White House Aims To Help Rural Communities Access New Federal Programs
April 29, 2022
by Peter Maloney
APPA News
April 29, 2022
The Biden Administration last week launched a program to place federal field staff in more than 25 rural communities in multiple states, Tribal Nations and territories where they will help local leaders navigate and access resources made available by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
The Rural Partners Network (RPN) is being funded and led by the Department of Agriculture (USDA) but is a whole-of-government effort that includes several federal agencies and regional commissions participating in the Rural Prosperity Interagency Policy Council, among them the departments of commerce, education, energy, health and human services, interior, labor, transportation, and the Environmental Protection Agency.
The aim of the Rural Partners Network is to “help rural communities create economic opportunity by leveraging resources from all federal departments and agencies.” In support of that effort, 13 federal agencies are dedicating a Washington, D.C. based point person or team to serve as a “front door for RPN staff and communities.”
RPN staff will work with local leaders in government, business, and community organizations; federal agency field offices and existing federal efforts such as Interagency Working Group on Coal and Power Plant Communities and Economic Revitalization, the Justice40 Initiative, and with regional commissions to identify challenges preventing rural communities from accessing federal support and to inform the work of the Rural Prosperity Interagency Policy Council, which is tasked with ensuring rural places are prioritized in Washington.
The American Rescue Plan, also known as the COVID-19 Rescue Package, provides billions of dollars to rural workers, local governments, and small businesses to rebuild from the pandemic. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, provides funding for broadband, drinking water, electric infrastructure, and roads and bridges for rural communities.
The Biden administration hopes to have the first cohort of the RPN program in place by the end of May in rural locations in Arizona, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, and New Mexico.
The first cohort locations were selected by the USDA based on quantitative and qualitative factors, including levels of economic distress and readiness of the communities and local stakeholder organizations to participate in RPN program.
The RPN program will expand to Nevada, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Tribal communities in Alaska in a second cohort that would launch by the end of August, if Congress approves the appropriations in the Biden administration’s fiscal year 2023 budget.
Eventually, the administration sees the RPN program expanding to serve all 50 states, as well as more Tribal Nations and territories.
NYPA Sells More Than $608 Million In Green Bonds To Support Grid Expansion
April 29, 2022
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
April 29, 2022
The New York Power Authority (NYPA) has sold more than $608 million in green bonds to finance capital expenditures related to its development of electricity transmission in New York State.
NYPA said that the bond sale supports its VISION2030 strategy to expand the transmission of renewable energy throughout New York and the creation of the future digital grid while meeting the objectives of the state’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act and Governor Kathleen Hochul’s State of the State initiative to issue green bonds to benefit the transformation of the state’s electric grid.
The green bonds, which are specifically earmarked for the development of transmission assets, will accelerate NYPA’s progress toward the state’s clean energy and climate goals, including the mandate to obtain 70% of the state’s electricity from renewable sources, as identified in the Climate Act.
The bond sale marks the first time in NYPA history that it has issued a 100% green bond to only support revenues derived from specific projects and not NYPA itself.
Sustainalytics, a company that rates the sustainability of companies based on their environmental, social and corporate governance performance, has also provided a second party opinion on the green bond designation.
The increase in capital will directly support the development of two ongoing large transmission projects:
- Smart Path, a $484 million project to improve 78 circuit-miles of transmission from Massena in St. Lawrence County to the Town of Croghan in Lewis County enabling transmission from clean energy projects in the North Country into the grid and to load centers;
- Central East Energy Connect, a $210 million project that includes the construction of more than 90 circuit-miles of new 345 kV and 115 kV transmission lines and two new substations between Marcy in the Mohawk Valley and New Scotland in the Capital Region.
The bond sale included approximately $600 million of tax-exempt Series 2022A Bonds and was completed on April 14. The interest rate that NYPA priced is 3.62 percent, which is the lowest rate of any bond ever issued by NYPA.
As a result of the NYPA’s retail marketing efforts, 50 percent — more than $300 million — of the bonds were sold to retail investors. The rating on the bonds was affirmed in March with an A1 from Moody’s, AA from S&P and AA- from Fitch.
NYPA owns approximately one-third percent of the high voltage transmission lines in the state.
Department of Energy Seeks Feedback On $2.5 Billion Grid Hardening Program
April 29, 2022
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
April 29, 2022
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) on April 27 released a request for information (RFI) seeking public input on the structure of a $2.5 billion formula grant program to strengthen and modernize America’s power grid against wildfires, extreme weather, and other natural disasters.
The new program was established by the bipartisan infrastructure law and will be administered through DOE’s new Building a Better Grid Initiative.
The infrastructure law’s program, “Preventing Outages and Enhancing the Resilience of the Electric Grid,” will provide grants based on a formula that includes, among other things, population size, land area, probability and severity of disruptive events, and a locality’s historical expenditures on mitigation efforts.
Grid modernization activities could include:
- Utility pole upkeep and removal of trees and other vegetation affecting grid performance
- Undergrounding electrical equipment
- Relocating or reconductoring powerlines
- Improvements to make the grid resistant to extreme weather
- Increasing fire resistant components
- Implementing monitoring, controls, and advanced modeling for real-time situational awareness
- Integrating distributed energy resources like microgrids and energy storage
The new program will ask applicants to describe the concrete outcomes they intend to seek and commit to specific progress metrics like reducing or shortening outages from severe events or by reducing risks to health and safety from such outages.
Applicants will also be asked to present objectives and metrics for workforce engagement, high labor standards, and quality job creation.
DOE said the program will award funding to a diverse set of populations, including underserved and disadvantaged communities.
The RFI seeks feedback from states and Tribal Nations to inform DOE’s structuring of the formula grants. Specific feedback is requested about anticipated application challenges, technical assistance support, and other critical data sources.
DOE is requesting feedback on the formula grant program Notice of Intent, draft application and award requirements, and draft award formula allocation. Comments must be received by June 27 and can be submitted by emailing 40101formulagrants@hq.doe.gov.
A public webinar will be held on May 5, 2022, from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. ET to provide additional information. Click here to register for the webinar.
Snohomish County PUD Partners With the City of Everett, WA on New Solar Project
April 27, 2022
by Vanessa Nikolic
APPA News
April 27, 2022
Washington State’s Snohomish County Public Utility District (PUD) and City of Everett are partnering on a solar project that will generate funds and assist PUD customers with paying their bills.
The solar project will be built in south Everett and will direct solar generation benefits to Project Providing Relief for Individuals Dependent on Energy (PRIDE), the PUD’s customer-funded income-qualified program that currently serves 500 customers annually.
Established in 1982, Project PRIDE is primarily funded by contributions from PUD customers. Funds are used to provide one-time grants for families and individuals who need help paying their energy bills.
In place of selling energy units to customers, Snohomish PUD will donate funds created by the new solar project to its Project PRIDE program. The program will receive an estimated additional $27,600 in annual energy credits through the community solar project.
The PUD was awarded a grant of $861,814 through the Washington Clean Energy Fund (CEF) 3 Low-Income Community Solar Deployment Program to help pay for the project. The CEF is managed by the Washington State Department of Commerce, which supports the development and deployment of clean energy technology.
The planned solar array will have a capacity of 375 kilowatts, generating enough electricity to power approximately 40 homes.
The estimated cost to build the array is around $1.5 million. Construction is scheduled to start later this year.
For more information on the project, visit the PUD’s website.
New York Regulators Approve Renewable Energy Contracts
April 26, 2022
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
April 26, 2022
The New York State Public Service Commission (PSC) recently approved contracts with Clean Path New York LLC for its Clean Path NY project and H.Q. Energy Services Inc. for its Champlain Hudson Power Express (CHPE) project to deliver solar, wind and hydroelectric power from upstate New York and Canada to New York City.
Clean Path NY comprises a 175-mile state-of-the-art transmission line, 3,800 megawatts of new in-state solar and wind power, and New York Power Authority’s (NYPA) existing Blenheim-Gilboa Pumped Storage Power Plant, a hydroelectric facility that will strengthen the reliability and resiliency of the project.
“Together, these assets will dramatically increase the delivery of reliable, cost-effective renewable energy into New York City to drive a significant reduction in the use of fossil fuel plants that are currently relied upon to serve the city’s peak energy needs,” NYPA noted.
The project is a partnership between Invenergy, energyRe and NYPA.
The CHPE project involves the construction of an underground and underwater transmission line spanning approximately 339 miles between the Canada–U.S. border and New York City and is being developed by Transmission Developers, Inc. and Hydro-Québec.
The PSC’s April 14 decision was bolstered by the City of New York’s confirmation that it will join in these landmark awards by agreeing to purchase a portion of the renewable attributes generated by the two projects, thus helping to make the scale of these projects possible while creating the opportunity to reduce the cost impact of these projects by up to $1.7 billion to all other ratepayers.
The New York State Office of General Services has also committed to entering into a contract with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) for Tier 4 renewable energy credits (RECs) associated with the energy used by State agencies and departments located in the city.
NYSERDA will also offer renewable attributes from these projects for voluntary purchase.
With approval of the contracts, NYSERDA payments will commence for each respective project once the project has obtained all required permits and approvals, has completed construction, and is delivering power to New York City, which is expected to begin in 2025 for the fully permitted CHPE project and 2027 for the Clean Path NY project.
Iowa’s Denison Municipal Utilities Recognized For Safety Efforts by State House of Representatives
April 26, 2022
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
April 26, 2022
Iowa public power utility Denison Municipal Utilities recently received a certificate of recognition from the Iowa House of Representatives after receiving a Safety Award of Excellence from the American Public Power Association (APPA).
The April 7 certificate of recognition said that Iowa Rep. Steven Holt noted that Denison Municipal Utilities deserves recognition for receiving first place in the Group C division for APPA’s Safety Award of Excellence.
“Any work injuries and illnesses can affect every aspect of life for our employees and their families,” said Rory Weis, General Manager for Denison Municipal Utilities.
“We appreciate the fact that all of our employees are safety conscious in the day-to-day activities as we provide essential services to the community,” he said.
APPA in late March 2022 said that 138 utilities earned the Safety Award of Excellence for safe operating practices in 2021.
There were 318 utilities from across the country that submitted applications for the annual Safety Awards. Entrants were placed in categories according to their number of worker-hours and ranked based on the most incident-free records during 2021.
A utility’s incidence rate, used to judge entries, is based on its number of work-related reportable injuries or illnesses and the number of worker-hours during 2021, as defined by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
DOE Announces Up To $1.6 Million In Grants For Nuclear Education
April 26, 2022
by Peter Maloney
APPA News
April 26, 2022
The Department of Energy (DOE) late last week announced plans to award up to $1.6 million over three years for programs that provide local communities with educational resources regarding the benefits of nuclear power.
The Funding Opportunity Announcement would provide up to 11 awards that would develop partnerships between the DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy and various communities.
The partnerships would work with educational entities and other constituencies to accomplish a “shared mission of utilizing nuclear energy to advance energy, environmental, and economic initiatives” with an emphasis on environmental justice.
The Biden administration has requested approximately $480,000.00 in fiscal year 2022 to fund the program. The awards are contingent upon the availability of funds appropriated by Congress.
“To implement the nuclear technologies of the future we need to communicate the benefits to every community, integrate energy justice into everything we do, and build the next generation of nuclear leaders,” Andrew Griffith acting assistant secretary for nuclear energy, said in a statement.
The DOE identified four areas of focus for the grants:
- The development of resources and educational materials for the community and local government officials;
- The creation of partnerships with organizations and communities at the frontlines of the energy transition who are impacted by and/or interested in nuclear energy and its fuel cycle;
- The development of materials for educators to help students understand the basics of nuclear science and encourage careers in Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) fields; and
- The funding of fellowships for international students to study nuclear engineering at American universities, national labs, and with industry partners.
The Biden administration has identified the current fleet of 93 reactors as a vital resource to achieve net-zero emissions economy wide by 2050. Nuclear power currently provides 52 percent of the nation’s carbon-free electricity.
Grant applications are available at Grants.gov and must be received to the DOE by July 20, 2022.
Pacific Northwest Lab Scientists Develop Prototype ‘Seasonal’ Battery
April 26, 2022
by Peter Maloney
APPA News
April 26, 2022
Scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory say they have developed a “freeze-thaw” battery that could potentially provide long-term “seasonal” energy storage.
The prototype battery, about the size of a hockey puck, uses molten salt technology to trap and store energy.
The work by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) scientists was published online March 23 in Cell Reports Physical Science.
“Longer-duration energy storage technologies are important for increasing the resilience of the grid when incorporating a large amount of renewable energy,” Imre Gyuk, director of energy storage at the Department of Energy Office of Electricity, said in a statement. “This research marks an important step toward a seasonal battery storage solution that overcomes the self-discharge limitations of today’s battery technologies.”
A seasonal battery could be used to capture the hydroelectric energy of spring water runoff and store it for use when summer electricity demand is high, or it could be used to enhance a utility’s ability to weather a power outage, the PNNL scientists said.
“It’s a lot like growing food in your garden in the spring, putting the extra in a container in your freezer, and then thawing it out for dinner in the winter,” Minyuan “Miller” Li, a postdoctoral researcher at PNNL and first author of the report, said in a statement.
The freeze-thaw battery is charged by heating it to 180 degrees Celsius (356 degrees Fahrenheit, allowing ions to flow through the liquid electrolyte to create chemical energy, and then colling the battery to room temperature, which causes the electrolyte to solidify. When the energy is needed, the battery is reheated and the energy flows.
The battery’s electrolyte is molten salt, which is liquid at higher temperatures but solid at room temperature. In tests, the PNNL freeze-thaw battery has retained 92 percent of its capacity over 12 weeks.
The prototype battery was designed to avoid the use of rate and highly reactive materials and, instead, uses an anode and cathode that are aluminum and nickel, respectively, in a molten salt electrolyte with the addition of sulfur to enhance the battery’s energy capacity. And the separator between the anode and the cathode is made of fiberglass instead of ceramic, which can be susceptible to breakage during the freeze-thaw cycle.
The prototype battery’s energy is stored at a materials cost of about $23 per kilowatt hour (kWh), which was measured before a recent jump in the cost of nickel, PNNL said.
The PNNL team said it is exploring the use of iron, which is less expensive, in hopes of bringing the materials cost down to around $6 per kWh, roughly 15 times less than the materials cost of today’s lithium-ion batteries.
The prototype battery’s theoretical energy density is 260 watt-hours per kilogram, which is higher than current lead-acid and flow batteries.
Vermont Senate Passes Budget That Provides AMI Funding For Public Power
April 26, 2022
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
April 26, 2022
The Vermont Senate recently approved an $8 billion budget that includes a significant investment for advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) in the state’s public power communities. The budget passed the Senate on April 20, 2022.
In March, House lawmakers recognized a need for AMI funding for public power and cooperative electric utilities. The House passed its version of the budget bill with $5 million in one-time funding from the General Fund appropriated to AMI.
The Senate Appropriations Committee then provided unanimous support for an additional $3 million in funding, for a total $8 million “towards the affordable, equitable implementation of AMI in Vermont’s rural communities,” the Vermont Public Power Supply Authority (VPPSA) noted.
The $8 million of AMI funding will be administered by the Vermont Department of Public Service. It will be applied as a reimbursement to public power and cooperative electric utilities that implement AMI systems that have been approved by the Vermont Public Utilities Commission.
The bill will now likely head to a conference committee consisting of House and Senate negotiators. Action on the budget will be taken by Vermont Governor Phil Scott later this spring.
VPPSA provides municipal electric utility members with a broad spectrum of services and solutions, including regulatory assistance, financial planning, and power supply.
VPPSA members include Barton Village, Village of Enosburg Falls, Hardwick Electric Department, Village of Jacksonville Electric Company, Village of Johnson Electric Department, Ludlow Electric Light Department, Lyndonville Electric Department, Morrisville Water & Light Department, Town of Northfield Electric Department, Village of Orleans, and Swanton Village Electric Department.
FERC Issues Proposal To Reform Regional Grid Planning, Cost Allocation Requirements
April 25, 2022
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
April 25, 2022
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on April 21 issued Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) to reform the Commission’s electric regional transmission planning and cost allocation requirements.
The proposed reforms are intended to remedy deficiencies in the Commission’s existing regional transmission planning and cost allocation requirements to ensure that Commission-jurisdictional rates remain just and reasonable and not unduly discriminatory or preferential, FERC staff noted in a presentation given at the Commission’s monthly open meeting (Docket No. RM21-17).
The NOPR, which was issued pursuant to Section 206 of the Federal Power Act, builds on FERC Order Nos. 888, 890, and 1000, in which the Commission incrementally developed the requirements that govern regional transmission planning and cost allocation processes to ensure that Commission-jurisdictional rates remain just and reasonable and not unduly discriminatory or preferential.
Of particular note to public power utilities, the NOPR seeks to promote joint ownership of transmission facilities by proposing to modify FERC Order No. 1000 to permit incumbent transmission owners to exercise a federal right of first refusal for transmission facilities selected in a regional transmission plan for purposes of cost allocation, conditioned on the incumbent transmission provider establishing joint ownership of those facilities.
In late 2021, the American Public Power Association (APPA) urged the Commission to promote joint transmission ownership through the transmission planning process. APPA’s comments came in response to an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANOPR) issued by FERC in July 2021 to reform its transmission planning, cost allocation, and generator interconnection rules.
Regional Transmission Planning
With respect to regional transmission planning, the reforms proposed in the NOPR would require transmission providers to conduct long-term regional transmission planning on a sufficiently forward-looking basis to meet transmission needs driven by changes in the resource mix and demand.
As part of this long-term regional transmission planning, transmission providers would be required to: (1) identify transmission needs driven by changes in the resource mix and demand through the development of long-term scenarios, including accounting for high-impact, low-frequency events such as extreme weather; (2) evaluate the benefits of regional transmission facilities to meet these needs over a time horizon that covers, at a minimum 20 years starting from the estimated in-service date of the transmission facilities; and, (3) establish transparent and not unduly discriminatory criteria to select transmission facilities in the regional transmission plan for purposes of cost allocation that more efficiently or cost-effectively address these transmission needs.
Additionally, the NOPR proposes to require that transmission providers more fully consider dynamic line ratings and advanced power flow control devices in regional transmission planning.
Cost Allocation
With respect to transmission cost allocation, the reforms proposed in the NOPR would require that transmission providers in each transmission planning region seek to obtain the agreement of relevant state entities within the transmission planning region regarding the cost allocation method or methods that will apply to transmission facilities selected in the regional transmission plan for purposes of cost allocation through long-term regional transmission planning and revise their OATTs to include those methods.
The NOPR also proposes to not permit transmission providers to take advantage of the Commission’s construction-work-in-progress (CWIP) rate incentive for transmission facilities selected in the regional plan for purposes of cost allocation through long-term regional transmission planning.
With respect to federal rights of first refusal, the NOPR proposes to amend Order No. 1000’s requirements, in part, to permit the exercise of federal rights of first refusal for transmission facilities selected in a regional transmission plan for purposes of cost allocation, conditioned on the incumbent transmission provider establishing joint ownership of the transmission facilities.
With respect to transparency and coordination, the NOPR proposes to require transmission providers to adopt enhanced transparency requirements for local transmission planning processes and improve coordination between regional and local transmission planning with the aim of identifying potential opportunities to “right-size” replacement transmission facilities.
With respect to interregional transmission coordination and cost allocation, the reforms proposed in the NOPR would require that transmission providers revise their existing interregional transmission coordination procedures to reflect the long-term regional transmission planning reforms proposed in the NOPR.
The proposed reforms in the NOPR related to regional transmission planning and cost allocation requirements, are focused on the transmission planning process, and not on any substantive outcomes that may result from this process.
The NOPR seeks comment on the proposed reforms and encourages commenters to identify enhancements to those reforms that could better support development of more efficient or cost-effective transmission facilities.
Comments on the NOPR are due 75 days from the date of publication in the Federal Register, with reply comments due 30 days after the initial comment deadline.
Commissioners Weigh In
“Transmission facilities provide a broad range of benefits,” FERC Chairman Rich Glick said. “Planning for those facilities with a longer-term forward-looking approach, in addition to fairly allocating their costs, is essential to ensuring we are developing energy infrastructure in a manner that reduces costs and enhances reliability.”
FERC Commissioner Allison Clements said in her opening statement at the meeting that the NOPR “is not a plan to foist the costs of one state’s policies onto another. It is also not a policy action to advance renewable energy interests.”
The NOPR “contains a sensible suite of reforms to shore up” cost protections and reliability of the U.S. electricity system “based on clear market signals about generation development and demand, the risks of extreme weather, and the increasing threat of cyber- and physical attacks,” she said.
Commissioners Christie and Phillips Concurred With Order
Commissioners Willie Phillips and Mark Christie concurred with the order.
“The record here appears to show that transmission expansion is increasingly occurring in a piecemeal and inefficient fashion outside of the regional transmission planning process, which may not be cost-effective for consumers in the long run,” said Phillips.
“While commenters’ views vary on how best to address this problem, nearly all commenters endorse some form of proactive planning for the future resource mix and demand,” he said in the concurrence.
“I believe the NOPR proposal to require long-term scenario planning, including accounting for extreme weather events, is necessary to maintain the reliability of the grid and to ensure that transmission costs are just and reasonable,” wrote Phillips. “I also note that while this NOPR proposes to require the evaluation of benefits of long-term regional transmission facilities over a 20-year time horizon, it does not propose to prescribe any particular definition of ‘benefits’ or ‘beneficiaries,’ nor require use of any specific benefit.”
Commissioner Christie noted in his concurrence that the NOPR “will formally put the states — for the first time — at the center of regional transmission planning and cost allocation decision-making for policy-driven projects in all regional transmission entities, if the states choose.”
The NOPR “will shift the risk of financing policy-driven projects from consumers back to developers, where it should be.”
He said that he “will not support any final rule that exceeds our FPA authority and/or threatens to cause unjust and unreasonable rates to consumers.”
Commissioner Danly dissents
In his dissent, Commissioner Danly said that while he welcomes long term transmission planning reform, he would prefer that Regional Transmission Organizations (RTOs) and other interested utilities “simply file their own proposals” under section 205 of the FPA. “They are fully capable of proposing rate changes and reforms on their own,” he wrote.
The NOPR “goes far beyond that. It contemplates a Federal Power Act section 206 finding that existing transmission planning across the nation—in every region, for every utility and market—is so unjust and unreasonable that it must be replaced with mandatory, pervasive, and invasive ‘reforms,’” Danly argued.
He further asserted that the NOPR’s “primary purpose is to achieve narrow environmental policy objectives, not to address legitimate requirements under the Federal Power Act like ensuring just and reasonable rates or reliability.”
While he believes the NOPR is a mistake, “I am happy to be convinced that particular reforms are justified by sound legal argument and solid record evidence,” Danly went on to say. “Where reform is needed to ensure just and reasonable rates and reliable service, and the reform itself is just and reasonable, I can be persuaded that it is worthy of support.”
But he reiterated his strong preference that FERC allow utilities to file their own transmission planning solutions under FPA section 205.
He said that if the Commission really believes that it cannot rely on utilities to seek more efficient transmission planning of their own volition, “my second option would be to issue section 206 orders requiring the RTOs to show cause why their existing transmission planning processes are just and reasonable. Whether you agree or disagree with these alternative procedural vehicles for change, please say so in your comments.”