APPA Says FERC Communications Proposal is Overly Broad, Should be Withdrawn
December 5, 2022
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
December 5, 2022
A proposal by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to add a new provision to its regulations that would impose a “duty of candor” on any entity communicating with the Commission, its staff, or certain other entities is overly broad and would likely chill communications while presenting significant enforcement challenges for the Commission, the American Public Power Association (APPA) said in urging FERC to withdraw the proposal.
APPA submitted comments on Nov. 10 to FERC in response to a FERC Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) that would amend the Commission’s regulations to add the new provision.
APPA noted that it has long been a proponent of Commission rules that guard against market manipulation and that promote just and reasonable market outcomes for consumers, consistent with the Commission’s obligations under the Federal Power Act (FPA). “APPA also recognizes the need for the Commission to be able to rely on accurate information in executing its duties under the FPA and other statutes it is tasked with administering.”
APPA “can understand the appeal of trying to ensure this goal by adopting a generic requirement simply ‘to tell the truth,’” it added.
“APPA is compelled, however, to express serious concerns with the NOPR and the Proposed Regulation. The proposed rule would be exceptionally broad – both in terms of the entities to which it would apply and the scope of communications it would cover.”
There is no intent element, nor is there any materiality requirement — except as to factual omissions, which the Proposed Regulation would also encompass, it said.
“The rule would apply to unintentional and immaterial mistakes, subject only to the ability of a target of an investigation to demonstrate that it exercised ‘due diligence’ to assure the accuracy of the communication.”
APPA said it concurs in FERC Commissioner James Danly’s assessment “that the breadth of the proposed rule would likely chill communications while presenting significant enforcement challenges for the Commission.”
APPA said it is particularly concerned by the NOPR as it relates to communications with entities other than the Commission and its staff.
The Proposed Regulation would likely apply to essentially all communications with Regional Transmission Organizations (RTOs), Independent System Operators (ISOs), market monitors, the Electric Reliability Organization (ERO) and its Regional Entities, as well as a sweeping array of communications with utilities.
The NOPR “does not provide a reasoned basis for such an expansive candor regulation,” APPA argued. It said there is no discussion of any specific instances where the lack of a general duty of candor obligation has undermined the Commission’s ability to carry out its obligations. Moreover, the NOPR’s description of the existing statutory, regulatory, and ethical requirements for honest communications “tends to show that any problem the Commission is attempting to solve is a narrow one that would be better addressed through a more targeted response.”
Even if there were a clearly identified need for the rule, the NOPR fails to establish the legal authority for adopting the Proposed Regulation or for enforcing it against entities that are not generally subject to the Commission’s jurisdiction, such as APPA’s public power utility members, the trade group said.
The NOPR indicates, for example, that authority to adopt the duty of candor is grounded, at least in part, in section 206 of the FPA.
The Commission’s authority under section 206 is limited to “public utilities,” however, and the NOPR does not explain how it could extend liability to a non-public utility for a violation of a rule based on FPA section 206.
Public utilities refers to those entities regulated by FERC, not non-jurisdictional utilities such as public power utilities.
“Nor do the other FPA provisions cited in the NOPR provide a basis for the generically applicable duty of candor. In addition to these problems with the statutory underpinnings of the proposed rule, the rule is overly broad and presents significant due process concerns, particularly in the context of communications with jurisdictional transmission or transportation providers.”
APPA urged the Commission to withdraw the NOPR. “Any specific gaps in the coverage of existing candor requirements should be addressed by more targeted proposed rules to address those particular circumstances,” it said.
If the Commission proceeds, however, “APPA recommends that the proposed duty of candor be limited to written or recorded communications of factual information to the Commission or its staff, and that the rule include a materiality requirement.”
Regardless of the scope of any final rule, the Commission should, at a minimum, specify that non-public utilities would generally not be subject to enforcement for violation of the duty of candor under FPA section 316A, APPA said. Section 316A of the FPA allows FERC to assess significant financial penalties against entities that violate certain FPA provisions or FERC rules or orders issued under those provisions.
Duke Energy Responds to Outages Caused by Substation Vandalism
December 5, 2022
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
December 5, 2022
Duke Energy over the weekend said that it was responding to power outages caused by vandalism against utility equipment in North Carolina.
Duke Energy on Dec. 4 said that crews were responding to widespread outages in Moore County, N.C. The company experienced multiple equipment failures affecting substations leaving about 45,000 customers without power.
Media reports on the vandalism reported that two electric substations were damaged by gunfire.
The utility crews are working 24-hour shifts to make repairs and restore service to all impacted customers. Several large and vital pieces of equipment were damaged in the event, the utility said. “Repairing the equipment is a multi-step process that will take several days to complete. Once repairs are made, the company must test the equipment before beginning the final restoration process.”
Due to the nature of the damage, the company is working with local, state and federal agencies on their ongoing investigation into this incident.
On Sunday evening, Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm tweeted that she has been in contact with Duke Energy about the vandalism and the DOE’s Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER) is working with federal partners.
“Law enforcement is investigating this serious incident and Duke is working around the clock to restore service,” she said.
Rich Glick, Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, also sent a tweet over the weekend saying that FERC is monitoring the events in North Carolina. “The security & reliability of our grid remains the top priority” as Duke Energy works to restore services, he said.
Reliability, Resiliency, Safety and Affordability Flows from Small Modular Reactor Technology
December 5, 2022
by Peter Maloney
APPA News
December 5, 2022
New nuclear technologies, such as small modular reactors (SMR), have reached a point where they are able to help utilities address growing concerns about fulfilling their core mission: delivering safe, affordable, and reliable electric power.
Several industry trends are challenging utility executives’ abilities to balance those three key objectives.
A July report from the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) highlighted the growing threats to reliability, including extreme weather events, the growing proliferation of “inverter based resources” such as photovoltaic solar power and energy storage, and increasing reliance on natural gas-fired generation.
The growth of renewable resources aimed at meeting state and federal goals aimed at addressing greenhouse gas emissions has been impressive. In the first half of the year, 24 percent of utility-scale generation in the United States came from renewable sources, according to the Energy Information Administration. However, as NERC pointed out this summer, as renewable resources have proliferated, gas-fired generators are becoming “necessary balancing resources” for reliability, leading to an interdependence that poses “a major new reliability risk.”
In this environment, if utilities are going to stay on track to meet their clean energy targets while providing secure, safe and reliable electric power to meet growing demand, they are going to need a new solution.
“NuScale Power’s SMR technology offers a carbon-free energy solution with features, capability, and performance not found in current nuclear power facilities,” Karin Feldman, Vice President of NuScale’s Program Management Office, said in an interview.
Several utilities have already begun exploring the potential of a new generation of nuclear technology to help them meet both their clean energy and reliability needs as they work toward meeting growing demand.
NuScale’s project portfolio includes a six module, 462-MW VOYGR™ SMR power plant. Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS) plans to develop at the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Idaho National Laboratory in Idaho Falls for their Carbon Free Power Project (CFPP).
NuScale also has memorandums of understanding to evaluate the deployment of its SMR technology with Associated Electric Cooperative in Missouri and Dairyland Power Cooperative in Wisconsin.
“What we bring to the table is a technology that is smaller and simpler; that lowers total costs while providing high reliability and resilience, and greater safety,” said Feldman, who develops and manages NuScale’s portfolio of projects and establishes and maintains project controls, cost estimating, and risk management standards. She is also NuScale’s primary interface with the DOE.
Cost Comparisons
The smaller scale of NuScale’s reactors – 77 MW versus 700 MW or even 1,600 MW or more for conventional reactors – brings several cost advantages, Feldman said. Smaller reactors can be fabricated in a factory, which is cheaper than field fabrication, because it involves repetitive procedures that foster iterative improvement and economies of scale, she said. Smaller reactors also take less time to build, which lowers construction costs.
Because they are modular, an SMR does not force a utility to commit to participation in a nuclear project in the 1,000-MW to 2,000-MW size range. An SMR project can be scaled to meet demand, and modules can be added as demand requires, Feldman said. That helps reduce financial risk for a utility, she said.
Another, related consideration, highlighted by the supply chain disruptions in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, is that much of NuScale’s technology can be locally sourced. “We are taking advantage of the U.S. supply chain to the greatest extent possible,” Feldman said. “We have some overseas manufacturers, but we are also engaged to develop additional U.S. capabilities in areas such as large-scale forgings.”
Reliability and Resiliency
Nuclear power plants generally have high reliability, over 92 percent, nearly twice the reliability of coal and natural gas plants, but the smaller, compact design of SMR technology can offer additional reliability advantages, Feldman said. Because NuScale plants are designed to scaled up in incremental steps, if any one of the individual reactors has an issue, the other reactors can continue to generate power, she explained.
NuScale’s SMR technology also enhances resiliency, Feldman said. The design calls for the reactors to be housed in a building below grade, hardening their vulnerability to airplane strikes and very large seismic events, she said.
An SMR plant also is designed with black start capability so that it can restart after a disruption without using the surrounding electric grid. “So, in the event of an emergency, it could be a first responder to the grid, one of the first generators to start up,” Feldman said.
And because the design calls for multiple reactors, a problem with one reactor does not require the entire plant to shut down. An SMR plant can also operate in island mode, serving as a self-sufficient energy source during an emergency, Feldman said.
In some ways, a NuScale SMR power plant resembles a microgrid. In fact, NuScale’s technology team has done a lot of analysis on microgrid capacity, Feldman said, noting that the analysis found that a 154-MW SMR plant could run for 12 years without refueling. “The technology is very good for mission critical functions and activities,” she said.
Safety First
Cost and resiliency are important considerations, but if a power plant, especially a nuclear power plant, is not safe, other considerations pale in comparison.
Safety is built into NuScale’s SMR design, Feldman said. “The SMR has a dual walled vessel design that gives it an unlimited coping period,” she said. “If an incident does occur, the plant can shut down without operator intervention or action and be safe and secure,” she said.
NuScale’s integrated design encompasses the reactor, steam generators and pressurizer and uses the natural action of circulation, eliminating the need for large primary piping and reactor coolant pumps.
If needed, the reactor shuts down and self cools indefinitely without the need for either alternating current or direct current power or additional water. The containment vessel is submerged in a heat sink for core cooling in a below grade reactor pool housed in a Seismic Category 1 reactor building as defined by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). In essence, the unit continues to cool until the decay heat dissipates at which point the reactor is air cooled, Feldman said.
In 2018, the NRC found that NuScale’s SMR safety design eliminates the need for class 1E power, that is, power needed to maintain reactor coolant integrity and remain in a safe shutdown condition.
In August 2020, the NRC approved the overall design of NuScale’s SMR. In a next step, the NRC in July directed staff to issue a final rule certifying NuScale’s SMR design.
If approved, the certification would be published in the Federal Register and have the effect of law, providing even greater comfort to any entities exploring SMR technology to provide clean, emission free, reliable and affordable power, Feldman said.
The rulemaking is on NRC’s docket for a decision in November.
Finally, after a rigorous years long review by the NRC, the Final Safety Evaluation Report (FSER) regarding NuScale’s Emergency Planning Zone (EPZ) methodology was issued. This is another tremendous “first” for NuScale’s technology. With the report’s approval of our methodology, an EPZ that is limited to the site boundary of the power plant is now achievable for a wide range of potential plant sites where a NuScale VOYGR™ SMR power plant could be located.
BPA Reports Strong Financial Results, Proposes Holding Power and Transmission Rates Flat
December 2, 2022
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
December 2, 2022
The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) recently announced financial results that exceeded expectations for fiscal year 2022 that ended Sept. 30 and proposed to hold power and transmission rates flat overall.
The results outlined in the agency’s annual report “demonstrate the agency’s financial strength, supported by record setting revenue performance and continued cost management in the face of supply chain constraints and inflationary pressures,” BPA said.
BPA met all of its annual performance targets and finished the year with higher-than-expected net revenues totaling $964 million against a target of $172 million.
“Each quarter, we have signaled our expectations that Power and Transmission were expected to have a solid year, and I’m happy to report that was in fact the case, with both business lines significantly beating net revenue targets,” said Marcus Harris, BPA’s acting chief financial officer in a statement. “And after making our planned 39th consecutive U.S. Treasury payment of roughly $950 million, reserves balances ended the year well above our Reserves Distribution Clause thresholds.”
The Reserves Distribution Clause is a component of BPA’s financial reserves policy that triggers when reserves, measured in days cash on hand, reach pre-established targets.
At the end of FY 2022, agency days cash on hand was 233 days, with both Power Services and Transmission Services well above their 60-day lower thresholds.
Reserves were high enough to trigger the Reserves Distribution Clause in the amount of $500 million for Power Services and $63.1 million for Transmission Services.
At a recent quarterly business review, BPA announced it will consider repurposing financial reserves for Power and Transmission rate reduction in FY 2023, as well as for other high-value business unit specific purposes. BPA will make the final decision in December after it reviews customer and stakeholder feedback.
For transmission rates, a portion of BPA’s strong FY 2022 financial performance is being proposed to keep BPA’s 2024 and 2025 rates flat.
For power rates, that financial performance provided an opportunity to include in power rates $129 million per year in additional risk protection without a rate increase.
The additional risk protection increases the chances that BPA will see continued strong financial performance during the 2024 and 2025 rate period by building a financial buffer against the increased market volatility that the region is observing, it said.
As a nonprofit entity, BPA is legally required to cover its costs and adjust rates accordingly. BPA establishes those rates for two-year periods through administrative proceedings called for by statute. Similarly, BPA makes adjustments to the non-rate terms and conditions of its open access tariff for transmission service through a separate administrative process.
President Biden Signs Legislation to Avert Railroad Strike
December 2, 2022
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
December 2, 2022
President Biden on Dec. 2 signed into law legislation that will avert a strike by railroad workers. In a recent letter to President Biden, Joy Ditto, President and CEO of the American Public Power Association (APPA), said that a work stoppage would “seriously threaten” the reliability of electric grids in public power communities.
The U.S. Senate on Dec. 1 voted 80-15 to prevent a strike by railroad employees by imposing contract terms on several unions that had rejected a tentative agreement struck with railroad companies in September. The House approved the imposition of contract terms on Nov. 30 by a vote of 290-137.
In a Nov. 18 letter to President Biden, Ditto noted that public power utilities rely on railroads to receive fuel, chemicals, and other equipment necessary “to provide their communities with essential electric service.”
A work stoppage “would seriously threaten the reliability of the electric grids in their communities, as well as further pressure already strained supply chains and increase prices at a time of already high inflation,” she said.
Artificial Intelligence Technology Boosts NYPA Drone Inspection Program
December 2, 2022
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
December 2, 2022
Artificial intelligence (AI) technology is significantly improving the New York Power Authority’s (NYPA) in-house drone inspection program, allowing transmission lines to be more quickly and thoroughly evaluated and any potential issues that could lead to power failure to be identified earlier, NYPA reported on Nov. 22.
NYPA said the initiative ties in with its strategic priorities involving the development of utilizing innovative energy solutions and digitizing and modernizing grid infrastructure to advance the efficient delivery of clean power statewide.
“Drone technology has the potential to streamline the way we analyze our transmission assets,” said Christina Park, NYPA’s director of asset intelligence solutions, in a statement.
“The proof-of-concept testing showed that using an artificial intelligence-based platform significantly reduced the time required for inspection and analysis,” she said. “Asset images can be analyzed in hours or days rather than months and allow our maintenance groups to prioritize repairs and reduce the potential of failure. This collaboration allows NYPA to leverage new technology to meet its mission of providing reliable, low-cost and clean energy to customers.”
As NYPA builds its comprehensive in-house drone program and uses drone technology to inspect its 1,400 circuit miles of transmission lines, the need for a seamless way to manage and analyze the data is critical, it noted.
In 2021, NYPA sought competitive bids and evaluated various vendors in the AI and analytics space for an AI-powered solution to streamline the process of analyzing drone-captured data.
Buzz Solutions, an AI-powered software platform for data management, data processing, anomaly detections, and analytics for power line and grid infrastructure inspections, was selected in the open bidding process.
NYPA said its drone pilots have captured and uploaded thousands of photos to demonstrate how the AI solution can quickly review imagery for efficient and more accurate reports. The system detects faults for transmission and distribution lines and can reduce inspection costs by minimalizing in-person inspections, while helping reduce potentially dangerous situations.
With the new platform, NYPA can analyze each image in a fraction of a second while still providing highly accurate results and obtaining a more comprehensive collection of data.
NYPA’s VISION2030 strategy aims to make NYPA the first fully digital utility by 2030.
Through its growing number of industry partnerships, NYPA hopes to drive the industry toward digital transformation with the adoption of artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies to track assets, understand high-risk infrastructure areas, prioritize maintenance work orders and reduce risk associated with those locations.
APPA, Other Groups Release Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Roadmap
December 1, 2022
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
December 1, 2022
The American Public Power Association (APPA) and other industry partners recently released a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) Roadmap for Industry Change through the Center for Energy Workforce Development (CEWD).
The roadmap is part of a multi-year initiative to support the energy industry’s efforts to ensure a diverse workforce and a sector recognized for its commitment to equity and inclusion practices. It is intended to offer a look at why a commitment to DE&I is essential in the energy sector and what actions should be explored by companies, union partners, and the industry as a unified force.
The roadmap will be followed by years of support in delivering the how, which will come through educational offerings, toolkits, best practice sharing, partnership development, data and metric insights, and more.
Washington, D.C.-based CEWD is a non-profit consortium of more than 120 energy companies, associations, unions, educational institutions, and government entities working in partnership to ensure a skilled, diverse workforce pipeline for the energy industry.
Recommendations from public power utilities to support future considerations or action by the industry in this area can be shared with Ursula Schryver, Vice President, Strategic Member Engagement & Education at APPA, at: uschryver@publicpower.org or CEWD at: staff@cewd.org.
Click here to download the report.
APPA members have access to a wide range of workforce-related resources as a result of APPA’s membership in CEWD.
Missy Henriksen, CEWD Executive Director, discussed the organization’s work in the area of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and the primary issues that will drive CEWD’s 2022 workplan in an episode of APPA’s Public Power Now podcast earlier this year.
Joy Ditto, President and CEO of APPA, earlier this year joined the Board of Directors for the CEWD.
Oak Ridge National Lab Tests Blockchain to Protect Grid Against Cyberattacks
December 1, 2022
by Peter Maloney
APPA News
December 1, 2022
In an effort to protect against cyberattacks and improve resiliency, researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have used blockchain to validate communication among devices on the electric grid.
The ORNL researchers said they used tamper-resistant blockchain to spread configuration and operational data redundantly across multiple servers. The data and equipment settings are constantly verified against a statistical baseline of normal voltage, frequency, breaker status and power quality. The equipment settings are collected at frequent intervals and compared with the last good configuration saved in the blockchain, allowing rapid recognition of when and how settings were changed, whether those changes were authorized, and what caused them, the researchers explained.
Processing the vast amount of data needed to monitor the status of the electric grid is well suited to blockchain technology, which uses a cryptographic method called hashing, where a mathematical computation is performed on bulk data to represent it as numbers in the blockchain. Hashing saves energy and reduces the space needed to store data and enables the blockchain to processes thousands of transactions per second for each intelligent grid device, ORNL said.
ORNL is using the blockchain framework it developed to detect unusual activity, including data manipulation, spoofing, and illicit changes to device settings that could trigger cascading power outages as breakers are tripped by protection devices.
The researchers demonstrated their framework in a test bed within the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Grid Research Integration and Deployment Center at ORNL, which uses commercial grade hardware in a closed electrical loop to mimic the architecture of a real substation. ORNL says that approach allows the researches to simulate cyberattacks or accidental misconfigurations in a low risk manner. The ORNL researchers said they are extending the approach to incorporate communications among renewable energy sources and multiple utilities.
The risk of cyberattacks increases as two-way communications between grid power electronics equipment and devices ranging from solar panels to electric car chargers and intelligent home electronics increases, ORNL noted.
“Our system helps determine in near real time whether a fault was triggered by a cyberattack or induced by natural events,” said Raymond Borges Hink, leader of the ORNL research team. “This is the first implementation of blockchain enabling this kind of data validation between a substation, a control center and metering infrastructure.”
The blockchain project is part of the Darknet initiative being led by ORNL and funded by the DOE’s Office of Electricity that aims to secure the nation’s electricity infrastructure by shifting its communications to increasingly secure methods.
Salt River Project, Partners Developing Plans for Regional Hydrogen Hub
November 30, 2022
by Peter Maloney
APPA News
November 30, 2022
Salt River Project, along with other members of the Center for an Arizona Carbon-Neutral Economy (AzCaNE), are developing a regional clean hydrogen hub in the Desert Southwest.
The Southwest Clean Hydrogen Innovation Network, or SHINe, submitted a concept paper to seek federal funding from the Department of Energy (DOE) for key clean hydrogen-focused initiatives, including production, processing, storage, delivery systems, community benefits and other enabling infrastructure.
Arizona, the Navajo Nation and Nevada have abundant sunshine that can be a source of solar power to produce clean hydrogen. In addition, Arizona has the nation’s largest nuclear power plant, which can also be used as a source of clean energy for hydrogen production, AzCaNE members said.
“The SHINe network includes salt cavern storage, heavy-duty transportation, and distribution technologies that will help accelerate the use of clean hydrogen as a source of low-carbon energy powering the economy,” Ellen Stechel, AzCaNE’s executive director, said in a statement.
When fully operational, SHINe aims to help support DOE’s vision of a regional clean hydrogen hub that provides clean energy for hard-to-abate carbon emissions in the transportation, industrial and electricity sectors while maintaining a reliable and resilient electric grid.
The DOE has noted that up to $7 billion is available to fund the development of between six and 10 regional clean hydrogen hubs. Funding for regional clean hydrogen hubs was outlined as part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which authorized up to $8 billion for at least four regional clean hydrogen hubs.
In February, the DOE announced two requests for information to collect feedback from stakeholders to inform the implementation and design of the infrastructure law’s Regional Hydrogen Hub and the Electrolysis and Clean Hydrogen Manufacturing and Recycling Programs.
In March, the governors of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming signed a memorandum of understanding for the development of a regional clean hydrogen hubs.
In September, Maine and Rhode Island joined a multi-state clean hydrogen hub in the New England/Mid-Atlantic region. The New York-led coalition already included Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Jersey.
Sidney Jackson Appointed as General Manager of California’s Pasadena Water and Power
November 30, 2022
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
November 30, 2022
Pasadena, Calif., City Manager Miguel Márquez recently appointed Sidney Jackson as general manager of Pasadena Water and Power (PWP).
Jackson will join the city’s executive team in early January 2023. Until then, Jeffrey Kightlinger will continue to serve as PWP’s interim general manager.
Jackson currently serves as the chief operations officer and deputy general manager at Texas public power utility Austin Energy.
He previously served as the chief operations officer at Minnesota’s Rochester Public Utilities, where he led operations of both the electric and water utilities.
He has served as an elected member of the board of directors for the Midwest Reliability Organization, a regional entity of North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), and on NERC committees.