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Public Power Utilities Eligible To Participate In DOE Clean Energy Innovator Fellowship

April 15, 2022

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
April 15, 2022

The Department of Energy (DOE) recently launched a Clean Energy Innovator Fellowship that recruits talent from diverse backgrounds to spend up to two years supporting the work of eligible host organizations, which include electric public utility commissions and public power utilities. The deadline for applying is May 6, 2022.

Innovator Fellows receive a stipend and an educational allowance to support host institution projects that will help decarbonize the power system, electrify transportation and industry, and make the U.S. power system more equitable and inclusive, DOE said.

“The goal of the program is to increase access to clean energy career opportunities across the country and accelerate the national transition to resilient and affordable clean energy,” the federal agency noted.

Host institutions and fellowship candidates must each apply separately to participate in the program. DOE will facilitate the process of matching host institutions and fellows.

Projects may address a wide range of topics, including, but not limited to, grid modernization, equitable and affordable access to clean energy and energy efficiency, integration of electric vehicles and building electrification, resilience planning, interconnection, and rate design.

Projects are defined up front, but they have the flexibility to evolve over the fellowship period, DOE said.

Additional details are available here.

Solar Energy Innovators Program

DOE launched the innovator fellowship due to the success of its Solar Energy Innovators Program (SEIP), which was launched in 2017.

SEIP supports qualified candidates at all career levels as they spend one to two years developing and executing research projects with host institutions pursuing solutions to solar energy deployment challenges. Many the program’s alumni have accepted permanent jobs at their host institutions, and others got permanent jobs doing similar work.

Dr. Paul Brooker was a professor at Central Florida University conducting research on fuel cells, electric vehicles, and solar energy when he applied to the SEIP fellowship.

Brooker spent his fellowship at the Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC), a public power utility, simulating the impact of a 108-megawatt solar project on OUC’s operations. He liked the work so much he changed his career. OUC hired Brooker for a full-time job as a supervisor of engineering and research in emerging technologies.  

Brooker’s fellowship mentor, Justin Kramer, a manager at OUC in emerging technologies, says, “Being a host organization was extremely convenient and valuable. This program really helps OUC bridge the gap between academia and industry. Our participation brought a new perspective to the team and innovative approaches as to how we pursue new technologies and engage with universities in a way that benefits both parties.”

San Francisco PUC Helps To Cut Emissions, Promote Equitable Access To Clean Energy

April 13, 2022

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
April 13, 2022

San Francisco Mayor London Breed on April 7 announced a series of new programs that her office said will reduce carbon emissions and promote equitable access to clean energy in San Francisco, two priorities highlighted in San Francisco’s recently updated climate action plan.

The initiatives, which are being managed by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC), include discounts for 100% renewable energy for low-income customers, rebates to replace fossil fuel powered appliances, and incentives for installing electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure.

Together, the programs will help the city make further progress in reaching Breed’s climate action goals, including achieving net-zero emissions by 2040.

Last year, the mayor and the SFPUC announced that CleanPowerSF will provide all customers with 100% renewable electricity by 2025, five years ahead of the city’s goal of 2030 and twenty years ahead of the State’s goal of 2045. The SFPUC launched CleanPowerSF in 2016 with a mission to provide San Francisco residents and businesses with clean, renewable electricity at competitive rates.

Breed’s office noted that the SFPUC has launched a slate of new programs that support a faster transition to renewable energy and more equitable access for communities most impacted by climate change:

The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission currently operates two retail electricity services: Hetch Hetchy Power and CleanPowerSF. Together, these programs serve nearly 390,000 customer accounts in San Francisco and meet over 70 percent of the electrical demand in the City.

Hetch Hetchy Power is San Francisco’s publicly owned-utility, which provides 100 percent greenhouse gas-free energy to public facilities such as City Hall, schools and libraries, some private commercial developments, and affordable housing.

Utility In Reading, Mass., Expands Renewable Choice Program To C&I Customers

April 13, 2022

by Peter Maloney
APPA News
April 13, 2022

The Reading Municipal Light Department (RMLD) in Massachusetts recently expanded its Renewable Choice program to commercial and industrial customers.

RMLD launched the opt-in program in February, making it available to residential customers and allowing them to support additional renewable energy resources above and beyond the public power utility’s annual non-carbon energy targets.

Funds contributed to the Renewable Choice program are used to retire New England Power Pool (NEPOOL) Generation Information System (GIS) compliant renewable certificates, starting with Mass Class 1 certificates.

The certificate retirements under the Renewable Choice program are in addition to RMLD’s compliance retirements of 26 percent in 2022, which increase 3 percent each year so as to reach 100 percent, i.e., net zero by 2050.

Customers in the program, which now includes commercial and industrial customers, can choose to contribute at one of three levels to bring their monthly electricity usage to 50 percent, 75 percent, or 100 percent renewable/non-carbon. RMLD will base the Renewable Choice charge on the participating customer’s monthly kilowatt hour (kWh) usage, which will appear as a line item on the customer’s monthly electric bill.

The expansion of the Renewable Choice program will enable commercial and industrial customers to achieve sustainability goals that are often established in corporate mission statements and supply chain reporting, RMLD said.

Participation in the Renewable Choice program requires a one-year commitment and that a customer is current with their bill.

Additional information about the Renewable Choice program is available at https://www.rmld.com/home/pages/renewable-choice where customers also can find a calculator that allows them to input their monthly kWh usage to calculate their monthly

Renewable Choice charge for any of the three participation levels.

RMLD serves over 70,000 residents in the towns of Reading, North Reading, Wilmington, and Lynnfield Center and has over 30,000 meter connections in its service territory.

Report Offers Recommendations Tied To Grid Security Exercise

April 13, 2022

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
April 13, 2022

Continuing to enhance routine and emergency operations coordination between the electricity industry and natural gas providers and boosting operational coordination between the electricity industry and communications providers are recommendations flowing from a November 2021 grid security exercise that included a significant number of public power participants.

Over two days, more than 700 planners led their organizations’ efforts to exercise their response and recovery plans in the face of simulated, coordinated cyber and physical attacks on the North American bulk power system and other critical infrastructure during the exercise, GridEx VI.

Hosted every two years by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation’s Electric Information Sharing and Analysis Center (E-ISAC), GridEx is the largest grid security exercise in North America.

In 2021, GridEx participants expanded to include more representation from public power, co-op and municipal entities, Canadian partners and other critical infrastructure sectors, such as natural gas, original equipment manufacturers, financial services, and telecommunications, NERC said. Approximately 60 public power utilities participated.

The E-ISAC divided play into two portions. Distributed Play, held on November 16–17, 2021, provided the opportunity for operational participants across North America to exercise the resilience of the electricity system. The Executive Tabletop, held on November 18, 2021, convened industry executives and government leadership from the United States and Canada to explore the challenges presented by a severe cyber and physical attack against the grid.

On April 7, 2022, NERC released a lessons learned report related to GridEx VI.

Executive Tabletop Overview

The GridEx VI Executive Tabletop saw executives and leaders from 88 organizations, and almost 200 individuals in total, join the Tabletop.

Participants included senior representation from U.S. and Canadian government entities and executive leaders representing U.S. and Canadian cooperatives, investor- and publicly-owned utilities, and independent system operators.

The lessons learned report said that the E-ISAC took steps to diversify participation in GridEx VI to account for a wider range of perspectives when exploring the Tabletop scenario.

This resulted in greater participation from interdependent industries, such as natural gas and telecommunications, an active role for Canadian Government partners, and wider U.S. Government representation, including representatives from state government. The active participation of representatives from the Canadian government and interdependent industries in particular added significant value to the Tabletop as reflected in the report’s recommendations, the report noted.

Details on Tabletop Scenario

The Tabletop scenario prompted participants to assess the impact of serious cyber and physical security attacks and take the actions needed to respond; communicate effectively; restore power; and address serious public health, safety, and grid security challenges.

The Tabletop exercise was designed in four phases to simulate how industry and government would respond to a sophisticated, well-coordinated cyber and physical attack.

These phases were as follows:

Phase 1—The First Hour after the Attacks: Challenging operating conditions further degrade reliability when the Western Interconnection splits into two islands after a transmission disturbance initially assumed to be caused by wildfires.

Phase 2—The Next Morning: Attacks on electricity and natural gas infrastructure cause widespread power outages affecting many high-priority customers, including defense-critical facilities.

Phase 3—Later that Day: Telecommunications disruptions impair power system restoration activities and complicate coordination with government. Wind generation resources are disrupted by widespread control and response issues.

Two Weeks and Beyond: The Western Interconnection is restored and customer load is eventually reconnected, but energy and capacity margins are tight for the foreseeable future. Active cyberattacks have ceased.

During plenary and breakout sessions, facilitators led participants through discussions designed to simulate the communication and coordination that would occur during a real event.

Executive Tabletop Recommendations

Among the recommendations included in the lessons learned report related to the executive tabletop is that industry and government should continue to build effective communications procedures and systems to share operational information.

“The electricity industry has robust grid monitoring and control capabilities that have withstood the test of emergency situations over decades of operation. However, the Tabletop scenario presented conditions that severely strained the industry’s ability to communicate operational status to their many external stakeholders, including state/provincial and local government,” the report said. “In addition, the scenario’s involvement of a nation-state adversary added a layer of complexity regarding how and with whom to share highly sensitive information.”

The report also recommends that there be continued enhancements to routine and emergency operations coordination between the electricity industry and natural gas providers.

The scenario included disruptions of natural gas to generating stations, the report noted. “Compared with the previous Tabletop two years ago, the discussion benefitted from the more robust participation of natural gas operators, the Oil and Natural Gas Subsector Coordinating Council, and natural gas trade associations in the United States and Canada.”

Strengthening operational coordination between the electricity industry and communications providers is another recommendation.

“The critical interdependencies between the electricity and communications sectors are well-understood and have often been a prominent component of the GridEx series of exercises,” the report said. “This time, the Tabletop scenario featured a widespread loss of landline and cellular communications while electricity utilities were recovering from the cyber and physical attacks and restoring the grid. Participants agreed that the loss of communications would essentially halt the grid restoration process.”

Other recommendations related to the tabletop exercise are:

Distributed Play Scenario

The GridEx VI Distributed Play scenario saw a nation-state target the North American grid with cyber and physical attacks that spanned two days.

Incidents ranged from disinformation on social media to cyberattacks that targeted industrial control systems.

The E-ISAC divided the two-day exercise into four moves. The E-ISAC also developed “Move 0,” which included optional material in the week preceding the exercise to prepare players for the incidents that would follow.

The E-ISAC developed a series of physical, cyber, and operational injects in partnership with subject matter experts, expert planners, and partners from the SANS Institute, Idaho National Laboratory, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory to ensure that the exercise reflected the complex threat the grid faces today, the report noted.

The E-ISAC developed a scenario and a Master Scenario Event List, but the planners were encouraged to customize the scenario to meet their needs. Consequently, the timing, content, and substance of exercise play varied between participating organizations.

The Distributed Play Scenario drove observations and recommendations, captured in the GridEx VI lessons learned report, identifying specific actions the E-ISAC could pursue to improve future GridEx exercises, including ways to increase participation and effectiveness of future GridEx exercises.

Report Says New York Is On Track To Meet Its Energy Storage Targets

April 13, 2022

by Peter Maloney
APPA News
April 13, 2022

New York is on track to reach the energy storage goals the state set in 2018, according to an updated report released by the Department of Public Service (DPS) .

DPS’ third annual State of Storage report recorded that energy storage projects totaling 1,230 megawatts (MW) were either awarded or contracted in 2021. That total equals about 82 percent of the state’s target of having 1,500 MW of energy storage installed by 2025 and 41 percent of the state’s target of having 3,000 MW of storage in place by 2030.

With over 12,000 MW of energy storage projects in New York utility interconnection queues and the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) interconnection queue, the energy storage industry in the state is “robust,” the report said.

Common energy storage use-cases in New York include co-location with solar photovoltaic developments and other renewable energy resources.

Energy storage systems up to 5 MW are eligible for the state’s Value of Distributed Energy Resource (VDER) compensation, which is the most common compensation mechanism chosen by developers, the report said. Coupling energy storage with solar allows developers to maximize VDER compensation under many scenarios, according to the report.

The report noted, however, that not all projects in interconnection queues will come to fruition because of unfavorable project specific economics or other reasons. The report also noted that supply chain issues and increased competition for battery cells have resulted in price increases in 2021 that have persisted into 2022.

The average total installed costs for non-residential, retail projects that were awarded incentives averaged $567 per kWh for installations in 2022 and 2023, up from $464 per kWh for installations in 2020 and 2021, the report said. For projects above 5 MW that received an incentive and will provide wholesale market services, the total projected installed costs should average $370 per kWh for installations in 2020 and 2021, the report said.

The average total installed costs for behind-the-meter customer sited projects used for peak load reduction remain “relatively high” at $1,117 per kWh in 2021, up from $970 per kWh in 2020, the report said, adding that the cost increases were driven by supply chain issues and increased competition for battery cells.

However, the costs for large scale energy storage projects are expected to decrease into the $150 to $200 per kilowatt hour (kWh) range by 2030, the report said, citing recent industry analyst reports.

The New York Public Service Commission established the statewide energy storage goal of 3,000 MW by 2030 in December 2018 and subsequently adopted a suite of energy storage deployment policies and actions to achieve those goals.

In January 2022, Governor Kathy Hochul announced plans to double the state’s energy storage target to at least 6,000 MW by 2030.

The DPS and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) are in the process of updating the state’s Energy Storage Roadmap to reflect the expanded goal. The roadmap would then go to the state’s Public Service Commission for further action.

President Biden’s Proposed Budget Calls For Significant DOE Spending Increases

April 12, 2022

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
April 12, 2022

The Department of Energy (DOE) would see significant spending increases under a budget proposed recently by President Joe Biden.

Much of those increases, according to the budget, were made possible by or build on the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) signed into law last year.

The appropriation for DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) would nearly double under the budget with $4 billion allocated to “accelerating the research, development, demonstration, and deployment of technologies and solutions to cut energy costs through low-cost clean energy resources.”

Additionally, the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) would receive $700 million to expand its scope beyond energy technology focused projects to include climate adaptation and resilience innovations.

The Weatherization Assistance Program would receive $500 million, which DOE estimates could cover 50,000 homes.  As part of that, $100 million would be targeted to low-income families under what is being called the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) Advantage pilot program. The program would retrofit LIHEAP qualifying households with energy efficient electric appliances and systems.

LIHEAP itself would receive $4 billion, a $225 million increase from the 2022 enacted level. However, the administration is proposing amending LIHEAP to allow states to divert LIHEAP funds toward water assistance, in light of the expiration at the end of 2023 of the Low-Income Home Water Assistance Program (LIHWAP) created under the American Rescue Plan Act.

The American Rescue Plan Act provided $500 million for LIHWAP, so if funding continued at that level, the overall amount provided under LIHEAP under the budget proposal for energy assistance would actually decline.

Also, as part of the Administration’s Justice40 pilot program, the Department of Health and Human Services – which administers LIHEAP – “plans to increase efforts to prevent energy shutoffs and increase support for households with young children and older people, and high energy burdens,” according to the budget.

The budget includes an American Public Power Association-supported request for $9 million to the Environmental Protection Agency for a coal combustion residual federal permit program. This program was fully funded at $9 million in the FY 2022 Appropriations bill. 

The budget also proposes a “reserve” for legislation that reduces costs, expands productive capacity, and reforms the tax system. “Because discussions with Congress continue, the Budget does not break down the reserve among specific policies or between revenues and outlays,” the budget states.

At a White House briefing, staff clarified that these changes could include the provisions of the Build Back Better Act. Likewise, a Treasury Department explanation of revenue provisions in the budget does not include Build Back Better Act provisions, but instead simply assumes the Build Back Better Act is the baseline off which the budget’s revenue provisions would be built.

The budget does not propose selling the Power Marketing Administrations or the Tennessee Valley Authority, in whole or in part.

SMUD Board Approves 100-MW Geothermal Energy Contract With Calpine

April 12, 2022

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
April 12, 2022

California public power utility SMUD has approved a 100-megawatt (MW) contract with Calpine Corporation for geothermal power from The Geysers. The move marks a major step forward toward the SMUD’s 2030 zero carbon plan.

The 10-year power purchase agreement for 100 MW of energy from Calpine’s operations at The Geysers was approved by the SMUD Board of Directors on March 16. The contract takes effect on January 1, 2023.

Located north of San Francisco, The Geysers is the single largest geothermal electrical operation in the world.

A geothermal resource occurs when water deep below the earth’s surface is heated by exposure to hot, porous and permeable rock resulting in dry steam or hot water.

At The Geysers, dry, superheated steam is produced. Steam production wells about two miles deep are drilled to tap this naturally occurring steam. Once the steam reaches the surface, it is piped overland to a network of interconnected power plants where it spins conventional steam turbines that drive generators.

Interest Relief And Hazard Mitigation Included In Recently Passed House Bill

April 12, 2022

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
April 12, 2022

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) would be required to help pay interest expenses for loans taken out to cover costs that will eventually be repaid with FEMA public assistance grants under legislation recently passed by the House.

Under H.R. 5689, the Resilient Assistance for Mitigation for Environmentally Resilient Infrastructure and Construction by Americans Act (Resilient AMERICA Act), the amount automatically set aside for pre-disaster mitigation funds would also be increased from 6 percent of public assistance granted for the year to 15 percent. 

The interest provision is based on legislation introduced in April of last year by Representatives Neal Dunn (R-FL) and Darren Soto (D-FL) called the FEMA Loan Interest Payment Relief Act (H.R. 2669). This bill was drafted to assist public power utilities and rural electric cooperatives that take out loans to cover disaster-related costs that will eventually be repaid by FEMA.

Under the bill, rural electric cooperatives and public power utilities would be reimbursed for at least some of the interest expense of such loans. Reimbursement would be set at the lesser of either: a) the actual interest paid, or b) the interest that would have been paid if the loan had been set at the prime rate.

The text of H.R. 2669 was incorporated into the Resilient AMERICA Act before being passed by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in October 2021.

The Resilient AMERICA Act was sent to the Senate on April 6 and referred to the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee. In addition, Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) introduced a companion bill (S. 2212) last year that was also referred to Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee.

Ditto Asks President Biden To Prioritize Modernization Of The Columbia River Treaty

April 7, 2022

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
April 7, 2022

President Biden should direct the State Department and a negotiating team working under National Security Council officials to move faster on renegotiating the Columbia River Treaty with a particular emphasis on the rebalancing the power provisions between the U.S. and Canada, Joy Ditto, President and CEO of the American Public Power Association (APPA) in an April 4 letter to Biden.

“Failure to act quickly on negotiations will continue to cost American consumers millions of dollars a year, as well as the continued loss of renewable, baseload hydropower important to keeping the grid reliable,” Ditto wrote in the letter.

She noted that public power has a heavy footprint in the Pacific Northwest, where community-owned electric utilities buy power generated on the Federal Columbia River System (FCRS) marketed by the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA).

BPA rates are set to cover all generation and transmission costs, as well as repayment, with interest, of the federal hydroelectric projects. None of the costs are borne by taxpayers.

“This multi-decade partnership has proven wildly successful, providing affordable, emissions-free, and reliable power that has served as the cornerstone of the Pacific Northwest’s economy since 1937. However, this success is increasingly threatened by the outdated Columbia River Treaty that has American ratepayers losing $150 million a year in lost hydropower value to Canada,” Ditto said.

The U.S. and Canada agreed to the Columbia River Treaty in 1964 for the mutual development of the Columbia River power and flood control systems.

Under the Treaty, the U.S. provides payments to Canada, called the Canadian Entitlement (CE), in the form of returned power generation. The CE amount is calculated using a formula from 1961, which was based on the expected improvement to U.S. hydropower generation capability due to Canadian storage.

Today, these calculations exceed the actual benefits of coordinated operations by an estimated 70-90 percent. “An equitable rebalancing of this problem is worth more than a billion dollars to U.S. consumers at a time when many are already facing rising energy prices,” Ditto wrote.

“I strongly urge you to direct the State Department and the entire negotiating team working under National Security Council officials to move faster on renegotiating the treaty with a particular emphasis on the rebalancing the power provisions between the U.S. and Canada,” Ditto said. “Making full use of the nation’s hydropower resource is key to ensuring that the nation’s grid remains reliable and resilient, and that utilities can meet emission reduction goals to address climate change.”

Vermont House Passes Bill That Includes AMI Funding For Public Power

April 7, 2022

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
April 7, 2022

The Vermont House has passed comprehensive transportation and appropriations bills that include significant investments in the state’s efforts to electrify the economy, including funding for advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) in public power communities.

The Vermont Public Power Supply Authority (VPPSA) has been representing its 11 community-owned electric utility members as a leading advocate for this funding.

The bill, which now heads to the Vermont Senate, includes $5 million for a 50% reimbursement to municipal and cooperative electrical distribution utilities for the implementation of AMI systems approved by the Public Utility Commission.

As Vermont advances towards meeting its climate action and energy requirements, it will be crucial for utilities to modernize their infrastructure to meet increasingly dynamic customer and load demands, VPPSA noted. “This state investment will ensure equitable access to this technology for all Vermonters and acts as a seed investment to open further federal funding opportunities.”

An $11 million funding request for AMI was supported by all 17 Vermont electric utilities as part of a comprehensive package of investments aimed at modernizing Vermont’s electric grid.

While nearly 90% Vermont electric consumers already have access to AMI due to a federal grant received by the state’s larger utilities in 2009, the remaining 10%, mainly in rural parts of the state, were not able to take advantage of that funding.

Deploying state funds now helps to close the existing technology gap and positions all Vermonters to access forthcoming federal Infrastructure and Investment Jobs Act (IIJA) funding, VPPSA said.

As the bill undergoes review by the Senate, VPPSA said it will continue to advocate for full funding of the utility request to obtain equitable treatment across the state.