On December 16, 2022, FERC again rejected the Midcontinent Independent System Operator Inc. (“MISO”) proposal for Transmission Owners to self-fund Necessary Upgrades to connect Merchant High Voltage Direct Current (“HVDC”) transmission lines into MISO and addressed arguments on rehearing. Commissioner Danly dissented and Commissioner Christie concurred in separate statements. Chairman Glick did not participate.

Continue Reading On Rehearing FERC Again Rejects MISO Proposal for Transmission Owners to Self-Fund Necessary Upgrades to Connect Merchant HVDC Lines

On December 15, 2022, FERC issued an order accepting Arizona Public Service Company’s (“APS”) revisions to its Open Access Transmission Tariff (“Tariff”) that would allow APS to begin using the Flowgate Methodology for calculating Available Transfer Capability (“ATC”) instead of its current Rated System Path Methodology. In addition, FERC denied APS’s request to waive the requirement to post its Total Transfer Capability (“TTC”) values on the Open Access Same Time Information System (“OASIS”).

Continue Reading FERC Accepts Arizona Public Service Company’s Proposal to Adopt Flowgate ATC Methodology and Denies Its Request to Waive TTC Posting Requirements

On December 15, 2022, FERC issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NOPR”) seeking to revise its regulations governing applications for permits to site electric transmission facilities under § 216 of the Federal Power Act (“FPA”). Specifically, the NOPR seeks to: (1) revise Section 50.6 of FERC’s regulations to reflect the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act’s (“IIJA”) amendments to the FPA § 216; (2) eliminate the required one-year delay before the commencement of FERC’s pre-filing process; (3) supplement the existing landowner and stakeholder participation provisions in Part 50 of its regulations; and (4) revise the timing of the required Project Participation Plan (“Plan”) in the pre-filing application process.

Continue Reading FERC Issues Proposed Rule Implementing FPA Amendments in Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act

On November 18, 2022, FERC accepted a September 19, 2022 proposal from the California Independent System Operator (“CAISO”) to correct “excessively high” payments being made to electric storage resources that are forced to discharge to meet state of charge requirements when providing ancillary services. The proposal also aims to encourage those resources to reflect opportunity costs through their ancillary services bids rather than energy bids.

Continue Reading FERC Accepts CAISO Proposal to Correct Payment Overcollections by Storage Resources

On November 29, 2022, FERC conditionally accepted PJM Interconnection, L.L.C.’s (“PJM”) tariff revisions to transition from a serial first-come, first-served generator interconnection queue process to a first-ready, first-served clustered cycle approach. FERC found that the revisions will help reduce interconnection queue backlogs and delays.

Continue Reading FERC Conditionally Accepts PJM Interconnection Reforms for a First-Ready, First-Served Clustered Cycle Approach

On November 28, 2022, various State Attorneys General intervened to protest (the “Protest”) a filing made by The Vanguard Group, Inc., along with its affiliated entities (collectively, “Vanguard”) requesting to extend the blanket waiver authorization granted by the Commission for acquisitions of voting securities of publicly traded utilities. Utah, Indiana, Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Texas, by and through their Attorneys General (collectively, “the States”), requested that the Commission deny Vanguard’s application for blanket reauthorization and set the proceeding for hearing.

Continue Reading Various State Attorneys General Urge FERC to Revoke Vanguard’s Blank Waiver to Acquire Utility Securities

On November 17, 2022, FERC issued three orders intended to address the reliability impacts of the rapid integration of inverter-based resources (“IBRs”), including solar, wind, fuel cell, and battery storage resources, on the Bulk-Power System (“BPS”). Specifically, in the first proceeding, FERC directed the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (“NERC”) to develop a plan to register the entities that own and operate IBRs so that NERC may monitor their compliance with NERC’s Reliability Standards. In the second proceeding, FERC issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NOPR”) to direct NERC to develop new or modified Reliability Standards that address reliability gaps related to IBRs. Lastly, in the final proceeding, FERC approved revisions to two of NERC’s Reliability Standards.

Continue Reading FERC Issues Proposals Regarding Inverter-Based Resources to Improve Grid Reliability

On November 17, 2022, FERC approved an application authorizing Commonwealth LNG, LLC (“Commonwealth”) to site, construct, and operate a liquified natural gas (“LNG”) export terminal in Cameron Parish, Louisiana. The LNG facility’s authorization drew concurring opinions from four of the Commissioners.

Continue Reading FERC Authorizes Commonwealth LNG Export Facility

On November 17, 2022, FERC granted a petition for declaratory order (“Petition”) filed by Ameresco, Inc. (“Ameresco”) and its subsidiaries (collectively with Ameresco, “the Ameresco Companies”) requesting exemption from certain “books and records” requirements under the Commission’s Public Utility Holding Company Act of 2005 (“PUHCA”) regulations because its ownership of certain grid-charged battery storage subsidiaries might otherwise have caused Ameresco to lose its automatic “books and records” exemption under PUHCA. FERC granted the Petition, notwithstanding the fact that some of the storage subsidiaries would not otherwise qualify for the non-traditional utility “books and records” exemption, because the “Ameresco Companies’ books, accounts, memoranda, and other records are not relevant to the jurisdictional rates of Ameresco Companies.”

Continue Reading FERC Finds PUHCA Exemptions Appropriate for Holding Company Ownership of Grid-Charging Storage Facilities Selling at Retail

“Recently, demand response opportunities for residential customers have been expanding. Where these programs allow energy providers to directly control, through the internet, consumers’ smart thermostats and appliances, energy providers may be exposed to patent liability.”

Continue Reading Energy Demand Response Programs and Patent Exposure