Troutman Pepper Locke

Subscribe to Troutman Pepper Locke's Posts

On March 19, 2015, the White House issued an executive order directing federal agencies to reduce their direct greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions by at least 40 percent from 2008 levels by 2025 (“Executive Order”).  The Executive Order also directs federal agencies to increase the use of renewable energy by its buildings by at least 30 percent by 2025.  According to the Executive Order, agencies must begin complying with the various reductions and mandates in fiscal year 2016.

On March 24, 2015, the Commission denied Wisconsin Power and Light Company’s (“WPL”) request for waiver of certain provisions of the Midcontinent Independent System Operator’s (“MISO”) Open Access Transmission, Energy and Operating Reserve Markets Tariff (the “MISO Tariff”) dealing with annual capacity obligations.  Despite denying WPL’s request, the Commission noted that it was concurrently issuing a separate order to modify the MISO Tariff which would, according to the Commission, provide WPL with the relief it sought.

The Idaho Public Utilities Commission (“Idaho PUC”) is moving to take a closer look at the contract terms for power purchase agreements (“PPAs”) entered into between utilities and Qualifying Facilities (“QFs”) under the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (“PURPA”) framework.  The Idaho PUC has temporarily reduced the maximum contract term for QF PPAs from twenty years to five years for each of the regulated utilities operating within the state and is also considering whether to permanently reduce the term even further. 

On March 19, 2015, FERC issued Order No. 807, which eliminated Open Access Transmission Tariff (“OATT”) requirements, Open Access Same-Time Information System requirements, and the Standards of Conduct requirements, under certain conditions, for the ownership, operation, and control of an Interconnection Customer’s Interconnection Facilities (“ICIF”).  FERC stated that the waiver is designed to relieve the burden on ICIF owners while still maintaining the rights of third parties to seek access to available ICIF excess capacity.

On March 19, 2015, FERC issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NOPR”) that would eliminate the current requirement that participants in a FERC trial-type evidentiary hearing must provide paper copies of all evidentiary exhibits.  Instead, FERC proposes to remove this requirement under the NOPR, stating that it will create a more efficient exhibit filing process through direct electronic submission of all exhibits.

On March 9, 2015, the United States Supreme Court (the “Court”) issued its ruling in Nikols v. Mortgage Bankers Association, holding that federal agencies do not need to issue notice-and-comment procedures when amending or repealing an “interpretive” rule.  The impact of this ruling means that federal agencies, including FERC, may modify or repeal their interpretative orders and policy statements without providing notice or a public comment period.

On March 9, 2015, FERC rejected the Illinois Municipal Electric Agency’s (“Illinois MEA”) waiver from PJM Interconnection, L.L.C.’s (“PJM”) capacity rules for the 2018/2019 delivery year.  As a result, the Illinois MEA cannot use a majority of generation located outside of the Commonwealth Edison Locational Delivery Area (“ComEd LDA”) to meet its capacity obligations of load located within the ComEd LDA.

On March 5, 2015, Puget Sound Energy (“PSE”) announced that it will be participating in the Energy Imbalance Market (“EIM”) operated by the California Independent System (“CAISO”) as of Oct. 1, 2016.  PSE will be joining PacifiCorp and NV Energy, both already working with the CAISO on EIM integration.  By the end of the year the EIM is slated to include seven western states: California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Utah, Idaho and Wyoming.