California Energy Commission Determines Nuclear Plant Needed to Support Grid Reliability
March 1, 2023
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
March 1, 2023
The California Energy Commission on Feb. 28 approved a staff analysis recommending the state pursue extending operation of Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant through 2030 to ensure electricity reliability.
The determination is based on data showing California risks energy supply shortfalls during extreme weather events driven by climate change, the CEC said.
California Senate Bill 846 requires the CEC to determine the need to extend DCPP’s license to operate beyond its expiration date of 2025.
Located in San Luis Obispo County, DCPP is owned and operated by Pacific Gas and Electric Company. The nuclear power plant supplies about 17 percent of California’s zero-carbon electricity and 9 percent of total electricity.
The CEC will publish additional analysis this year comparing the cost of alternatives to the cost of extending DCPP. At the same time, the California Public Utilities Commission is evaluating how an extension would impact electricity rates.
Ultimately, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission will consider whether to approve PG&E’s application to extend the plant’s operating license.
In a 2022 letter to the CEO of PG&E, groups representing public power utilities and electric cooperatives in Arizona made the case for extending the life of the California nuclear power plant Diablo Canyon Power Plant past its existing license.
Rep. Mike Thompson Receives APPA’s Public Service Award
March 1, 2023
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
March 1, 2023
Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA) on March 1 received the American Public Power Association’s Public Service Award at APPA’s Legislative Rally in Washington, D.C.
Thompson was honored by APPA for exceptional leadership on numerous issues of importance to public power — particularly his vital role on the House Ways and Means Committee helping public power utilities obtain direct pay credits to develop cleaner energy resources.
Thompson has long cared about local governments, APPA said. For example, in 2017 he joined 122 Democratic and Republican colleagues writing in support of tax-exempt financing when the threat from tax reform loomed large. And in 2019, he was in the lead when the routine task of extending expiring tax provisions became a broader discussion of extending, expanding, and improving a host of energy tax credits.
As a result of his leadership, the Renewable Energy Extension Act of 2019 evolved into the Growing Renewable Energy and Efficiency Now Act of 2020, which included a refundable, direct payment tax credit available to all utilities, including public power, APPA said.
This provision was repeated in the 2021 version of the bill, which Thompson shepherded into the Build Back Better Act of 2021, and, eventually, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which was signed into law on August 16, 2022.
“Representative Thompson’s leadership on the direct pay issue has been absolutely critical,” said APPA Senior Vice President of Advocacy and Communications & General Counsel Desmarie Waterhouse. “The direct pay incentives that became law in the Inflation Reduction Act are truly game-changing for our industry. We are incredibly grateful to Representative Thompson for his role in pushing our industry forward while creating jobs and growing the economy.”
Salt River Project Issues All-Source Request for Proposals for New Power Generation Resources
February 28, 2023
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
February 28, 2023
Arizona public power utility Salt River Project has issued an all-source request for proposals in which it seeks additional power resources that can provide at least 200 megawatts during the summer peak to be online as early as May 1, 2026, and at least an additional 300 MW by May 1, 2027.
SRP will evaluate and compare proposals that meet the minimum requirements identified in the RFP, including SRP self-developed resource options. SRP currently serves customer energy needs with a diverse fuel mix including nuclear, coal, hydroelectric, natural gas, battery storage and renewable resources including solar, wind, biomass, and geothermal.
To the extent the total requested capacity SRP is seeking is not satisfied by carbon-free resource proposals, SRP may procure up to an additional 500 MW of carbon-free resources. This is contingent on the projects being feasible, cost effective, and if SRP can accommodate these additional resources while maintaining customer reliability.
Resource projects selected through the all-source RFP process will also support SRP’s 2035 sustainability goals by adding to new renewable-resource and storage system projects SRP has under contract and expects to have online by 2025. These include 2,025 MW of added solar resources, 161 MW of wind energy, and over 1,100 MW of battery storage systems. SRP has among the largest utility-scale renewable and battery storage investments in the Western U.S.
Respondents to the all-source RFP can view the details and register here: http://srpnet.com/AllSourceRFP. Registration enables access to all RFP-related documents.
SRP will offer a web conference for respondents on March 20, 2023 and is requesting bid proposals by April 27, 2023. SRP anticipates short-list selection by Fall 2023.
NYPA Wins FAA Approval For Beyond Line of Sight Drone Operations
February 28, 2023
by Peter Maloney
APPA News
February 28, 2023
The Federal Aviation Administration has granted the New York Power Authority approval to fly drones beyond the visual line of sight of the pilot.
FAA regulations require pilots to maintain visual contact while operating a drone. The FAA-granted waiver allows operators to conduct operations without the pilot or an observer being able to see the unmanned aircraft or to scan the surrounding airspace throughout the entire flight. Routes, however, must be pre-planned and the drone must remain within 50 feet above ground level or within 50 feet of structures.
NYPA says the waiver will enable it to conduct fully remote drone operations such as asset and vegetative management inspections at its Blenheim-Gilboa Pumped Storage Power Project in Schoharie County.
NYPA chose the Blenheim-Gilboa Pumped Storage Project as a first use-case to prove the technology’s application, primarily because of the sparser population in the region.
“Drones will become an even more valuable tool as we expand our capability to detect infrastructure issues and support our mapping and land management responsibilities,”
Justin Driscoll, NYPA acting president and CEO, said in a statement. “Being able to capture images remotely, regardless of weather conditions or distances, will allow us to track and evaluate our assets more efficiently and safely.”
The waiver was obtained with the help of Skydio, a U.S. drone and software manufacturer providing equipment and advisory services.
“Our application demonstrated to the FAA that we are ready to enhance our program and capabilities,” Peter Kalaitzidis, manager of NYPA’s unmanned aircraft systems program, said in a statement.
NYPA already operates drones at several sites throughout New York State to monitor asset health, including for inspection of transmission lines, vegetation management and monitoring of overgrown trees, and spillway erosion mapping. The agency has more than 40 employees trained as drone pilots.
“Having this waiver removes limitations and unlocks opportunities moving forward,” Kalaitzidis said. “We will continue to explore potential uses for this technology that will benefit the Authority and hopefully the industry at large. At present, we are developing the procedures, mitigation steps and hardware so we can best use these resources over the next few years.”
DOE Expands Offshore Wind Transmission Program With West Coast Wind Study
February 28, 2023
by Peter Maloney
APPA News
February 28, 2023
The Department of Energy recently took another step in its effort to facilitate the development of transmission lines for wind farms in waters off the continental United States with the announcement of the West Coast Offshore Wind Transmission Study.
The announcement, by the DOE’s Grid Deployment Office and Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s Wind Energy Technologies Office, calls for a 20-month study to detail transmission options to support offshore wind development in the Pacific Ocean along the U.S. West Coast.
The DOE said the study is part of a longer-term effort to convene meetings with state policymakers, local leaders, and private industry, and eventually report out key recommendations and an action plan for offshore wind transmission development on the West Coast.
The study is the first stemming from $100 million included within the Inflation Reduction Act for transmission planning and complements a DOE analysis in which the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory reviewed 13 existing studies that evaluate offshore wind energy transmission through potential points of interconnection along the coasts of California, Oregon, and Washington.
The analysis identifies gaps that industry needs to address to develop wind energy resources off the West Coast. The analysis also considers existing and emerging state policies and the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) wind site lease activities, like the buoy study off the coast of California.
The DOE and BOEM are working together to support the Biden administration’s interagency goal of installing 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030 and the future deployment of 110 GW or more by 2050 and beyond.
The West Coast wind study was one of several announcements by the DOE on February 22, including new investments aimed at securing U.S. leadership in floating offshore wind development. The DOE also announced that California has become the seventh state to join the National Offshore Wind Research and Development Consortium, which will fund research and development projects that respond to critical, near-term offshore wind development priorities.
The Biden administration, through its Floating Offshore Wind Shot program, hopes to reduce the cost of floating offshore wind energy by more than 70 percent by 2035 and deploy 15 GW of floating offshore wind by 2035.
The DOE’s Wind Energy Technologies Office is already leading a two-year Atlantic Offshore Wind Transmission Study being conducted by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and PNNL. The study will evaluate multiple pathways to reach offshore wind goals through coordinated transmission solutions along the Atlantic Coast under various generation mix and load futures in both the near and long term, 2030 and 2050, respectively.
The topologies and datasets derived from the study will identify benefits and shortcomings in production costs, system reliability, and resilience of specific transmission infrastructure concepts. DOE said those findings will fill research gaps and support timely and informed recommendations on offshore wind transmission strategies for the convening workshops, and offer feasible solutions that may benefit stakeholders in their planning processes.
DOE and BOEM said they plan to use the workshops and study to inform their development of a set of offshore wind transmission-focused recommendations and associated time-bound, regionally specific action plans for enabling solutions, starting with the Atlantic Coast.
Resolutions Approved at Legislative Rally Address Transformer Supply Chain Crisis, Direct Pay Tax Credits
February 28, 2023
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
February 28, 2023
The American Public Power Association’s Legislative and Resolutions Committee on Feb. 28 approved eight policy resolutions during APPA’s 2023 Legislative Rally in Washington, D.C.
The member-sponsored resolutions will guide APPA’s advocacy efforts for 2023 and beyond.
Included among the approved resolutions was one on the supply chain crisis for distribution transformers. In the resolution, APPA urges immediate federal efforts to address the current supply chain crisis for critical grid components, such as transformers, which threatens public power utilities’ ability to provide reliable and affordable power.
Another resolution addresses direct pay tax credits. APPA believes Congress should abandon the indiscriminate, across-the-board spending cuts imposed by sequestration and remove the needless threat of statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act sequestration from refundable direct pay tax credits for public power utilities.
A third resolution approved at the Rally relates to the infrastructure permitting process. APPA is urging federal policymakers to streamline federal permitting and siting rules to help facilitate the construction of energy infrastructure necessary to provide affordable and reliable electricity and to integrate more renewables onto the grid.
The full texts of all eight approved resolutions, including transmission policies, transmission joint ownership opportunities, and other topics, are available on the APPA the Policy Resolutions page.
Small Modular Reactor Project Being Developed by UAMPS Moves Forward
February 28, 2023
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
February 28, 2023
Participants’ governing boards in the Carbon Free Power Project being developed by Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems are moving forward with the development and deployment of a small modular reactor project, UAMPS reported on Feb. 28.
With the commitments, the CFPP Project Management Committee approved a new budget and plan of finance.
That action will move the small modular nuclear reactor project into an aggressive 2023 workplan, which focuses on completing the preparation of the application to construct and operate the plant, to be submitted to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in January 2024.
Other activities for 2023 include the procurement of long lead material and the development of the AACE Class 2 construction estimate, which will provide a more detailed cost estimate for the project, UAMPS said.
Participants were provided an opportunity to withdraw from the project, or revise subscription levels, after costs increased above the target price due to high inflation and interest rate increases. Of the 27 participants in the project, 26 voted to continue, with one participant reducing its subscription level and one participant substantially increasing its subscription in the project.
“Despite the project’s rising costs, felt worldwide by all large energy projects due to interest rates increases and rapidly escalating inflation in commodities such as fabricated plate and structural steel, copper wire and cable, not seen for over 40 years, participants felt overwhelmingly that the CFPP remains viable and is a key energy resource for the future,” said Mason Baker, UAMPS CEO and General Manager.
“The project will support our decarbonization efforts, complement and enable more renewable energy, and keep the grid stable. It will produce steady, carbon-free energy for 40 years or longer,” he said.
CFPP Partners include NuScale Power (developer of the nuclear power modules), Fluor Corporation (construction and licensing contractor), and the U.S. Department of Energy.
The CFPP is planned to be constructed at the Idaho National Laboratory outside of Idaho Falls, Idaho, and power will be distributed among UAMPS’ members that are participating in the project.
The first module is scheduled to be operational in 2029 to meet UAMPS’ timeline for replacing aging assets.
Additional details about the CFPP are available here.
Department of Energy Seeks Feedback on Draft Transmission Needs Study
February 27, 2023
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
February 27, 2023
The Department of Energy’s Grid Deployment Office on Feb. 24 released a draft of a national transmission needs study for public comment and feedback.
Updated by President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the study provides information about present and anticipated future capacity constraints and congestion on the nation’s electric transmission grid and serves as DOE’s triennial state of the grid report.
Findings of the Needs Study will provide public insight into areas of the power grid that would benefit from increased transmission capacity, DOE said.
In October 2022, an initial draft of the Needs Study was released to states, Tribes, and regional grid entities to ensure regional, interregional, and national perspectives are taken into consideration. DOE received nearly 180 comments from 20 different entities and that feedback has been incorporated into the second draft released last week.
DOE said that key findings of the draft Needs Study include the following:
- There is a pressing need for additional electric transmission infrastructure
- Increasing interregional transmission results in the largest benefits
- Needs will shift over time
DOE is requesting feedback on the Draft National Transmission Needs Study, specifically on the analysis used, conclusions, or any other comments or suggestions for improving the study.
Draft Study Enhances DOE Transmission Planning Efforts
DOE launched the Needs Study in January 2022 as part of the Building a Better Grid Initiative, which aims to catalyze nationwide development of new and upgraded high-capacity transmission lines and support investments to modernize the flexibility of the distribution system to create a more resilient electric grid.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law expanded a previous DOE state of the grid report, called the National Transmission Congestion Study, to consider both historic and anticipated future capacity constraints and congestion that could adversely affect consumers. The Needs Study contains no new modeling and is an assessment of existing data and the results from power sector reports published by a wide variety of sources in the last several years.
The Needs Study is not a long-term planning study. The draft findings do not identify any particular transmission solution for the identified needs.
While the Needs Study is an input to the potential designation by DOE of National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors under section 216 of the Federal Power Act, the draft Needs Study released does not designate or identify any specific NIETCs. Any such designation will occur in a future separate process.
The Needs Study is one of two transmission studies that the Grid Deployment Office will release in 2023. The second is the National Transmission Planning Study, a national-scale, long-term (a 15- to 30-year) transmission planning analysis that will identify a portfolio of potential transmission solutions that will enable a national transition to clean energy production and delivery, DOE said.
The NTP Study will inform existing regional transmission planning processes and pinpoint strategies to accelerate decarbonization while maintaining system reliability. This analysis will be scenario-based to provide visibility and needs for multiple future outcomes.
The Grid Deployment Office intends to release the NTP Study in Winter 2023 and anticipates releasing the final Needs Study in Summer 2023.
Public comments and questions about the draft Needs Study can be submitted by emailing NeedsStudy.Comments@hq.doe.gov. Public comments must be submitted as an email attachment in PDF format.
All public comments are due 45 days from publication of the Needs Study notification in the Federal Register.
A public webinar will be held on March 3, 2023, from 1:30–2:45pm ET. Registration is required.
APPA Urges FERC to Engage With Policymakers, Industry Partners on Transformer Challenges
February 27, 2023
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
February 27, 2023
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission should engage with other policymakers and industry partners on distribution transformer supply chain constraints to support reliability, security, resilience, affordability, and economic development, the American Public Power Association said in recent comments filed at FERC.
The Feb. 17 comments address a number of issues covered at the December 7, 2022 technical conference on supply chain risk management convened by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and U.S. Department of Energy.
APPA was represented at the technical conference by Adrienne Lotto, APPA’s Senior Vice President of Grid Security, Technical and Operations Services.
In its post-technical conference comments, APPA noted that Lotto highlighted the current lack of availability of transformers, particularly distribution transformers, as a significant supply chain challenge facing the electric industry.
“It is vital that government understand that this issue is not about the associated costs of transformers, which has certainly gone up significantly during this supply chain shortage, but rather about the actual availability of these components due to extremely constrained supplies,” APPA said.
Lotto urged DOE and the Commission to engage on this issue, and to encourage its government partners to do the same.
Utilities Taking Extraordinary Measures
APPA noted that in order to help prevent supply chain constraints from adversely impacting reliability, utilities are taking extraordinary measures to meet current demand with limited supply. These measures include refurbishing older equipment and swapping equipment in the field to generate spares from underutilized equipment.
“These are necessary, last-ditch efforts to protect the safety of electric customers and sustain other sectors that depend on electricity, but they also move the industry further away from clean energy, efficiency, and affordability goals. Even with a strong mutual aid program in place, for the first time, public power utilities are raising concerns that they may not have the stocks to assist,” APPA said.
The industry is also working collectively to help respond to the distribution transformer shortage. The Electricity Subsector Coordinating Council has established a Supply Chain Tiger Team to address resiliency and security concerns arising from supply chain constraints. This team has identified labor and material availability as the greatest needs for manufacturers to immediately increase transformer production.
“The ESCC is an extremely important forum for responding to the distribution transformer shortage, and APPA encourages DOE to prioritize this effort and work with industry to develop a cohesive actionable plan to address the shortage.”
APPA has also urged other federal policymakers to act to help address the transformer supply-demand imbalance. “Notwithstanding these efforts, effective solutions have been difficult to achieve,” it said.
While acknowledging that the Commission does not have direct jurisdiction over the distribution transformer supply chain, APPA’s comments applauded “FERC and DOE for using their convening power to help highlight this critical industry concern. Consistent with Ms. Lotto’s preconference statement, APPA urges the Commission to engage with other policymakers and industry partners on this issue to support reliability, security, resilience, affordability, and economic development.”
FERC Does Not Need to Revisit Current Supply Chain Risk Management Reliability Standards
A panel at the technical conference addressed the current supply chain risk management reliability standards, and a portion of the discussion during this session (and others) related to whether the Commission should revisit the current SCRM standards.
Among the issues raised was whether the Commission should rethink the current approach of classifying Bulk-Electric System Cyber Systems as high, medium, or low impact based on the potential grid impacts that could result from a compromise of the asset.
Consistent with Lotto’s remarks, the consensus of the technical conference panelists was generally that the current SCRM standards are working effectively, with some suggesting that more prescriptive revisions to the standards could be counterproductive, APPA said.
Lotto noted that NERC and its stakeholders have been responsive to emerging risks and have revised the reliability standards where warranted. A number of panelists also highlighted the merits of the current NERC standards’ approach of classifying BES Cyber Systems as high, medium, or low impact.
Panelists emphasized the need for a layered, defense-in-depth approach to cybersecurity that emphasizes coordination between government and industry, including robust sharing of actionable information.
“APPA agrees with these sentiments, which caution against the Commission requiring additional mandatory security control requirements for the SCRM reliability standards at this time,” it said.
California Community Choice Aggregator MCE to Convert Peaker to Energy Storage Facility Hybrid
February 27, 2023
by APPA News
February 27, 2023
California community choice aggregator MCE’s newest resource adequacy project will convert a natural gas-fired peaker plant into an energy storage hybrid facility.
The addition of 16 megawatts of battery storage to the 48-megawatt facility enables the plant to burn significantly less fuel than a standard gas site. The project reduces particulate emissions from the facility by as much as 78%.
The new battery hybrid project in Fresno, California, was created in partnership with Wellhead Power eXchange, LLC, using their Hybrid ElectricGas Turbine technology that was co-developed with General Electric.
The battery will shorten the amount of time the natural gas plant is operating while increasing the quality of its reliability services which support wind and solar generation, MCE said.
Based on previous hybrid conversions, the Wellhead project is expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 60% and water usage by up to 80%.
Serving a 1,200 MW peak load, MCE provides electricity service and programs to more than 580,000 customer accounts and 1.5 million residents and businesses in 37 communities across four Bay Area counties: Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, and Solano.