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Biden Administration takes steps to boost deployment of EVs, chargers

April 27, 2021

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
April 27, 2021

The Biden Administration on April 22 unveiled a series of actions intended to accelerate deployment of electric vehicles (EVs) and chargers.

Department of Transportation

The Department of Transportation announced the fifth round of “Alternative Fuel Corridors” designations.

This program, created by the FAST Act in 2015, recognizes highway segments that have infrastructure plans to allow travel on alternative fuels, including electricity, a White House fact sheet noted.

The first four rounds of designations included portions of 119 Interstates and 100 U.S. highways and state roads. Round five includes nominations from 25 states for 51 interstates and 50 U.S. highways and state roads.

The cumulative designations (Rounds 1-5) for all fuel types (electric, hydrogen, propane, natural gas) include 134 Interstates and 125 U.S. highways/State roads, covering almost 166,000 miles of the national highway system in 49 States plus the District of Columbia.

Of that total, the Federal Highway Administration has designated EV corridors on approximately 59,000 miles of the NHS in 48 states plus DC.

The DOT also issued a new report clarifying how its programs can be used for EV charging infrastructure. Many existing programs have this as an eligible use and this guidance can expand how many funded entities take advantage of that, the White House noted. “This could increase the use for EV charging infrastructure of $41.9 billion in federal grant funding in 15 specific programs,” the fact sheet said.

Department of Energy

Meanwhile, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced new research funding opportunities on three EV charging related topics:

DOE and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) also announced a national EV charging technical blueprint including fast charging and grid interaction. This blueprint will assess needs in terms of connectivity, communication, protocols from utility down to vehicle, to support electrification of the full vehicle fleet.

In addition, DOE announced that the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is partnering with global and domestic automakers to analyze anonymous vehicle charging data that describe market-level trends of operation and charging behavior for a large sample of U.S. consumer EVs.

To guide this work, DOE, INL, and automakers formed a working group to provide feedback on INL analysis and modeling efforts.

Biden American Jobs Plan includes investment in EVs

In his American Jobs Plan, President Biden proposed a $174 billion investment in EVs.

Among other things, the plan calls for establishing grant and incentive programs for state and local governments and the private sector to build a national network of 500,000 EV chargers by 2030.

APPA offers resources to members on EVs

The American Public Power Association offers a wide range of resources to its members related to EVs.

For additional information, click here.

Biden unveils new target for U.S. economy-wide net GHG emissions reductions

April 26, 2021

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
April 26, 2021

President Joseph Biden on April 22 announced a new target for the U.S. to achieve a 50 to 52 percent reduction from 2005 levels in economy-wide net greenhouse gas emissions in 2030.

The announcement was made during the Leaders Summit on Climate that was hosted by Biden and included 40 world leaders and took place over two days with eight sessions.

“America’s 2030 target picks up the pace of emissions reductions in the United States, compared to historical levels, while supporting President Biden’s existing goals to create a carbon pollution-free power sector by 2035 and net zero emissions economy by no later than 2050,” a White House fact sheet related to the announcement said.

Earlier this year, Biden directed the U.S. to rejoin the Paris Agreement. As part of re-entering the Paris Agreement, he also launched a whole-of-government process, organized through his National Climate Task Force, to establish the new 2030 emissions target – known as the “nationally determined contribution (NDC), a formal submission to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). 

The April 22 announcement was the product of this government-wide assessment.

The Biden administration has not provided a detailed plan on how the overall goal will be met. It seems clear that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will pursue it using the legal authority it has under the Clean Air Act (CAA) and other statutes, but emission reductions are also premised on funding contained in previously announced infrastructure plans.

At present, there are enforceable GHG standards for new fossil fuel-fired electric generating units (EGUs), but it is unclear how the administration will proceed following the vacatur of the Affordable Clean Energy Rule by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. While the D.C. Circuit vacated both the ACE Rule and EPA’s repeal of the Clean Power Plan, upon request, the court issued a partial mandate to stay the vacatur of the Clean Power Plan until EPA can engage in a new rulemaking.

Also unclear is what part of the contemplated 50-52 percent reduction can be achieved through existing statutes and regulation and what part is contingent upon new legislative authority and/or funding.

Additional details on the summit are available here.

CAISO board adopts final set of 2021 summer readiness initiatives

April 26, 2021

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
April 26, 2021

The California Independent System Operator’s (CAISO) Board of Governors on April 21 adopted a final suite of market and operational improvements intended to support grid reliability throughout the West during tight supply conditions.

The board approved the Market Enhancements for Summer 2021 Readiness-Export, Load and Wheeling Priorities initiative, which will refine the prioritization of energy imports, exports, and transfers through the ISO’s balancing authority area (BAA), CAISO noted.

The initiative, slated for implementation in July, “enhances the ISO’s ability to reliably manage intertie energy transactions during electricity shortages such as those that occurred during the August 2020 heatwave that caused rotating power outages,” the grid operator said.

The initiative was the final near-term summer readiness initiative for the Board’s consideration and, if approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), will be effective until May 31, 2022.

The ISO is scheduled to begin a regional stakeholder process on a long-term solution to wheeling priorities — energy transfers through the ISO’s BAA — in the coming months.

Because the initiative generally affects the real-time energy market, the Western EIM Governing Body last week met to consider the proposal under its advisory role to the Board of Governors and voted to advise the board to take the necessary steps to start a regional stakeholder process and engage the FERC as necessary to proactively create a durable long-term regional solution to the issues relating to export, load, and wheeling priorities.

In March, the Board of Governors and the EIM Governing Body in part, adopted the bulk of market enhancements for summer 2021 readiness to prepare for extreme heat waves that could affect California and the West this summer.

CAISO president and CEO Elliot Mainzer discussed CAISO’s preparation for this summer in a recent episode of the American Public Power Association’s Public Power Now podcast.

Maine legislators announce plan to convert state’s IOUs to consumer ownership

April 26, 2021

by Peter Maloney
APPA News
April 26, 2021

A bipartisan group of legislators in Maine last week announced plans to introduce legislation that would create a consumer owned utility that would take over the electric service now provided by Central Maine Power (CMP) and Versant Power.

Together, the two investor-owned utilities serve 96.2 percent of the state’s residential load and have 963,187 residential customers, according to state regulators. The remaining residential load is served by public power utilities – or consumer-owned utilities, as they are known in Maine – and electric cooperatives.

“Our new bill, ‘An Act to Create the Pine Tree Power Company,’ will allow us to control our own money and our own energy destiny — to advance fast and fairly toward our own clean energy and connectivity future,” Democratic Rep. Seth Berry, sponsor of the bill and House Chair of the Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee, said in a statement.

The bill will likely be printed in late April and have its first legislative hearing in May, Berry said via email. If the bill is passed later this year, the conversion would likely take three or four years. Unlike many successful conversions Pine Tree Power would face few legal hurdles and would bear no separation cost, Berry said.

The effort to convert Maine’s electric service to consumer ownership is supported by Our Power, a coalition of ratepayers, business leaders, energy experts, and conservationists. Proponents cite high electric rates, high outage rates, and the foreign ownership of CMP and Versant.

“Maine’s for-profit, investor-owned utilities — CMP and Versant — are charging Maine households 58% more than our consumer-owned utilities,” Democratic Rep. Nicole Grohoski, a member of the legislature’s utilities committee, said in a statement. If CMP and Versant charged the same average rate as consumer-owned utilities, Mainers would save $155 million/year, she said.

“Right now, foreign governments and foreign corporations own Maine’s major utility monopolies,” Republican Senator Rick Bennett, said in a statement. “This ownership model has been a disaster, leaving Maine with the most outages, the longest outages, the worst customer service, and among the highest rates in the country.”

Central Maine Power is a subsidiary of Avangrid, which owns eight electric and gas utilities in New York and New England. Avangrid is part of Spanish energy company Iberdrola Group.

Versant Power, formerly Emera Maine, was formed when Bangor Hydro Electric and Maine Public Service merged in 2014. Versant is owned by Enmax, based in Calgary, Alberta.

The conversion proposal, as it now stands, calls for Pine Tree Power to be governed by an elected board of directors, as well as four expert advisory members chosen by the elected officials, Berry said.

The board and management staff would solicit bids for executives to replace CMP’s and Versant’s current executive leadership and to oversee the utility’s day-to-day operations. All other CMP and Versant workers would retain their jobs and pensions. The new utility would also be subject to regulation by Maine’s regulatory commission, Berry said.

The current plan calls for Pine Tree Power to pay between net book value and 1.5 times net book value for CMP’s and Versant’s assets, “far less than the IOUs suggest,” Berry said.

Looking ahead, future costs would be lower because Pine Tree Power could use tax-exempt revenue bonds to finance its infrastructure at interest rates of 2 to 3 percent, compared with 8 to 14 percent for the IOUs, reducing future capital expenditures and saving $9 billion over 30 years, according to Our Power’s website.

The current proposal is not the first time a conversion proposal has been floated in Maine. In early 2019, Berry sponsored a bill that would have created Maine Power Delivery Authority that would have bought CMP and Versant. That bill died at the conclusion of the legislative session in November 2020.

In explaining the previous bill’s failure, Berry said, “due diligence takes time,” noting that the legislative session was adjourned early because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He also noted the differences introduced in the new proposal, namely, a directly elected board of directors, added benefits to workers and communities, and a clarified mission.

Texas expected to add 10 GW of solar by 2023, according to EIA

April 25, 2021

by Peter Maloney
APPA News
April 25, 2021

Texas is on track to add 10 gigawatts (GW) of utility-scale solar power by year-end 2022, a surge that would represent one-third of 30 GW expected to come online in the U.S. by 2023 and would put the Lone Star State within reach of California’s lead in solar power capacity, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Texas’ solar power boom began in 2020 with the addition of 2.5 GW of capacity. The EIA’s Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory now expects the state to add 4.6 GW of solar capacity in 2021 and 5.4 GW in 2022, which will bring total installed solar capacity in Texas to 14.9 GW.

The EIA expects California to have nearly 18 GW of utility-scale solar capacity online by year-end 2022.

With 30.2 GW, Texas leads the nation in wind power capacity, and 2020 was a record year for wind power installations nationwide, but solar power installations are expected to outstrip wind installations between 2020 and 2022, according to the EIA.

The EIA expects almost half of the new generation added over the next two years in Texas will be solar power plants, surpassing wind expected contribution of 35 percent of new generation and natural gas’ expected 13 percent contribution.

The growth in solar power is being spurred by the availability of the federal Investment Tax Credit (ITC), EIA said. Utility-scale solar projects that begin construction in 2021 or 2022 are eligible for a 26 percent tax credit. The tax credit drops to 22 percent for projects that start in 2023 and to 10 percent for projects that start in 2024 or later.

The growth in solar power is also being driven by declining costs and, particularly in the Permian Basin in West Texas, plentiful sunlight. Between 2013 and 2018, average capacity weighted construction costs for utility-scale solar generation fell 50 percent while costs for wind fell 27 percent and costs for natural gas fell 13 percent, according to the EIA.

In addition, because most solar power is generated during the middle of the day when wind generation is typically lower, Texas has available transmission capacity to handle the increase in solar output, the EIA report noted.

Despite the recent growth of solar capacity in Texas, utility-scale solar still only made up 4 percent of the state’s generating capacity in 2020 and 2 percent of in-state generation, the EIA noted. Natural gas-fired generation made up 53 percent of Texas’s capacity in 2020 and 52 percent of in-state generation. Wind power comprised 23 percent of the state’s capacity and 20 percent of in-state generation.

Last November, three Texas public power cities – Bryan, Denton and Garland – entered into agreements to buy energy from a 1,310-megawatt solar plant that is expected to be the largest solar farm in the nation when it is completed in 2023.

Pennsylvania report recommends increasing solar-plus-storage projects

April 25, 2021

by Peter Maloney
APPA News
April 25, 2021

Pennsylvania should pair grid-scale solar arrays with battery energy storage to help reduce carbon dioxide emissions and increase grid resilience, according to a report released by the state’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).

One way to encourage the growth of energy storage would be to set a state energy storage capacity target, the report, Pennsylvania Energy Storage Assessment: Status, Barriers, and Opportunities, said, noting that seven other states have already set energy storage targets.

The report’s aim, which was commissioned by the DEP’s Energy Programs Office and prepared by Strategen Consulting, was to determine the best path forward to increasing energy storage statewide. The report was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s State Energy Program.

Pennsylvania currently has about 1.5 gigawatts (GW) of energy storage capacity in the form of 22 operating or announced energy storage projects, including 1.07 GW of pumped hydro storage facilities, 18 megawatts (MW) of lithium-ion batteries, 12.5 MW of lead carbon batteries, 6 MW of ice and chilled water thermal storage, as well as smaller amounts of other technologies.

“Pennsylvania’s climate continues to get warmer, and we’ve already started seeing the impacts, with increasing swings in temperature and extreme weather,” Patrick McDonnell, DEP secretary, said in a statement. “Solar-plus-storage can help in two ways: It can help slow down climate change by incorporating more clean renewable energy into Pennsylvanians’ daily electricity use, and it can also make the grid more reliable during extreme weather events, better protecting Pennsylvanians’ health and safety as well as critical facilities.”

Strategen used two scenarios in conducting the analysis in the report. One involved utility scale solar-plus-storage systems to serve the grid, the other used stand alone behind-the-meter energy storage systems that provide electricity customers with direct savings on their bills.

The first scenario found the potential for “significant economic and environmental benefits,” particularly if solar-plus-storage projects are supported by public- or ratepayer-funded investments to buy down the incremental costs of adding storage to solar power purchase agreements. Strategen found that about $65 million of public investment in energy storage could be used to leverage private investment and yield $545 million annually in grid and environmental benefits.

In the second scenario, the report found that under current retail rate structures, energy storage provides very limited value to customers in the form of direct bill savings. Analyzing multiple configurations of energy storage sizes and durations, the report found that most resulted in negative payback.

The report also looked at barriers to energy storage development and, among other recommendations, said Pennsylvania should “establish a storage procurement goal or target.” As an example, the report said a storage target linked to 25 percent of the state’s Solar Future plan could “equate to 1,500 MW of storage by 2030 and yield an estimated benefit of about $273 million per year.

The report also said a target for behind-the-meter energy storage could build on existing energy peak reduction targets overseen by the Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission.

Pennsylvania’s Solar Future plan calls for 10 percent, or about 11 GW, of the state’s electricity to come from solar energy by 2030.

The storage report also recommends 14 other measures to foster energy storage investment and integration, including convening a statewide storage issues forum, designating public funding to accelerate storage deployment, establishing incentive programs for storage projects, and accelerating microgrid deployment at critical facilities.

Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority board OKs wind power purchase agreement

April 25, 2021

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
April 25, 2021

The Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority’s (WAPA) governing board recently approved a wind power purchase agreement between WAPA and Advance Power LLC.

Under terms of the agreement, Advance Power will develop, finance, permit, design, construct, test, operate and maintain a wind farm at Bovoni Point on St. Thomas.

Project completion is expected within 24 months of the effective date of the contract.

The wind facility, comprised of six wind turbine generators, will produce approximately 10 MW of wind energy that will be sold to WAPA.

Advance Power was the most responsive bidder to a request for proposals issued in April 2017 and negotiations have been underway since August 2017, WAPA said in a news release.

WAPA Interim Executive Director and CEO Noel Hodge said the wind facility will compliment several other similar renewable projects the Authority is pursuing as part of a federally funded strategic transformation plan.

Hodge noted that WAPA has applied to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for approval of solar and wind projects “as we move the needle forward in diversifying our generation mix. We recognize the need for the Authority to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels to generate electricity, and where feasible, WAPA will pursue projects that allow harnessing energy from lower cost sources such as solar and wind.”

Hodge said that the reduction of reliance on fossil fuel for electrical generation will result in operational savings to WAPA and lower the cost of electricity to customers.

The approved agreement lays the foundation for the development of a wind farm capable of generating about a sixth of the total peak power consumption on St. Thomas, WAPA said.

A report by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) identified the site for wind generation as early as 2012. The report estimated the total capacity of a Bovoni wind farm as between 7,000 and 29,000 megawatt hours per year.

“The wide range of potential energy generation represented by these estimates is a function of the total installed plant size, which is in turn limited by the number of turbines that can be placed on Bovoni Point and varying levels of productivity associated with specific turbine designs,” a summary of the report said.

WAPA said that the report also estimated that the cost of generation would be much lower than the cost of oil or liquid petroleum gas-based generation.

The governing board voted unanimously on March 25 to approve the agreement with Advance Power.

APPA receives third patent tied to machine learning techniques

April 25, 2021

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
April 25, 2021

The American Public Power Association (APPA) has received a patent related to protecting the ability of public power utilities to use machine learning techniques for advanced analytics and benchmarking to improve safety.

This is the third patent APPA has received in its work to help ensure that public power utilities have long-term access to advanced analytical technologies for business-related decision making.

The application was initially submitted to the U.S. Patent Office in March 2018.

While it is likely that utilities will increasingly use specialized machine learning techniques to predict and prevent outages and equipment failure, this application is focused on increasing the likelihood that maintenance actions are safe. “Using machines to help us see patterns that aren’t obvious is a great role for technology and can help keep us safe,” said Alex Hofmann, Vice President, Technical and Operations Services, APPA.

“Through the system we have designed, our systems and workers will be able to take actions that are safer for a given situation. How many times has the weather drastically changed and lineworkers keep working without adjusting to the new risk, leading to injury?” Though participation in our eSafety Tracker service, APPA is helping public power utilities work together to build and train machine learning models to predict the safety-related outcomes of planned future maintenance actions. 

Hofmann is one of the inventors of the system that received the patents.

APPA praises Clean Energy for America Act for helping public power invest in clean energy

April 21, 2021

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
April 21, 2021

The American Public Power Association (APPA) on April 21 said it appreciates the work Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and his staff have put into refining and improving federal energy tax incentives in the Clean Energy for America Act (CEA).

The CEA recognizes that tax-exempt entities are excluded from energy investment tax incentives, which are intended to promote non-emitting resources to address climate change. Lack of access to these incentives makes it difficult for public power utilities to make investments in clean energy resources.

This is a significant omission given that tax-exempt entities, including public power utilities, serve nearly 30 percent of the nation’s retail customers, or approximately 90 million Americans, APPA said in a news release.
 
APPA noted that the CEA encourages key investments by public power utilities and rural electric cooperatives by allowing these projects to be financed with taxable direct payment Clean Energy Bonds (CEBs).

Projects financed by a CEB would not qualify for either the investment or production tax credits. However, the federal government would reimburse the project owner by making payments of up to 70 percent of the interest paid on a CEB. These payments would provide a significant savings over the life of a project, APPA said.
 
The GREEN Act, which will be considered by the House of Representatives later this year, takes a different approach by allowing public power utilities to receive discounted tax credits and production tax credits on a refundable basis. 

APPA said that it is pleased to see that Congress “is now considering how to best to ensure that all utilities are included in energy incentives, not stuck on whether to do it at all. With these incentives, not-for-profit utilities will be better positioned to finance and build clean energy resources to help face the challenges posed by climate change.”

Glendale Water & Power launches demand response program

April 21, 2021

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
April 21, 2021

California public power utility Glendale Water & Power (GWP) has launched a demand response program for residential and commercial customers, GWP reported on April 19.

Through the peak savings program, customers will receive incentives for reducing demand on the electric grid on days when demand is highest. The program will be run by Franklin Energy, a provider of energy efficiency and grid optimization solutions.

For residential customers, the program will automatically adjust customer smart thermostats by up to three degrees Fahrenheit on peak events. Participating customers receive $50 for enrolling, and $50 each year on their enrollment anniversary through a prepaid debit card. Customers who do not have a smart thermostat are eligible to receive a $100 instant rebate when purchasing a smart thermostat through GWP’s Energy and Water Efficiency Marketplace which will be launched in the coming weeks.

Commercial customers that participate in the program receive a complimentary site assessment to determine ways to reduce energy during peak events, GWP noted.

 An energy advisor will provide a customized energy reduction plan which will be implemented on peak events to help reduce peak electric demand. Participating commercial customers can receive up to $250 per event.

Up to 15 peak events can be called each year. Residential customers can opt out of a maximum of two events without affecting their incentives. Commercial customers may opt out of any event, but will not receive incentives for the peak events they did not participate in.

The peak savings program is designed to deliver up to 10 MW of controllable demand by 2024