A study funded by the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity found that most of the states subject to the U.S. EPA’s Clean Power Plan (CPP) will see significant increases in electricity prices. The Coalition hired The National Economic Research Associates (NERA) to conduct the study, which was published November 7, 2015.
On December 18, 2015, Congress passed a multi-year extension of the 30% investment tax credit (ITC) for solar and a 2.3 cent production tax credit (PTC) for wind. The tax credit extensions were included in a bipartisan $1.1 trillion spending bill, which included the removal of the ban to export oil.
The developing field of “natural infrastructure” restoration provides the opportunity for utilities to better protect critical infrastructure assets from storms.
In its recently released 2015 Long-Term Reliability Assessment (2015 LTRA), the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) finds that the significant and accelerating transformation of the North American electric power system will require new approaches to system planning and operation to maintain adequate levels of reliability during the transition.
Each year, many utility management teams and boards prepare for strategy retreats where they will work to set priorities for the business. With decades of experience in the industry, ScottMadden reminds public power companies of four keys to making strategic planning successful.
In September 2015, ScottMadden supported the Solar Electric Power Association’s (SEPA) fact-finding mission to Hawaii. The purpose of the mission was to explore impacts of high-penetration renewables and how lessons learned can be transferred to other utilities around the country.
On October 15, 2015, the New York Public Service Commission (PSC) Staff issued proposed guidance to the New York utilities for the structure and content of their Distributed System Implementation Plans (DSIPs). The DSIPs are the plans through which each utility will establish a Distributed System Platform (DSP), a foundational element of the Reforming the Energy Vision (REV) proceeding (14-M-0101). Per the Track 1 Order, the DSP is envisioned as
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At present, few state public utility commissions show Clean Power Plan-related (CPP) online actions or information, despite the September 2016 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) deadline for state implementation plans and deadline extension requests.
On October 12, Entergy ended speculation surrounding its embattled Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station, located in Plymouth, Massachusetts, by announcing its intent to shut down the 43-year-old plant. Though the specific date for shutdown of the 680 MW plant has not been set, the company notified ISO-New England that it would no longer provide capacity into the market effective June 1, 2019. The primary factors cited by Entergy for the closure
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The Florida Supreme Court approved language for a ballot initiative seeking to allow third-party sale of solar electricity. Led by Floridians for Solar Choice, the initiative must now collect 683,149 certified signatures by February 1, 2016 in order to appear on the November 2016 ballot.
Under the Obama Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has actively proposed numerous rules impacting Fossil Power Generation. Below is a summary of EPA action since 2009.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is moving forward with its Clean Power Plan (CPP) despite pending litigation from more than 20 states to halt its enforcement. CPP establishes statewide carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions standards for existing fossil fuel-fired electric generating units with the goal of cutting CO2 emissions by 32% by 2030, as measured from a 2005 baseline. EPA bases its authority to promulgate such a rule using Section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act. More than 20 states filed an official petition for review (i.e., taking another look at this rule) with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on October 23, 2015, with West Virginia as the lead petitioner—West Virginia et al. vs. EPA et al. (No. 15-1363). Many of the same states simultaneously filed a separate request to stay the rule (i.e., halting its implementation pending results of review).
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