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Federal Energy Regulators Propose Incentives for Voluntary Cybersecurity Investments

September 28, 2022

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
September 28, 2022

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on Sept. 22 issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) to establish rules providing incentive-based rate treatment for utilities making certain voluntary cybersecurity investments.

In the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021, Congress directed FERC to revise its regulations to establish incentive-based rate treatments by encouraging utilities to invest in advanced cybersecurity technology and participate in cybersecurity threat information sharing programs.

Under the NOPR, cybersecurity expenditures would be eligible for an incentive including both expenses and capital investments associated with advanced cybersecurity technology and participation in a cybersecurity threat information sharing program. 

Also, eligible cybersecurity expenditures would be voluntary and have to materially improve the utility’s cybersecurity posture. FERC proposes to establish a pre-qualified list of cybersecurity expenditures that are eligible for incentives that would be publicly maintained on FERC’s website.

The incentives would take two forms: a return on equity adder of 200 basis points, or deferred cost recovery that would enable the utility to defer expenses and include the unamortized portion in its rate base.

Approved incentives, with certain exceptions, would remain in effect for up to five years from the date on which the investments enter service or expenses are incurred.

At the same time,  FERC terminated its earlier cybersecurity incentives NOPR (Docket No. RM21-3), which the American Public Power Association had opposed. 

Comments on the NOPR are due 30 days after publication in the Federal Register.  Reply comments are due 45 days after publication in the Federal Register.  

The NOPR is available here.

NYPA Project Demonstrates CO2 Reduction Potential of Green Hydrogen

September 27, 2022

by Peter Maloney
APPA News
September 27, 2022

The New York Power Authority (NYPA) recently concluded a demonstration project that showed decreased carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions when using green hydrogen blended with natural gas to generate power.

The demonstration project, at NYPA’s Brentwood Small Clean Power Plant on Long Island, was led by NYPA in collaboration with the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), General Electric and Airgas, an Air Liquide company.

While NYPA and other power companies already use hydrogen for equipment cooling, the Brentwood project marks the first retrofit of an existing U.S. natural gas facility that enabled use of green hydrogen blended with natural gas to fuel a power plant.

Green hydrogen is produced using renewable resources.

The project used blends of 5 percent to 40 percent hydrogen to identify and document any effects on the operation of General Electric’s LM-6000 combustion turbine engine and found that CO2 emissions decreased as the amount of hydrogen increased.

In addition, at steady state conditions, the exhaust stack levels of nitrogen oxides (NOx), carbon monoxide, and ammonia showed that emissions could be maintained below limits mandated by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation using the existing post-combustion technologies and with no known detrimental effects on the gas turbine operations.

The results could prove consequential for power plant operators to begin testing and using hydrogen fuels to lower CO2 output with minimal or no required modifications to plant systems, NYPA said.

In March, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Jersey formed a coalition to develop a proposal to become one of at least four regional clean energy hydrogen hubs designated by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. In September, Maine and Rhode Island joined the coalition.

Puerto Rico Sees Power Restoration Progress Over the Weekend

September 25, 2022

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
September 25, 2022

LUMA Energy reported that as part of ongoing Puerto Rico Hurricane Fiona recovery efforts, approximately 50 percent, or 732,324 of customers had their power restored as of Saturday, Sept. 24.

LUMA said that it has continued conducting damage assessments and critical repairs, and has been focusing on connecting critical customers, such as hospitals and other essential services.

As part of combined restoration efforts, LUMA continues to coordinate with the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA). and other private generation operators to reenergize critical generation facilities and increase the amount of available generation so LUMA can restore service to more customers.

Along with approximately 50% of customers restored as of Sept. 24, LUMA reported:

In June 2020, PREPA and the Puerto Rico Public-Private Partnership Authority selected LUMA Energy to operate, maintain and modernize the electricity transmission and distribution system of PREPA for fifteen years through a public-private partnership.

Puerto Rico Power Restoration Efforts Advance

September 21, 2022

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
September 21, 2022

Nearly 300,000 customers in Puerto Rico have had their power restored in the wake of Hurricane Fiona as of the afternoon of Sept. 20, with continuing efforts to reenergize the grid and restore power as quickly and safely as possible, LUMA Energy reported.

Damage assessment, restoration and reenergization efforts by LUMA and its partners continued across Puerto Rico following the severe impacts of Hurricane Fiona.

LUMA said it has fully deployed a field response crew of over 2,000 utility field workers who are working in difficult conditions to repair the grid and restore power across Puerto Rico as quickly and safely as possible, including additional utility field workers provided by Quanta.

All emergency response efforts are being coordinated through the LUMA Emergency Operations Center (LEOC) and includes close consultation with the Government of Puerto Rico, Municipalities, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Puerto Rico Emergency Management Bureau (PREMB), Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA), the U.S. Department of Energy Support Function #12 and other government agencies to coordinate a unified response.

Among the LUMA crews mobilized and responding to the impact of Hurricane Fiona include:

The Department of Energy (DOE) reported that as of 1:00 PM EDT Sept. 20, Puerto Rico had approximately 1.18 million outages (80% of customers).

On the afternoon of September 18, Puerto Rico experienced an island-wide power outage due to impacts to distribution and transmission damage from Hurricane Fiona, which caused a system imbalance that tripped generation units offline.

Following the island-wide outage, PREPA, in coordination with the transmission and distribution operator LUMA, began procedures to restart generation and restore customers.

Salt River Project Commits to Supporting Next Phase of SPP Markets Development

September 21, 2022

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
September 21, 2022

Public power utility Salt River Project (SRP) is one of several Arizona entities that have committed to supporting the next phase of the Southwest Power Pool’s (SPP) “Markets+” development, SPP said recently.

SRP, along with Arizona Electric Power Cooperative, Arizona Public Service Company and Tucson Electric Power join seven other entities who previously committed to supporting market development.

In a late August 2022 letter, the four Arizona entities declared their intent to work with SPP to build a market that includes “both a workable governance framework and a robust market design. This will be an important milestone that will enable us to collectively move forward to the next phase.”

These entities combined serve over 20,000 MW of peak demand in the desert southwest.  With this announcement, SPP has now received interest in supporting the next phase of Markets+ development from entities that serve over 50,000 MW of combined peak demand.

Since December 2021, SPP has been working with western stakeholders to learn what they would like out of a proposed day-ahead and real-time market. Based on its potential customers’ input, SPP will develop the Markets+ draft service offering, which will explain how Markets+ will address things like governance structure, market design and transmission availability.

Last month, eight entities in the Pacific Northwest announced their intent to commit to phase one of Markets+ development: Bonneville Power Administration, Avista Corp., Chelan County Public Utility District, Grant County Public Utility District, Powerex Corp., Puget Sound Energy and Tacoma Power.

SPP said that Markets+ is a conceptual bundle of services proposed by SPP that would centralize day-ahead and real-time unit commitment and dispatch, provide hurdle-free transmission service across its footprint and pave the way for the reliable integration of a rapidly growing fleet of renewable generation.

For utilities that see value in these services but who aren’t ready to pursue full membership in a regional transmission organization (RTO) at this time, Markets+ provides a voluntary, incremental opportunity to realize significant benefits.

SPP staff met with western stakeholders Aug. 9-10 in Portland, Oregon to review work done on the service offering and discuss outstanding items and next steps.

The draft service offering will be distributed Sept. 30, followed by a public comment period, with the final service offering distributed Nov. 18.

California’s SMUD Enters Agreement to Deploy Long Duration Energy Storage

September 21, 2022

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
September 21, 2022

California public power utility SMUD and ESS Inc. on Sept. 20 announced an agreement to provide up to 200 megawatts (MW)/2 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of long duration energy storage (LDES) that will be provided by ESS.

The agreement calls for ESS to deliver a mix of its long-duration energy storage LDES technology for integration with the SMUD electric grid beginning in 2023.

SMUD will deploy the LDES systems in support of its 2030 zero carbon plan, which aims to reduce thermal generation, maximize local solar generation, provide neighborhood resiliency, and increase social justice and equity. LDES is a key component in SMUD’s decarbonization plan, without compromising reliability or low electricity rates, SMUD said.

As part of this multi-year agreement, ESS intends to set up facilities for battery system assembly, operations and maintenance support and project delivery in Sacramento, creating local, high paying jobs.

In addition, SMUD and ESS plan to establish a Center of Excellence to expand the workforce and knowledge base for LDES technology in partnership with higher education institutions.

The center will provide advanced LDES technical training, creating a statewide skilled talent pool to help build and maintain California’s fast-growing long-duration energy storage resources.

ESS manufactures long-duration iron flow batteries for commercial and utility-scale energy storage applications.

The American Public Power Association’s Public Power Energy Tracker is a resource for association members that summarizes public power energy storage projects that are currently online. The tracker is available here.

U.S. Energy Storage Market Set New Record In Second Quarter 2022

September 18, 2022

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
September 18, 2022

The U.S. energy storage market set a new record in the second quarter of 2022, with grid-scale installations totaling 2,608 megawatt hours (MWh), the highest installed capacity for any second quarter on record, according to a new report released Sept. 14. 

According to Wood Mackenzie and the American Clean Power Association’s (ACP) latest U.S. Energy Storage Monitor report, grid-scale storage was boosted by a series of deployments in Texas, with the state contributing 60% of installed capacity this quarter. However, challenges to the sector remain due to delays. 

“Despite impressive growth, the U.S. grid-scale energy storage pipeline continues to face rolling delays into 2023 and beyond. More than 1.1 gigawatts (GW) of projects originally scheduled to come online in Q2 were delayed or cancelled, although 61% of this capacity, 709 megawatts (MW), is still scheduled to come online in Q3 and Q4 of 2022,” said Vanessa Witte, senior analyst with Wood Mackenzie’s energy storage team. 

“Supply chain issues, transportation delays and interconnection queue challenges were the main drivers behind delays in the commercial operations date for many projects,” Witte added.  

The U.S. Congress passed a solar investment tax credit (ITC) extension and standalone storage ITC as part of the Inflation Reduction Act.

The new law will support all segments of the energy storage industry, increasing deployment of solar-plus-storage systems while also incentivizing standalone facilities, Wood Mackenzie and ACP said. As a result, Wood Mackenzie forecasts 59.2 GW of energy storage capacity to be added through 2026. 

Residential storage also had its strongest quarter to date with 375 MWh installed in Q2, beating the previous quarterly record of 334.1 MWh in Q1 2022.  

Demand is rising in the residential segment with over 150 MW of residential storage installed for the first time, but ongoing supply shortfalls and rising prices have suppressed deployment. New solar installers continue to add storage to their product offerings, despite ongoing procurement issues. 

Community, commercial and industrial (CCI) storage continues to lag behind other market segments, with only 59.4 MWh of CCI storage installations seen this quarter, making it the lowest quarter recorded for MWh capacity since 2019.

DOE Study Says Hundreds Of Coal Plant Sites Could Be Converted To Nuclear Plant Sites

September 16, 2022

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
September 16, 2022

A new U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) study finds that hundreds of coal power plant sites across the country could be converted to nuclear power plant sites.

“This would dramatically increase the supply of firm and dispatchable clean electricity to the grid and deliver huge gains to the nation’s goal of net-zero emissions by 2050,” DOE said.

According to the report, this coal-to-nuclear (C2N) transition could help increase nuclear capacity in the U.S. to more than 350 gigawatts (GW). The existing fleet currently has a combined capacity of 95 GW and supplies half of the nation’s emissions-free electricity.

The transition would also bring tangible benefits back to energy communities with additional jobs, new economic activities, and improved environmental conditions, DOE said. The report is available here.

The Investigating Benefits and Challenges of Converting Retiring Coal Plants into Nuclear Plants report analyzed a hypothetical but representative coal power plant site and the surrounding region to investigate the detailed impacts and potential outcomes of a C2N transition.

After screening recently retired and active coal plant sites, the study team, comprised of multiple DOE national labs, identified 157 retired coal plant sites and 237 operating coal plants sites as potential candidates for a C2N transition.

Argonne National Laboratory, Idaho National Laboratory, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory conducted the study, which was sponsored by the Office of Nuclear Energy. 

The team further evaluated the potential coal power plant sites based on a set of ten parameters, including population density, distance from seismic fault lines, flooding potential, and nearby wetlands, to determine if they could safely host a nuclear power plant.

The team found that 80% of the potential sites, with over 250 GW of generating capacity, are suitable for hosting advanced nuclear power plants. These nuclear power plants vary in size and type and could be deployed to match the size of the site being converted.

While these coal power plant sites possess the basic characteristics needed, further investigation is required before a C2N transition can occur.

This includes an investigation into ownership of the plant, an in-depth evaluation of the remaining coal power plant infrastructure, and a consideration of other factors that could pose siting challenges.

After identifying a study site, the team examined how a C2N transition would bring significant financial, economic and environmental benefits to energy communities. 

According to the study, if a large coal plant site is replaced by a nuclear power plant of equivalent size, jobs in the region could increase by more than 650 permanent jobs for the NuScale design example in the case study. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission recently directed its staff to issue a final rule that certifies NuScale’s small modular reactor (SMR) design for use in the U.S.

These jobs are spread across the plant, the supply chain supporting the plant, and the community surrounding the plant and most typically come with wages that are about 25% higher than any other energy technology.

The occupations that would see the largest gains include nuclear engineers, security guards, and nuclear technicians, DOE said.

“Nuclear power plant projects could also benefit from preserving the existing experienced workforce in communities around retiring coal plants sites. Many of these workers already possess the necessary skills and knowledge requirements needed to help transition their skills to work at a nuclear power plant,” DOE said.

The study also indicates that as new jobs increase economic output and improve wages across the community, the economic well-being of community members in the region will improve.

Based on the case study, long-term job impacts could lead to additional annual economic activity of $275 million. This includes an increase of 92% tax revenue from the nuclear plant for the local county when compared to the tax revenue from the coal plant prior to its closure.

These tax payments would also increase the amount of money given to improve local schools, infrastructure projects, and public services.

DOE also noted that high construction costs “have consistently plagued the nuclear energy industry for years, but a C2N transition can help lower these costs — especially for first-of-a-kind development projects.”

The study shows that reusing coal infrastructure for new, advanced nuclear reactors can save around 15-35% in construction costs.

C2N projects could use the existing land, connection to the grid, and office buildings. Reusing the coal plant’s electrical equipment (transmission connection, switchyard, etc.) and civil infrastructure (roads, buildings, etc.) would also save millions of dollars upfront.

Next Steps

Other analyses can use this study’s methods to set up a site analysis based on a specific coal plant site and a specific type of nuclear reactor.

Conducting parts of this study for different sites would determine more accurate estimates of the environmental and economic impacts of the C2N transition on the region, DOE said.

These new analyses would also determine how specific nuclear plants could use certain infrastructure at the coal plant sites, resulting in more accurate estimates of savings associated with avoided construction costs.

First 35 State Plans to Build Out EV Charging Infrastructure Approved By Federal Government

September 16, 2022

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
September 16, 2022

The Biden Administration on Sept. 14 announced that more than two-thirds of electric vehicle (EV) Infrastructure Deployment Plans from states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have been approved ahead of schedule under the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program.

“With this early approval, these states can now unlock more than $900 million in NEVI formula funding from FY22 and FY23 to help build EV chargers across approximately 53,000 miles of highway across the country,” the Department of Energy said in a news release.

The NEVI formula funding under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law makes $5 billion available over five years.

Prior to the approval of plans announced on Sept. 14, state departments of transportation (DOTs) were able to begin staffing and activities directly related to the development of their plans.

After plan approval, states can be reimbursed for those costs and now have a wide range of options to use their NEVI Formula funding for projects directly related to the charging of a vehicle, which could include:

Proposed standards for EV charging require electricians working on EV charging infrastructure installation to be certified through the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Training Program, a non-profit, industry-recognized training program.

Approved plans are available on the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and funding tables for the full five years of the NEVI Formula program can be viewed here.

The FHWA has reviewed state EV infrastructure deployment plans in close coordination with the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation and is working to approve all plans as quickly as possible.

The remaining plans will continue to be reviewed on a rolling basis as the plan approvals are finalized. As a plan is approved, state DOTs will be able to access funding to develop their EV charging infrastructure through the use of NEVI Formula Program funds.

FHWA is also working on related efforts to establish ground rules for how formula NEVI funds can be spent.

FHWA published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on proposed minimum standards and requirements for projects funded under the NEVI Formula Program and plans to finalize that rulemaking expeditiously now that the comment period has closed.

FHWA also proposed a Buy America waiver that will allow a short ramp up period for the domestic manufacturing of EV charging. The comment period for the waiver proposal is open through September 30, 2022.

FHWA and the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation will continue to provide direct technical assistance and support to states as plans are reviewed and approved, as well as throughout the lifetime of the NEVI Formula Program.

The joint office this summer announced a partnership to support EV charging with APPA, Edison Electric Institute, and National Rural Electric Cooperative Association to inform electric system investments and support state planning.

Michigan Governor Backs Effort To Reopen Nuclear Power Plant

September 15, 2022

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
September 15, 2022

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer recently sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Energy in support of Holtec International’s application for a federal grant under the Civil Nuclear Credit (CNC) program that would keep the Palisades nuclear power plant in Southwest Michigan operational.

On May 20, the 800-megawatt plant’s former owner, Entergy, made the decision to close the plant 11 days ahead of the planned May 31 shutdown “due to the performance of a control rod drive seal.”

The Palisades plant was shut down on May 20, when its current fuel supply ran out and the power purchase agreement with investor-owned Consumers Energy expired. The plant was sold to Holtec Decommissioning International in June 2022.

“With your support, Holtec plans to repower and reopen the Palisades,” Whitmer wrote in the Sept. 9 letter to Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm.

Holtec International applied for a CNC on July 5 in an effort to keep Palisades open.

If Holtec is approved for a CNC, Michigan is ready to support the company by identifying state funding and facilitating a power purchase agreement, Whitmer’s office said.

California Lawmakers Approve Legislation That Allows For Nuclear Plant’s Continued Operation

In related news, California lawmakers recently voted to approve legislation that allows for the possible extension of the operation of the Diablo Canyon Power Plant (DCPP), California’s only remaining operating nuclear power plant.

The vote to approve the measure followed on the heels of a recent California Senate Committee hearing related to the possible extension of the operation of the DCPP.