Skip Navigation

Nuclear Regulatory Commission Issues Final Rule Certifying NuScale Power’s Small Modular Reactor

January 25, 2023

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
January 25, 2023

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission recently issued a final rule to certify NuScale Power’s small modular reactor.

The company’s power module becomes the first SMR design certified by the NRC and just the seventh reactor design cleared for use in the United States.

The rule, which was published in the Federal Register, takes effects February 21, 2023.

The published final rule making allows utilities to reference NuScale’s SMR design when applying for a combined license to build and operate a reactor.

NuScale’s power plant can house up to 12 factory-built power modules that are about a third of the size of a large-scale reactor. Each power module leverages natural processes, such as convection and gravity, to passively cool the reactor without additional water, power, or even operator action.

The NRC accepted NuScale’s SMR design certification application back in March 2018 and issued its final technical review in August 2020. The NRC voted to certify the design on July 29, 2022 — making it the first SMR approved by the NRC for use in the United States.

Among the public power entities that have been pursing SMRs is Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems. The UAMPS Carbon Free Power Project is a nuclear plant to be located at the Idaho National Laboratory near Idaho Falls Idaho. It will comprise of up to six NuScale Power Modules.

TVA Enters Agreement With GE Hitachi Related To Potential Deployment Of Small Modular Reactor

Meanwhile, the Tennessee Valley Authority in 2022 entered a two-party agreement with GE Hitachi to support TVA’s planning and preliminary licensing for a potential deployment of a BWRX-300 small modular reactor at the Clinch River Nuclear site and provide additional information needed as TVA continues to analyze the viability of SMRs, subject to future TVA board approval.

This follows an April 2022 collaboration agreement with Ontario Power Generation to support the development of small modular reactors as an effective long-term source of 24/7 carbon-free energy in both Canada and the U.S.

Nebraska Public Power District Launches Siting Study for Small Modular Reactors

Nebraska Public Power District is beginning the process of studying sites that could have the potential to host advanced small modular nuclear reactors, it said on Jan. 13.

The first phase of the siting study involves doing a Nebraska-wide assessment to determine the 15 best locations for siting small modular reactors based on geographic data and preliminary licensing criteria. Some of the key criteria being considered will be access to water and transmission lines among many others. This phase is estimated to be completed in spring of 2023.

The second phase of the study will perform a more in-depth evaluation and will focus on reducing the number of sites from 15 to four. This effort includes detailed field environmental and constructability evaluations based on criteria used by the NRC when licensing nuclear plants. This phase of the study is estimated to take approximately a year to complete.

DOE Encourages Southeast Hydrogen Hub to Submit Full Application for Federal Funding

January 24, 2023

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
January 24, 2023

The Southeast Hydrogen Hub coalition, which includes the Tennessee Valley Authority, on Jan. 19, announced that it is among the limited number of organizations encouraged by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to submit a full application in response to the $8 billion in funding for regional clean hydrogen hubs under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

The coalition, as well as Battelle, is working to organize the potential hub and secure funding. After submitting an initial concept paper in November, the coalition received the DOE notification of encouragement on December 27, 2022.

Of the 79 concept papers the DOE received, 33 were encouraged to advance to the application stage. Formal proposals are due to the DOE in April 2023, with decisions expected in the fall.

A hydrogen hub in the Southeastern U.S. is expected to bring robust economic development benefits and jobs to the region, TVA and other utility members of the coalition noted.

“Hydrogen is attractive as an energy resource because it has immediate potential to accelerate decarbonization in the Southeast and across all sectors of the U.S. economy – including transportation, which generates the largest share of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the country,” they said.

The coalition’s concept paper described how the Southeast Hydrogen Hub would build on existing infrastructure utilizing technologies to advance the production, storage, transport, and delivery of hydrogen to transition the energy economy toward a decarbonized future.

Other members of the coalition include investor-owned utilities Dominion Energy, Duke Energy, Louisville Gas, and Electric Company and Kentucky Utilities Company and Southern Company.

Lower Colorado River Authority to Build Peaker Plant in Texas

January 24, 2023

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
January 24, 2023

The Lower Colorado River Authority on Jan. 24 said that it will build a new peaker power plant in Central Texas to provide an additional 190 megawatts of dispatchable power to the Texas power grid.

The natural gas-fired plant is expected to be operational in 2025. A peaker plant is one that typically is used for brief periods during times when the demand for power approaches or surpasses the amount of power available, LCRA noted.

As dispatchable power, the plant will be available to grid operators to call upon when renewable and other thermal generation are not sufficient to meet the state’s demand for electricity. The new LCRA plant will be able to ramp up and shut down in minutes.

The new plant will include 10 high-efficiency Wärtsilä reciprocating engines. Each engine can provide about 19 megawatts of power.

The new plant will be LCRA’s second peaker plant. The first is a 184-megawatt natural gas-fired facility in Fayette County that was built in 2010.

LCRA praised the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Texas Legislature “in their efforts to increase the supply of electricity available to Texans and to promote the wholesale market signals necessary to make an investment like this possible.” Regulatory certainty is important for LCRA and others to commit to invest in new dispatchable power generation, it said.

CPS Energy Board of Trustees Approves Generation Planning Portfolio

January 24, 2023

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
January 24, 2023

The Board of Trustees for Texas public power utility CPS Energy on Jan. 23 voted to approve a generation planning portfolio that includes a blend of gas, solar, wind and energy storage.

The generation planning process considered replacing aging plants and the continued use of coal while meeting the city’s climate goals, maintaining reliability and remaining competitively priced.

The board’s decision followed input from the community and a Rate Advisory Committee. At the direction of the Board, the RAC spent the last year reviewing the utility’s current power generation resources and future options in meetings with San Antonio-based CPS Energy and consultants.

The RAC is made up of 21 members comprised of 11 appointees by the CPS Energy Board of Trustees, including Mayoral appointees and 10 City Council appointees. 

CPS Energy also held a series of community engagement efforts, among which included open houses, a virtual town hall and customer survey. 

Final survey results indicated the following customer consideration preferences:

AMP Executives Elected to Serve in Industry Leadership Positions

January 23, 2023

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
January 23, 2023

American Municipal Power, Inc. recently announced that five AMP executives have been elected to serve in leadership positions among various industry organizations in 2023.

Specifically, Lynn Horning, director of PJM regulatory affairs at AMP, has been elected PJM Electric Distributor sector whip, while Steve Lieberman, vice president of transmission and regulatory affairs, will serve as North American Energy Services Board (NAESB) Wholesale Electric Quadrant, Markets/Brokers segment board of directors’ representative.

Also, Chris Norton, assistant vice president of RTO and regulatory affairs, has been elected NAESB Wholesale Electric Quadrant, Markets/Brokers segment and will serve as the Executive Committee representative.

Jeff Riley, rates and regulatory analyst, has been elected PJM Electric Distributor sector representative to the Finance Committee, while Shirley Schultz, manager of MISO regulatory affairs, has been elected MISO Transmission Dependent Utility sector alternate representative to the Advisory Committee.

AMP is the nonprofit wholesale power supplier and services provider for 133 members in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, Indiana, Maryland and Delaware.

Bonneville Power Administration to Use $350 Million in Funds for Power Rate Reductions

January 23, 2023

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
January 23, 2023

Bonneville Power Administration Administrator John Hairston recently adopted BPA staff’s proposal to allocate the fiscal year 2022 power reserves distribution clause amount of $500 million toward rate reduction and other high-value purposes, BPA said on Jan. 10.

Specifically, $350 million will be used to reduce FY 2023 power rates, while $100 million will be allocated to reduce debt or for revenue financing and $50 million will be used to prepay certain maintenance needs of existing fish and wildlife mitigation assets.

The RDC, a rate mechanism that implements an element of BPA’s Financial Reserves Policy, triggered for BPA’s Power Services based on FY 2022 end-of-year results. It allows the administrator to repurpose financial reserves when certain conditions are met.

The primary condition is that both the agency and the business line must exceed their upper days cash on hand thresholds — 90 days cash on hand for the agency and 120 days cash on hand for a business line.

Days cash on hand is the number of days a business can continue to operate using its own cash on hand with no new revenue. 

The amount above the thresholds can be used for debt reduction, incremental capital investment, rate reduction through a dividend distribution or any other high-value business-line-specific purpose determined by the administrator.

Originally scheduled for Dec. 15, 2022, the final decision on the Power RDC was delayed to allow time for staff to fully consider and respond to the extensive comments received during the public comment period, BPA said.

Renewable Energy’s Share of Total Generation Will Continue to Grow, EIA Says

January 23, 2023

by Peter Maloney
APPA News
January 23, 2023

Generation from renewable energy resources will continue to outstrip generation from fossil fuel plants, according to the latest data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Increased power generation from new renewables capacity, mostly wind and solar power, will reduce generation from both coal-fired and natural gas-fired power plants in 2023 and 2024, the EIA forecast in its latest Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO).

With the new solar and wind projects slated to come online this year, renewable resources will account for 16 percent of total generation in 2023, up from 14 percent last year and 8 percent in 2018, EIA said.

Renewable resources, especially wind and solar power, have been growing rapidly in the United States. There were about 74 gigawatts (GW) of solar photovoltaic capacity at the end of 2022, which is about three times the capacity at the end of 2017, and U.S. wind power has grown by more than 60 percent since 2017 to about 143 GW, EIA said.

Based on planned additions reported to the EIA, solar capacity is expected to increase by 84 percent with the addition of another 63 GW by the end of 2024, aided by declining solar construction costs and tax credits. With the increase in capacity, the EIA expects solar power’s share of total generation will rise from 3 percent last year to 5 percent in 2023 and 6 percent in 2024.

The growth in wind power installations is slower this year than in recent years, at about 12 GW of new planned capacity over the next two years, EIA noted. Expectations of wind power’s share of total generation in 2023 remains similar to last year, averaging 11 percent for both years, with a 12 percent increase expected in 2024, EIA said.

Much of the growth in solar capacity is occurring in Texas and California, where natural gas has been the primary source of electricity, the EIA said. A growing share of generation from renewables, combined with the agency’s forecast of less overall electricity demand this year, will displace some natural gas generation, which will decline slightly, falling from 39 percent in 2022 to 38 percent this year and to 37 percent in 2024.

The EIA also forecasts a two percentage point decline in the share of generation from coal-fired plants, to 18 percent, this year, as lower natural gas costs make coal less competitive. The EIA expects coal generation to fall again in 2024 to 17 percent of total generation.

Public Power is a Family Calling for Recipient of APPA Scholarship

January 23, 2023

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
January 23, 2023

For Joshua Nunn, who received a scholarship from the American Public Power Association’s Demonstration of Energy & Efficiency Developments program and started work this month at the public power utility in Rocky Mount, N.C., public power is a family calling.

In a Q&A with Public Power Current, Nunn noted that he first became interested in public power when his stepfather Bobby told Nunn about his experience working for another public power community, the Town of Wake Forest, N.C.

“I like helping people,” Nunn noted in talking about why public power interested him as a career choice. The DEED scholarship helped Nunn pay for his participation in a lineman program. “I can truly say that I am blessed with everything that has happened in my life,” he said.

Nunn started work at the City of Rocky Mount on Jan. 23 as an apprentice lineman.

As part of the DEED scholarship process, Nunn was sponsored by ElectriCities of North Carolina, whose members include Rocky Mount and Wake Forest.

Kenny Roberts, Supervisor of Safety Training and Mutual Aid Coordinator at ElectriCities, noted that Nunn had “a passion about wanting to be a lineman and this scholarship gave him the opportunity to attend” a community college “and get through that program, which resulted in him getting hired in one of our public power communities.”

Along with his role at ElectriCities, Roberts is Board Chair for the DEED program.

Roberts said that Nunn’s experience is a “give back kind of story,” with the DEED scholarship resulting in a direct “return to a public power community being able to recruit a new employee.”

He pointed out that recruiting and hiring of lineworkers these days is a major challenge. “Qualified people are very hard to find, and this program and this scholarship is a good example of value that this program and these scholarships bring to our public power communities.”

The scholarships provide a “tool that utilities can use to bring these new people into our industry and give them good exposure,” Roberts said.

Roberts noted that Nunn’s stepfather approached Roberts when Nunn was a senior in high school and said that Nunn wanted to get into line work and asked about possible scholarships.

Roberts told Nunn’s stepfather that ElectriCities offers a lineworker scholarship that is granted annually, as well as provided details about the DEED program “and he was very interested in” the DEED program.

“I met with him and Joshua and we kind of walked through the process” and went to Nash Community College in North Carolina “and met with their staff about the lineworker program. They have processed multiple scholarships through the DEED program, so they were very familiar with it.”

Darryl Strother, Electric Operations Manager at Rocky Mount Public Utilities, serves on the DEED program’s Board of Directors.

Meanwhile, Roberts detailed the overall benefits of public power utilities participating in the DEED program.

“Being a part of the DEED program and being on that board has been one of the highlights of my career,” he said. Roberts has worked in public power for more than 30 years.

“This program was put together by the membership to provide research and development and assistance” to public power utilities and “It’s been very valuable to those DEED members as far as a resource goes, for networking and finding out successful methods and new ways” to meet challenges that crop up for the power sector, Roberts said.

“Every year in the cycle, we get such good applications from small utilities, large utilities, associations that all have the same interests, and this program allows us to be able to provide financial support and the networking for these utilities to work together to better prepare to serve their communities in the future,” he said.

“The DEED scholarship removes the financial obstacle that could prevent someone from pursuing higher education. By removing this burden, the individual is free to pursue an education that could lead to a career in public power,” said Strother.

He said the DEED program “has given us the opportunity to hire various interns over the years to work on special projects. We simply did not have the staff available to work on these projects, even though they were meaningful to our utility. The interns have been a tremendous value to us in this area. The real power of DEED, though, is being able to access funds to finance research projects that are a benefit to all public power utilities.”

For additional information about APPA’s DEED program, click here.

Texas Utility Regulators Adopt Performance Credit Mechanism Electric Market Design

January 20, 2023

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
January 20, 2023

The Public Utility Commission of Texas on Jan. 19 voted to adopt a performance credit mechanism electric market design option and a set of guiding principles for implementation to “strengthen reliability, accountability, and affordability of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas electric grid.”

The Commission said it will defer implementation of all elements of the PCM until Texas lawmakers
have an opportunity to review the PCM and its guiding principles and provide guidance or direction based upon the market design option’s merits.

A Jan. 19 memo from PUCT Chairman Peter Lake to his fellow commissioners said that the Commission would recommend the creation of a new reliability service to ensure enough dispatchable generation is available during periods of low renewable energy output. This new service would be based on the PCM concept detailed in a report from Energy and Environmental Economics, a consulting firm, which includes principles detailed in the memo.

The Commission said that adoption of the PCM market design meets the requirements of Senate Bill 3, as passed by the 87th Texas Legislature and signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott, which directed the PUCT to create grid reliability standards that ensure on-demand generation is available “during times of low non-dispatchable power production.”

In addition to adoption of the PCM, the Commission directed ERCOT to develop bridging options
to retain existing power plants and build new generation resources until the PCM can be fully
implemented and opened a project to evaluate and establish an appropriate reliability standard
for ERCOT.

The action is the culmination of 18 months of public and stakeholder engagement, analysis, and deliberation, the Commission noted.

New National Electrical Safety Code to Go Into Effect in February Includes Several Key Changes

January 20, 2023

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
January 20, 2023

The latest edition of the National Electrical Safety Code will go into effect on Feb. 1 and includes a number of key changes. The American Public Power Association will hold a virtual training next month related to the new NESC.

IEEE and the IEEE Standards Association in August 2022 announced the release of the 2023 NESC.

The NESC specifies best practices for the safety of electric supply and communication utility systems at both public and private utilities. The NESC sets the ground rules and guidelines for practical safeguarding of workers and the public during the installation, operation, or maintenance of power, telephone, cable TV, and railroad signal systems.

The NESC is the consensus safety document for electric utilities, noted Brent McKinney, who has worked in technical and executive leadership positions in the electric utility industry for 35 years. Over the past 20 years, he has worked extensively with the NESC and is currently secretary of NESC Subcommittee 8 (Work Rules). He helped write the latest standard and the NESC Handbook.

McKinney said that the NESC is considered as the minimum safety standard for electric utility workers and for protection of the public from electric utility facilities. “All electric utilities are highly aware of the need for safety precautions. Knowledge of minimum safety standards provides an excellent base for an electric utility safety program,” he told Public Power Current.

The NESC is normally revised every five years, McKinney noted. “Due to the pandemic, the current revision cycle was pushed to six years. Each NESC revision considers changes for new and existing safety issues since the last revision. The subcommittees for the NESC are comprised of long-term industry experts in operations, engineering and safety. They also represent all segments of the electric utility industry.”

NESC changes update the minimum safety standards for electric utilities, McKinney said. “Continuously enhancing and revising safety standards over many decades has significantly decreased electric utility accidents.  This dramatic increase in electric utility safety is primarily due to electric utility companies changing their safety standards due to changes in the NESC.”

NESC is also considered a minimum consensus standard for accident investigation and legal issues, he added. Compliance with the latest edition of the NESC may also decrease utility liability for incidents and accidents, he noted.

The IEEE SA said that the potential impacts of recent and emerging technologies are reflected in the new Code.

It said that notable changes to the 2023 NESC include significant revisions made in Section 14 covering batteries, addressing new battery technologies, energy storage, and backup power.

Another key change is a new Section 19 for photovoltaic generating stations that addresses general codes, location, grounding configurations, vegetation management, DC overcurrent protection, and DC conductors. These new rules accommodate large-scale solar power projects.

McKinney noted that other changes include a requirement for radio frequency safety training and a new arc flash table for medium voltage switchgear and horizontally racked breakers.

Like previous versions, the 2023 edition will be available in digital, printed, e-learning, and mobile-app formats. This edition consists of initial sections covering scope, purpose, and grounding methods, followed by sections that include specific rules for electric supply stations, overhead lines, underground lines, and safety-related work practices.

A companion document, the 2023 NESC handbook, is available with the Code. The handbook includes all of the rules of the Code but also provides insights and commentary on the rules and how to apply them from the experts who helped develop the Code, including historical notes to provide context for Code revisions and additions, the IEEE SA said.

APPA to Host Virtual Training Tied to NESC Changes

On Feb. 8-9, APPA will hold a virtual training related to NESC changes. McKinney will be the instructor for the training.

The training is recommended for public power utility staff, policymakers, Joint Action Agency and State Associations, and others who are responsible for safety or make decisions concerning electric transmission and distribution.

Additional information about the virtual training including how to register is available here.