On March 12, 2013, FERC and the United States Coast Guard (“USCG”) announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) regarding applications to site, construct and operate hydrokinetic power generation projects in waters under the jurisdiction of the United States.  The MOU defines hydrokinetic projects as those “designed to harness the power of waves, tides, currents, and the free-flow of rivers and streams.”  The goal of the MOU is to increase cooperation and collaboration between FERC and the USCG while proposed hydrokinetic projects are being considered and reviewed by FERC.

On March 5, 2013, FERC conditionally approved the ISO New England, Inc. (“ISO-NE”) and New England Power Pool Participants Committee’s (“Power Pool Committee”) proposal to share confidential information with other Independent System Operators (“ISOs”), Regional Transmission Organizations (“RTOs”), or their respective market monitors if such information is requested by the ISO, RTO, or market monitor as part of an investigation.

On February 28, 2013, FERC accepted and suspended Potomac Electric Power Company and Delmarva Power & Light Company’s (collectively, “PHI Companies”) tariff revisions to recover costs related to abandonment of the Mid-Atlantic Power Pathway (“MAPP”) Project.  The Commission, however, required the removal of previously-awarded return on equity (“ROE”) incentive adders for regional transmission organization (“RTO”) participation and for the risks and challenges of the project.  FERC concluded that due to the abandonment of the MAPP Project, the adders were no longer appropriate.  FERC set the issue of the reasonableness of the specific amount of abandonment costs for hearing.

On March 5, 2013, FERC announced the details of its upcoming technical conference focused on the scheduling practices of natural gas and electric markets.  The technical conference is the second of two technical conferences ordered by FERC in a November 15, 2012 order to address common issues raised during regional conferences (see November 16, 2012 edition of the WER).  The first technical conference was held on February 13, 2013, and addressed communication issues between the two industries (see February 14, 2012 edition of the WER).

On Thursday, February 28, 2013, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (“NERC”) filed proposed revisions to its Standard Processes Manual (“SPM”) with FERC.  The SPM contains the procedures that govern NERC’s development of mandatory reliability standards.  NERC explained that the purpose of updating the SPM is to streamline the drafting, commenting and balloting processes used to develop mandatory reliability standards, and to provide greater clarity throughout the entire process.

On February 21, 2013, FERC authorized Cheniere Creole Trail Pipeline, L.P. (“Creole Trail”) to modify its current pipeline system in Cameron and Beauregard Parishes, Louisiana so that it will allow bi-directional flow to deliver domestic gas to the liquefied natural gas (“LNG”) terminal owned by Sabine Pass LNG, L.P. (“Sabine Pass”).

On Thursday, February 21, 2013, FERC issued a Final Rule approving a new regional reliability standard, PRC-006-NPCC-1, designed to ensure the development of an effective automatic underfrequency load shedding (“UFLS”) program in the Northeast Power Coordinating Council (“NPCC”) Region.