EIA Forecasts Drop In Natural Gas Generation As Renewable Energy Resources Increase
January 29, 2022
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
January 29, 2022
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) expects rising electricity generation from renewable energy resources such as solar and wind will reduce generation from fossil fuel-fired power plants over the next two years.
The forecast share of generation for U.S. non-hydropower renewable sources, including solar and wind, grows from 13% in 2021 to 17% in 2023, EIA said on Jan. 18 in its latest Short-Term Energy Outlook.
EIA is also forecasting that the share of generation from natural gas will fall from 37% in 2021 to 34% by 2023 and the coal share will decline from 23% to 22%.
“One of the most significant shifts in the mix of U.S. electricity generation over the past 10 years has been the rapid expansion of renewable energy resources, especially solar and wind,” EIA noted.
The amount of solar power generating capacity operated by the U.S. electric power sector at the end of 2021 is 20 times more than it was at the end of 2011, and U.S. wind power capacity is more than twice what it was 10 years ago.
Another significant shift in the generation mix has been a steady decline in the use of coal-fired power plants since their peak output in 2007 and the increasing use of natural gas, primarily as a result of sustained low natural gas prices, EIA said.
But that trend reversed in 2021 when the cost of natural gas delivered to U.S. electric generators averaged $4.88 per million British thermal units, more than double the average cost in 2020. As a result, the share of generation from natural gas declined from 39% in 2020 to 37% last year, while the share of generation from coal rose for the first time since 2014 to average 23%.
In its current Short-Term Energy Outlook, EIA forecasts that most of the growth in U.S. electricity generation in 2022 and 2023 will come from new renewable energy sources.
EIA estimates that the electric power sector had 63 gigawatts (GW) of existing solar power generating capacity operating at the end of 2021. “We forecast solar capacity will grow by about 21 GW in 2022 and by 25 GW in 2023. We expect that 7 GW of wind generating capacity will be added in 2022 and another 4 GW in 2023. Operating wind capacity totaled 135 GW at the end of 2021,” EIA said.
“Our forecast of growth in renewable electricity generation over the next two years leads to our forecast of a reduced need for fossil-fueled generation,” the federal agency said.
Although it expects natural gas prices for electric generators to decline, the operating costs of renewable generators will continue to be generally lower than natural gas-fired units, according to EIA.
“We expect that regions of the country with the largest increases in renewable capacity, such as Texas and the Midwest/Central regions, will experience the largest reductions in natural gas generation.”
DOE Unveils Several New Initiatives Aimed At Removing Community Solar Barriers
January 28, 2022
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
January 28, 2022
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) on Jan. 25 unveiled several new initiatives to remove barriers to the deployment of community solar.
Together, the initiatives will help achieve the National Community Solar Partnership’s (NCSP) target to enable community solar to power the equivalent of five million households and create $1 billion in energy bill savings by 2025, DOE said.
The American Public Power Association is a member of NCSP, which is a coalition of community solar stakeholders working to expand access to affordable community solar.
Attendees at NCSP’s annual summit on Jan. 25 discussed NCSP’s “Pathway to Success,” a plan to address persistent barriers to equitable access.
The plan has five focus areas: developing community solar knowledge and know-how, expanding state-level programs, improving access to financing, reducing customer acquisition barriers and broadening awareness of the benefits of community solar programs.
The initiatives supporting this pathway include:
- A new States Collaborative, engaging nearly half of the nation’s states and the District of Columbia, which will support expansion and development of new community solar programs at the state level. This will be made up of state energy officials and program administrators and by providing best practices, technical assistance, and opportunities for direct peer-to-peer learning.
- The Credit Ready Solar Initiative, which will help community solar developers better access project financing. This initiative will bring together lenders, philanthropic institutions, and community solar developers — especially those that are community-based or serve low- to moderate-income households — to create standard processes and a marketplace for deploying project capital.
- A $2 million NCSP Technical Assistance program, which is offered on a rolling basis at no cost to NCSP partners and provides personalized support to help them accelerate implementation, improve the performance of their program or project, and build capacity for future community solar development.
Additional information about NCSP is available here.
Garden City, Kansas, Buys T&D Facilities, Marking Final Major Step For Power System Revamp
January 27, 2022
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
January 27, 2022
Garden City, Kansas, recently purchased transmission and distribution facilities from a rural electric cooperative, marking the final major step that the city has taken as part of revamping the city’s electric system.
Garden City’s public power utility was established in 1914 and currently serves 11,500 meters. The utility has a Platinum Reliable Public Power Provider rating from the American Public Power Association.
Before January 2014, Garden City was a full-requirement customer of the local electric cooperative for power supply and had been for over 30 years.
However, on January 1, 2014, Garden City began receiving all of its power supply needs from the Kansas Municipal Energy Agency (KMEA), which included the installation of 27 megawatts of natural gas generation at the Jameson Energy Center located in Garden City.
The move to KMEA has saved the city millions of dollars per year in power supply expenses. But the city was still paying the local electric cooperative a local access charge of $500,000 per year for 115-kV transmission access.
In 2017 and 2018, Garden City made plans to construct transmission lines and substations for access to the 115-kV transmission system, additional capacity, and better reliability.
In the spring of 2019, the local electric cooperative offered to sell portions of its system that would provide the city access to the 115-kV transmission system at a lesser cost than building new which would have created some stranded investments for the cooperative.
The city had offered to purchase some of the facilities years before, but those offers were not accepted.
Garden City ultimately agreed to purchase four substations and 1.5 miles (99 distribution poles) of distribution lines. Two of the four substations provided direct access to the 115-kV transmission system.
The city installed larger substation class transformers and upgraded them to include electronic equipment breakers /relays and connected it all to its SCADA system.
The city closed on this project at the end of 2021, and now has direct access, additional capacity and better reliability that it has sought since 2014 and no longer needs to pay the $500,000 local access charge per year.
Reading Municipal Light Department Launches Renewable Choice Program
January 27, 2022
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
January 27, 2022
The Reading Municipal Light Department (RMLD) in Massachusetts recently announced the upcoming launch of its renewable choice opt-in program that will allow customers to support additional renewable energy resources above and beyond RMLD’s annual non-carbon energy targets.
Funds from the renewable choice program will be used to retire additional New England Power Pool Generation Information System compliant renewable certificates, specifically Mass Class 1 certificates.
The program launches February 1, 2022 for residential customers and will be available to commercial and industrial customers this spring.
Customers can choose to contribute at one of three levels to bring their monthly electricity usage to 50%, 75%, or 100% renewable/non-carbon. The renewable choice charge will be based on the participating customer’s monthly kilowatt hour (kWh) usage and will be added as a line item on the customer’s monthly electric bill.
A one-year commitment is required, and customers must be current with their bill to sign up.
Additional information about the program is available here: https://www.rmld.com/home/pages/renewable-choice.
The page also features a calculator which allows customers to input their monthly kWh usage to see how much their monthly renewable choice charge would be for all three available participation percentage levels.
Established in 1894, RMLD is a municipal electric utility serving over 70,000 residents in the towns of Reading, North Reading, Wilmington, and Lynnfield Center. RMLD has over 30,000 meter connections within its service territory.
SMUD Unveils First Utility-Scale Storage Battery Project
January 26, 2022
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
January 26, 2022
Officials from California’s Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) on Jan. 24 were joined by regional leaders for a ribbon-cutting of SMUD’s first utility-scale storage battery project.
With the ribbon cutting, the public power utility unveiled six large-scale lithium-ion battery storage units at the Hedge Solar Farm in south Sacramento, a pilot project that will demonstrate the feasibility of utility-scale battery storage.
The large-scale lithium-ion battery system is a step forward in SMUD’s vision to add 1,100 megawatts (MW) of battery storage over the next decade, a keystone to the utility’s 2030 Zero Carbon Plan.
Hedge Solar Farm batteries will provide 4 MW of electricity and 8 megawatt-hours of storage. The six battery containers are 20 feet long, weigh 52,000 pounds each, and house 3,840 interconnected battery cells.
This is the largest battery installation in the greater Sacramento area and the first of its kind for a publicly owned utility in California, SMUD said.
The following officials attended the ribbon cutting:
SMUD CEO and General Manager Paul Lau
Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif.
SMUD Board of Directors Vice President Heidi Sanborn
Sacramento Mayor Darrel Steinberg
Sacramento Councilman Eric Guerra
California Assemblymember Kevin McCarty
California Assemblymember Ken Cooley
Matthew Nelson of Electrify America
John Roeser of Mitsubishi
Platte River Power Authority To Join Market Operated By Southwest Power Pool
January 26, 2022
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
January 26, 2022
Colorado’s Platte River Power Authority, Xcel Energy-Colorado and Black Hills Colorado Electric on Jan. 25 announced plans today to join the Western Energy Imbalance Service (WEIS) Market, operated by the Southwest Power Pool (SPP).
Platte River, based in Fort Collins, and the two investor-owned utilities expect to join the WEIS in April 2023 and will continue to study long-term solutions for joining or developing an organized wholesale market.
An energy imbalance market is a real-time market in which energy generation from multiple power providers is dispatched at the lowest possible cost to reliably serve the combined customer demand of the region.
“Joining the WEIS will expand the benefits we gained from the joint dispatch agreement (JDA) on behalf of our owner communities,” said Jason Frisbie, general manager and CEO of Platte River, in a statement. “We’ve created excellent partnerships through the JDA that currently provide great value to our customers. Moving into an energy imbalance market brings Platte River one step closer to a noncarbon energy future.”
Xcel Energy-Colorado currently operates under a JDA that enables sharing generation between Platte River, Black Hills Colorado Electric and public power utility Colorado Springs Utilities within its Balancing Authority Area.
The group explored participation in the Western Energy Imbalance Market operated by the California Independent System Operator as well as the WEIS operated by SPP.
Xcel Energy took a step back from joining the Western Energy Imbalance Market last year after one of its energy partners joined the WEIS.
After further analysis, the group decided the best interim option was to move into the WEIS due to geographic diversity and existing interconnections. The utilities’ participation in the WEIS will replace the JDA and is expected to bring additional production cost savings to customers.
The three organizations remain committed to evaluating a longer term and broader regional market structure that will ensure system reliability and improve the integration of wind and solar energy on the system.
In October, they announced participation in the Western Markets Exploratory Group (WMEG) and are committed to working with the WMEG to evaluate different market options that reduce costs, increase reliability, and help promote their strategies to create a carbon free electricity system.
Participants in the WMEG will consider market structures that expand on energy imbalance markets and will evaluate broader market designs for the western region, including a staged approach to new market services, to see if those designs can enhance their ability to provide clean, reliable and low-cost energy service to their customers.
The agreement to join the WEIS still requires approval through appropriate regulatory processes.
USDA Launches $10 Million Program For Rural Renewables Projects
January 26, 2022
by Peter Maloney
APPA News
January 26, 2022
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is making up to $10 million available to help residents of rural towns develop community renewable energy projects.
The funds, available through the new Rural Energy Pilot Program, can be used to deploy community-scale renewable energy technologies and innovations to reduce climate pollution and increase resilience to the impacts of climate change.
The technologies can include solar, wind, geothermal, micro-hydroelectric and biomass/bioenergy projects. Up to 20 percent of awarded funds may also be used for community energy planning, capacity building, technical assistance, energy efficiency and weatherization.
As part of the pilot program, the USDA is offering priority points to projects that advance key priorities under the Biden-Harris administration to help communities recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, advance equity and combat climate change. The points will increase the likelihood of funding for projects seeking to address the identified rural challenges.
The USDA said details on a planned informational webinar will be posted on the Rural Energy Pilot Program webpage.
GM Plan For More Than $7 Billion In EV Investments Includes Battery Cell Plant In Lansing
January 26, 2022
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
January 26, 2022
General Motors Co. on Jan. 25 announced an investment of more than $7 billion in four Michigan manufacturing sites including construction of a new battery cell plant in the public power community of Lansing, Mich., as well as two Lansing-area vehicle assembly plants to upgrade their production capabilities for near-term products.
This is the single largest investment announcement in GM history.
New Ultium Cells Battery Cell Plant At Lansing Site
GM and LG Energy Solution, via their Ultium Cells joint venture, are investing $2.6 billion to build Ultium Cells’ third U.S. battery cell manufacturing plant. This investment is expected to create more than 1,700 new Ultium Cells jobs when the plant is fully operational.
Site preparations will begin this summer and battery cell production is scheduled to begin in late 2024. Ultium Cells Lansing will supply battery cells to Orion Assembly and other GM assembly plants.
The Ultium Cells Lansing site represents GM’s third Ultium Cells battery cell manufacturing site in the U.S., following two Ultium Cells battery cell manufacturing plants being constructed in Ohio and Tennessee.
In addition to the EV-related investments in Michigan, GM is investing more than $510 million in its two Lansing-area vehicle assembly plants to upgrade their production capabilities for near-term products:
- Lansing Delta Township Assembly: Investment is for production of the next-generation Chevrolet Traverse and Buick Enclave.
- Lansing Grand River Assembly: Investment is for plant upgrades.
Vertically integrating battery assembly and converting existing assembly plants are at the core of GM’s strategy for scaling EV production in North America, the company said. GM projects it will convert 50 percent of its North American assembly capacity to EV production by 2030.
“The Lansing Board of Water & Light is thrilled to provide the energy to power GM’s new battery plant in Delta Township,” Dick Peffley, General Manager of Lansing Board of Water and Light (BWL), said in a statement.
“As GM reinvents the auto industry, BWL is proud that we’ll continue providing GM’s utility services, just as we’ve done for more than 100 years,” he said.
“The BWL’s unique position as a publicly owned, hometown utility provided the opportunity to collaborate with General Motors on this transformational project, which will provide unprecedented economic opportunity and growth to the greater Lansing area,” Peffley said. “I want to recognize the talented BWL workforce and commend our state, regional and local leadership that contributed to making this once in a generation opportunity a reality.”
Orion Assembly For Production Of Chevrolet Silverado EV And Electric GMC Sierra
GM is also investing $4 billion to convert the Orion facility to produce electric trucks using the GM-developed Ultium Platform, which gives the company the flexibility to build vehicles for every customer and segment.
This investment is expected to create more than 2,350 new jobs at Orion and retain approximately 1,000 current jobs when the plant is fully operational. GM estimates the new jobs at Orion will be filled by a combination of GM transferees and new hires.
Electric truck production, including the Chevrolet Silverado EV and electric GMC Sierra, will begin at Orion in 2024. The Orion investment will drive significant facility and capacity expansion at the site, including new body and paint shops and new general assembly and battery pack assembly areas, GM said.
Production of the Chevrolet Bolt EV and EUV will continue during the plant’s conversion. Site work will begin immediately.
BPA, Western Utilities Propose New Plan For Major Transmission Line
January 25, 2022
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
January 25, 2022
The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), Idaho Power and PacifiCorp have reached a non-binding agreement that clarifies and updates roles and responsibilities for the Boardman to Hemingway (B2H) transmission line, a 500-kilovolt, 290-mile transmission line that would deliver 1,000 megawatts of power in each direction between the Pacific Northwest and Mountain west.
Under the agreement, Idaho Power and PacifiCorp, both of which are investor-owned utilities, will jointly own the B2H transmission line, with PacifiCorp owning 55% and Idaho Power owning 45%.
Idaho Power will acquire an ownership interest in PacifiCorp transmission lines and other equipment between eastern Idaho and the Four Corners Substation in northwest New Mexico.
BPA will transfer its ownership interest in B2H to Idaho Power and will not participate in construction or have any ownership interest in the transmission line project.
Facilities currently used by PacifiCorp to serve BPA’s customers in and around southeast Idaho will be transferred to Idaho Power.
BPA will acquire transmission service over Idaho Power’s transmission system, including the newly constructed B2H, to reliably and cost-effectively serve public utility customers in Idaho, Wyoming and Montana.
Under the agreement, PacifiCorp will acquire Idaho Power transmission assets across southern Idaho that, combined with its majority stake in Boardman-Hemingway, will increase its contiguous power transfer capability between its Western and Eastern systems, and will acquire additional transmission service from BPA to enable it to serve its growing customer base in central Oregon.
With the non-binding term sheet developed, the three organizations will move into a negotiation phase to finalize the agreements and seek regulatory approval.
BPA issued a letter to its regional stakeholders and customers that outlines the proposal, describes the background and explains the process for engaging with BPA on this topic. The letter is available here.
The term sheet and background information about B2H is available at the project website.
B2H is expected to come online in 2026.
Supreme Court Agrees To Consider Case Involving Clean Water Act
January 25, 2022
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
January 25, 2022
The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 25 agreed to consider a case that involves the scope of the Clean Water Act (CWA) and, more specifically, whether an appeals court set forth the proper test for determining whether wetlands are “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) under the CWA.
The Supreme Court granted a petition to review Sackett v. EPA. In that case, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that then-Justice Anthony Kennedy’s “significant nexus” test from Rapanos v. United States and not the Rapanos plurality’s “relatively permanent waters” standard, determines whether wetlands are subject to CWA regulation.
The court’s review is likely to have significant implications for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Army Corps of Engineers’ interpretation of the scope of CWA jurisdiction over WOTUS, including the agencies’ current WOTUS rulemaking.
The case will likely be heard during the court’s October term, with a final decision likely in late 2022 or early 2023.
In late 2021, EPA and the U.S. Department of the Army proposed to reestablish the pre-2015 definition of WOTUS. The proposed rule is updated to reflect U.S. Supreme Court precedent, the agencies said.
The American Public Power Association (APPA) in September 2021 submitted comments in response to a request for recommendations to revise and refine the regulatory definition of WOTUS. In those comments, APPA advocated that a new definition must draw clear jurisdictional lines, provide needed predictability for the regulated community, and be consistent with the Clean Water Act and Supreme Court precedent.
It is uncertain at this point whether – and if so how – the Supreme Court’s review may affect the timing or substance of the agencies’ current WOTUS rulemaking.
“The court’s decision may be highly instructive on the issues at the heart of the pending WOTUS rulemaking and could raise serious questions about the approach in the agencies’ proposed rule,” said Carolyn Slaughter, Director, Environmental Policy, at APPA.