, following fire incidents at facilities in the state this summer.
State agencies will begin immediate inspections of energy storage sites, and the Working Group will help prevent fires and ensure emergency responders have the necessary training and information to prepare and deploy resources in the event of a fire.
Saying that fires at energy storage facilities are exceedingly rare, Hochul’s office noted that she has directed the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services Office of Fire Prevention and Control, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Department of Public Service and the Department of State to lead the Working Group. The Working Group will examine energy storage facility fires and safety standards.
Report Outlines Reliability Recommendations Tied to Winter Storm Elliott
September 23, 2023
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
September 23, 2023
A final report on Winter Storm Elliott, a 2022 storm that contributed to power outages for millions of electricity customers in the Eastern half of the country, was presented to Commissioners at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Sept. 21.
The report recommends completion of cold weather reliability standard revisions stemming from 2021’s Winter Storm Uri and improvements to reliability for U.S. natural gas infrastructure.
The report, which was presented to FERC Commissioners at its monthly meeting by FERC staff and staff of the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, outlines 11 recommendations for action to help prevent similar occurrences during future extreme winter weather.
The recommendations cover cold weather reliability improvements for power generators, natural gas infrastructure, gas-electric coordination and electric grid operations.
“It’s abundantly clear that we must make major improvements to the cold-weather reliability of both the natural gas and electricity production and grid systems,” FERC Chairman Willie Phillips said. “I have said repeatedly: Someone – it doesn’t have to be FERC – must have authority to establish and enforce natural gas reliability standards. And some recommendations from the 2021 Uri report are still not implemented. Please get that done. It shouldn’t take five winter storms in 11 years to show us the gravity of the situation we find ourselves in.”
NERC President and CEO Jim Robb said, “This sobering report underscores the need to take urgent action on the interdependence between the bulk electric and natural gas systems, including the need for sufficient and reliable gas and electric infrastructure to sustain energy reliability. NERC, the Regional Entities, and FERC are fully committed to finding effective, collaborative solutions in line with these findings. The report also reaffirms NERC’s equally strong commitment to completing Reliability Standards work to ensure industry is prepared for extreme cold weather.”
FERC and NERC staff, along with staff from NERC’s six regional entities, initiated an inquiry shortly after Winter Storm Elliott occurred.
Though their final report itself will be published later this fall, the presentation at the FERC meeting highlighted several key facts about the December 2022 event, including:
- There were unprecedented unplanned generating unit losses, with nearly 90,000 megawatts out at the same time.
- Nearly 80 percent of the generating units failed to perform at temperatures above their own documented minimum operating temperatures.
- Several electric grid operators had to shed firm load to maintain system reliability.
- Natural gas pipeline pressures dropped largely because of freeze-related production declines in production of Marcellus (23 percent) and Utica (54 percent) shales, as well as other natural gas infrastructure freeze- and equipment-related problems. Every cold weather inquiry report that has studied natural gas production has found cold-related declines in natural gas production, by as much as 70 percent in some cases.
- Consolidated Edison Inc., which serves the greater New York Metropolitan area, faced reliability-threatening low pressures on its delivery pipelines, forcing it to declare an emergency and use its own liquefied natural gas facility to maintain service.
According to the presentation, the report states there must be robust monitoring of how the industry is implementing current cold weather Reliability Standards to determine if reliability gaps exist.
Also, NERC should obtain an independent technical review of the causes of cold-related mechanical and electrical generation outages to identify preventive measures, which includes determining if additional reliability standards are needed.
The report also states that congressional and state legislation or regulation is needed to establish reliability rules for natural gas infrastructure to ensure cold weather reliability. Currently, no regulatory entity is tasked with ensuring the reliability of the natural gas infrastructure on which the electric grid relies.
Finally, the report recommends the North American Energy Standards Board convene a meeting of gas and electric grid operators and gas distribution companies to identify improvements in communication during extreme cold weather events to enhance awareness across the natural gas supply chain.
In addition, the report suggests hiring an independent research group to analyze whether additional gas infrastructure is needed to support grid reliability and meet the needs of gas utilities.
OPPD, Nebraska County Explore Solar Project at Former Landfill Site
September 21, 2023
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
September 21, 2023
Nebraska’s Omaha Public Power District and Douglas County, Neb., are working together on a project that could bring new life to an old landfill, possibly turning it into a power generating solar array, OPPD said on Sept. 19
The OPPD-Douglas County SOLUS (solar on landfills utility scale) initiative will look at how solar panels could potentially be incorporated at a landfill operated between 1973 and 1989, at which time it was capped to isolate waste.
“Closed landfills have limited future uses,” said Kent Holm, director of Douglas County Environmental Services. “This project identifies a potential compatible use that will provide additional power to the community.”
“The site has good sun exposure and is located near an existing OPPD substation, making it an ideal location for solar panels,” said OPPD President and CEO Javier Fernandez. “We greatly value our partnership with Douglas County on this project. It is a great example of Nebraska ingenuity at work as we seek opportunities to add more renewable energy to our generation portfolio.”
The SOLUS feasibility study will begin in December and conclude in June 2024. The study will help determine the project timeline if it comes to fruition.
A $3.46 million grant from the Nebraska Environmental Trust would help bridge the gap between the cost of a typical ground-mounted utility-scale solar project and landfill solar, which is more complicated to design and build.
It is not yet known how many megawatts of power such a facility may generate; however, the area under consideration encompasses 160-acres.
OPPD will share what it learns from the SOLUS project with other utilities that are interested in similar initiatives.
Silicon Valley Clean Energy Enters Solar, Storage Agreements
September 21, 2023
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
September 21, 2023
California community choice aggregator Silicon Valley Clean Energy on Sept. 20 announced the execution of two 15-year agreements with subsidiaries of NextEra Energy Resources, LLC.
The agreements include Grace Orchard Solar, a new build solar project, and Yellow Pine III, a new-build standalone battery storage project.
The Grace Orchard Solar project is slated to come online in the summer of 2027 and will provide SVCE 120 megawatts of renewable solar energy, accounting for 8-9% of SVCE’s 2028 annual retail sales.
The renewable energy will contribute to SVCE’s Renewable Portfolio Standard requirements set by the state.
SVCE has also purchased 115 MW of four-hour lithium-ion battery capacity, 460 megawatt-hours, from the Yellow Pine III project that is expected to be online in summer 2025. The battery storage will count towards SVCE’s resource adequacy requirements and Mid-Term Reliability obligations.
With these new projects, SVCE has contracted for over 20 long-term power purchase agreements totaling nearly 800 MW of clean and renewable capacity and nearly 1,845 MWh of battery storage.
SVCE expects that in 2030 more than 70% of its clean power mix will come from renewable energy, surpassing the goals set by SB 100, which requires energy generated from 60% renewable sources by 2030 and 100% carbon-free by 2045.
In 2020, SVCE contracted with NextEra Energy Resources for 50 MW of renewable solar capacity and 104 MWh of battery storage from the new-build Yellow Pine I project.
The Yellow Pine I project successfully began delivering power to SVCE customers in July 2023.
Silicon Valley Clean Energy is a not-for-profit, community-owned agency providing clean electricity from renewable and carbon-free sources to more than 275,000 residential and commercial customers in 13 Santa Clara County jurisdictions.
Chevron Acquires Majority Interest in Utah Clean Hydrogen Project
September 21, 2023
by Peter Maloney
APPA News
September 21, 2023
Chevron, in a deal with Magnum Development, has acquired a majority interest in the Advanced Clean Energy Storage project in Delta, Utah, that is being built to produce and store hydrogen fuel.
The Advanced Clean Energy Storage project plans to use electrolysis to convert renewable energy into hydrogen and to use solution mined salt caverns for seasonal, dispatchable storage of the energy.
The first project, designed to convert and store up to 100 metric tons per day of hydrogen, is under construction and is expected to enter commercial-scale operations in mid-2025 to support the Intermountain Power Project’s IPP Renewed initiative.
Several other opportunities for the project to produce and supply hydrogen to customers in the utility, transportation and industrial sectors in the western region of the United States are in development, Chevron said.
In June 2022, the Department of Energy announced it closed on a $504.4 million loan guarantee to the Advanced Clean Energy Storage project, marking the first loan guarantee for a new renewable energy technology project from the agency’s Loan Programs Office since 2014.
The Advanced Clean Energy Storage project is designed to capture excess renewable energy when it is most abundant, store it as hydrogen, then deploy it as fuel for the IPP Renewed Project, a hydrogen-capable gas turbine combined-cycle power plant that intends to incrementally be fueled by 100 percent clean hydrogen by 2045.
The IPP Renewed project is owned by the Intermountain Power Agency, a political subdivision of the state of Utah organized to undertake and finance a facility to generate electricity, now known as the Intermountain Power Project. The Intermountain Power Agency has 35 participants, mostly municipalities in Utah and Southern California.
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the largest power purchaser of electricity from the Intermountain Power Project, also serves as the operating agent and project manager of the project.
Chevron U.S.A., through its Chevron New Energies division, closed the transaction with Haddington Ventures earlier this month, acquiring 100 percent of Magnum Development, which had a majority interest in ACES Delta, a joint venture of Mitsubishi Power Americas and Magnum Development that is developing the Advanced Clean Energy Storage project.