Yesterday, the White House announced that President Obama named the current Acting Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or “Commission”), Jon Wellinghoff, to the post permanently. Chairman Wellinghoff is widely seen as a proponent of the White House’s green energy policy.
In addition, the White House announced that…
On Monday, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and FERC Chairman Jon Wellinghoff agreed to principles that will allow the agencies to finalize a Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) regarding each agency’s role in developing renewable energy on the Outer Continental Shelf (“OCS”).
On Thursday, FERC issued a proposed policy statement and action plan to develop a smarter grid for the U.S. electric transmission system. The Commission’s intent is to prioritize the development of key interoperability standards, provide guidance to the electric industry regarding the need for full cybersecurity for “Smart Grid” projects, and provide an interim rate policy under which jurisdictional public utilities may seek to recover the costs of Smart Grid deployments before relevant standards are adopted through a Commission rulemaking.
On March 13, 2009 the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (“DC Circuit”) upheld FERC’s decision to grant a new 50-year license to the New York Power Authority’s (“NYPA”) Robert Moses Niagara hydroelectric project (“Niagara Power Project”).
On Monday, Commissioner Joseph T. Kelliher announced that we would leave the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or “Commission”) effective today. Commissioner Kelliher’s announcement was expected even though his term does not end until 2012. Commissioner Kelliher has served at FERC since November 20, 2003 and was chairman from July…
On Thursday, FERC Acting Chairman Jon Wellinghoff testified before the U.S. Senate’s Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on siting of electric transmission lines. Acting Chairman Wellinghoff’s testimony was part of a full committee hearing that included witnesses representing federal and state commissions, transmission and electricity companies, and regional entities.
On Monday, FERC hosted a technical conference entitled, Integrating Renewable Resources Into the Wholesale Electric Grid. Attention at the conference centered on the challenges that intermittent resources pose to the transmission system, as well as which entities should be responsible for regional planning.
On February 27, 2009, FERC approved a settlement agreement with Energy Transfer Partners LP (“ETP”) under which it will pay no civil penalty and neither admit nor deny any wrongdoing to any third party by Oasis Pipeline, LP (“Oasis”), an affiliate. The decision follows a ruling by FERC Administrative Law Judge Bruce Birchman that FERC was unable to prove Oasis had unduly discriminated against non-affiliated shippers (see November 21, 2008 edition of the WER).
On February 20, 2009, FERC accepted the California Independent System Operator Corporation’s (“CAISO”) Exceptional Dispatch provisions in its Market Redesign and Technology Upgrade Tariff (“MRTU Tariff”). While FERC believes that CAISO will rely on the Exceptional Dispatch mechanism much less frequently in the future as it gains experience with MRTU, the mechanism will maintain grid reliability in circumstances where resources issued exceptional dispatch instructions could exercise local market power.
Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit overturned a decision by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or “Commission”) regarding a rate increase mandated by the Commission that resulted from the California energy crisis.
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