After a contentious legislative debate, the PUC confronts who should pay and who should benefit from rooftop solar
A leading financial incentive that’s driving solar power’s growth at home is a 1980s-vintage rule called net energy billing. It requires utilities to pay small energy generators the full retail price for all the electricity they send into the grid. Those payments help recover the investment in solar-electric panels, which can run $10,000 or so at an average home.
But net energy billing, often called net metering, is controversial nationwide. As solar’s popularity grows, utilities say those payments are shifting the cost of serving homes with solar panels onto other customers. Clean-energy advocates counter that the value of this energy actually is greater than the cost. Both sides cite figures and studies to support their claims.
The Maine Public Utilities Commission now is examining this issue. It was triggered this year by part of the net energy billing rule that says the PUC must review the practice, once peak power production reaches 1 percent of Central Maine Power’s installed capacity.
Uncertainty over the future of net metering is having a chilling effect on Maine’s small solar installation industry. Business worth millions of dollars stalled last spring after Gov. Paul LePage vetoed a wide-ranging solar energy bill that included a plan to update net metering. The Legislature failed to override the veto by two votes, pitting LePage and his mostly Republican allies against Democrats.
In June, a group of roughly 30 solar installers, businesses, municipalities and other interest groups asked the PUC to limit the scope of its review, so that lawmakers could take up the issue again next year. They fear that the three PUC commissioners, all of whom were appointed by LePage, will gut net metering.
Their fears were heightened last month when LePage’s energy office filed comments in the case. His office wants to lower the level of compensation for net metering, recommending that current customers get the full retail price for no more than three years. CMP says in its comments that it doesn’t oppose a “reasonable period for grandfathering.” It suggests a maximum of 10 years. continued…
first published week of: 08/29/2016
A look at the Kemper County Coal Plant from the top. The plant will be tasked with mining lignite coal a few hundred yards away from the plant. That coal is moved through a process that will convert it to syngas.
Mississippi Power Co. is adding another month to the construction schedule and another $62 million to the cost of the power plant it’s building in Kemper County.
Atlanta-based Southern Co., the parent of the electrical utility, announced Monday that it’s pushing back the completion date from Oct. 31 to Nov. 30. Because every month’s delay prompts more construction and interest costs, the total price of the plant is now nearly $6.9 billion. Documents filed with the Mississippi Public Service Commission show Mississippi Power will absorb $33 million of the increase, but customers could be asked to pay the other $29 million. Customers could ultimately pay as much as $4.2 billion for the plant, although regulators will decide the final amount. The plant and associated coal mine were originally supposed to cost $2.9 billion at most, and earliest estimates were lower. Stockholders have absorbed $2.6 billion in losses.
Kemper is designed to use two gasifiers to convert soft lignite coal into synthetic gas burned to generate electricity. In a Monday filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said that when it took the first gasifier to start making synthetic gas offline in August for inspection, it took longer than expected to remove ash. Maybe more importantly, the company said it wants more time to achieve sustained capacity, test removal of chemicals from the gas and synchronize both gasifiers to run at once. The second gasifier began operating in September. Kemper is designed to remove carbon dioxide from the synthetic gas, cutting carbon dioxide emissions to the level of a similarly sized natural gas plant. That’s why the federal government has given Kemper hundreds of millions of dollars in aid. continued…
first published week of: 10/10/2016
The New York Power Authority is researching whether or not it is feasible to use cloud computing for real-time monitoring of utility power systems.
NYPA official say the study is "in an effort to craft a network that is more efficient and less expensive to run."
NYPA will partner with Cornell University and Washington State University to study using the cloud rather than servers and hard-wired communications.
If deemed practical, cloud computing would be considerably less expensive than each utility building its own data and control network, according to a news release from the power authority. continued…
first published week of: 11/21/2016
The passage of a Senate Bill that will bailout nuclear plants will destroy jobs and hurt pocketbooks according to the following statement from AARP Illinois State Director Bob Gallo.
"Today, on the last day of Veto Session, the General Assembly sent terrible news to millions of Illinois consumers as it passed Senate Bill 2814, the bill pushed by Exelon, ComEd and Ameren to bail out the nuclear plants in Clinton and the Quad Cities via a multi-billion dollar rate increase, the highest in our nation's history.
"AARP, on behalf of its 1.7 million Illinois members, is extremely disappointed at this decision, which will hurt the pocketbooks of older residents, working families, and low-income individuals, and will also hurt countless businesses across Illinois.
"It is outrageous that the General Assembly can work together to negotiate a bailout for highly profitable Exelon, but they haven't been able to negotiate a state budget for over two years, a vital budget for our state's most vulnerable citizens that need services provided for by non-profit and far less profitable agencies that are struggling to keep their doors open. continued…
first published week of: 12/12/2016
AEP Ohio, a unit of American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP), has filed a proposal with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) to extend its current Electric Security Plan (ESP), with modifications, through May 2024. The ESP would otherwise expire in May 2018.
The proposal would continue AEP Ohio's investments to improve customer service and reliability including proactive replacement of aging equipment and aggressive tree trimming and vegetation management programs to reduce outages. AEP Ohio also will invest in a new communications system to speed dispatching of crews and restoration of service when outages occur and security enhancements to better protect distribution substations from vandalism and physical attacks.
The plan also will add new, smart technologies to AEP Ohio's energy distribution network including microgrids to supply uninterrupted power to critical public safety infrastructure, electric vehicle charging stations and smart street lighting systems to support the Smart Columbus effort in Franklin and 10 surrounding counties. continued…
first published week of: 12/05/2016
Former Assistant City Manager Jordan Leonard talks about his 2012 discovery of over one million dollars of uncollected water bills in inactive accounts in the city of Opa-locka
For Opa-locka Mayor Myra Taylor, the Vankara School represents her legacy, a sprawling, neatly landscaped institution that educated generations of children in Christian values.
There were morning prayers and required uniforms at the private school, along with a curriculum grounded in the three Rs.
But when it came to paying its bills, the school broke its own rules.
Year after year, the mayor’s school that once hosted fundraisers for politicians ran up tens of thousands in water and sewer charges at the campus, and never paid the bills.
The charges reached $30,000 in 2010. The following year, the amount doubled, and to this day, Vankara owes nearly $120,000 for the services — with no effort by the city to stop the water or demand the money be paid during its worst economic crisis.
The school wasn’t the only customer to benefit from the city’s largesse. Opa-locka turned its water and sewer system into an operation that let scores of businesses and residents with connections to the city tap into Opa-locka’s most precious resource while the city was edging toward insolvency, the Miami Herald found. continued…
first published week of: 08/08/2016
Midwestern utility to take advantage of Itron managed services, OpenWay® cellular solution and analytics to monitor for service interruptions
Itron, Inc. announced that Otter Tail Power Company, an investor-owned utility that provides electricity to customers in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota, has signed a contract with Itron to modernize and improve the reliability of its electric grid. The utility will take advantage of Itron Total Outcomes, a complete managed services offering using Itron technology and analytics to deliver needed outcomes. In Otter Tail Power Company’s case, the utility needs greater awareness of service interruptions across its territory to improve reliability.
Otter Tail Power Company continuously works to improve grid reliability and wants to be as efficient as possible with its restoration efforts. To help with this, Itron will manage reliability analytics on behalf of the utility, using information from Itron’s OpenWay smart grid solution with cellular communications. Itron will then notify operators when interruptions occur as well as pinpoint the circuits, phases and number of customers involved. This will empower the utility to proactively improve overall reliability, outage response and customer satisfaction.
With Itron’s help, we will be able to improve reliability while determining where to place resources for vegetation management and infrastructure improvements. Rod Jensen, P.E., reliability engineer at Otter Tail Power Company
Otter Tail Power Company will also perform historic outage analysis and measure restoration performance. This enables operators to identify poorly performing feeders and prioritize budget allocation for infrastructure improvements and maintenance.
“Otter Tail Power Company was looking to replace our aging interruption monitoring system with an Automated Metering Infrastructure (AMI)-based offering that provides both historic and real-time outage analytics and voltage monitoring capabilities on a single platform. We found that with Itron, we’ll have the technology and a team of experts to quickly get the system up and running and provide results,” said Rod Jensen, P.E., reliability engineer at Otter Tail Power Company. “With Itron’s help, we will be able to improve reliability while determining where to place resources for vegetation management and infrastructure improvements.”
“Itron Total Outcomes for reliability provides functionality similar to a SCADA implementation, but at a fraction of startup and operational costs. The managed services approach frees up Otter Tail Power Company’s resources to focus on pressing operational activities rather than implementing and managing IT environments and AMI systems,” said Bruce Douglas, senior vice president and general manager of software and services at Itron. “Itron’s powerful analytics will help Otter Tail Power Company harness the value of the data generated by Itron’s smart cellular solution so the utility can operate more efficiently and deliver more reliable service to its customers.”
first published week of: 10/10/2016
A legal battle is officially underway over a proposed rule change that would require PacifiCorp, the parent company of Rocky Mountain Power, to spend millions on equipment upgrades at two Utah power plants in order to protect the clear views at Zion, Bryce Canyon and other national parks around the southwestern United States.
PacifiCorp filed a notice of appeal Friday in the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, asking for a review of new rules from the Environmental Protection Agency. The filing follows a suit brought earlier by the state asking the court to reverse the EPA’s decision to reject the state’s proposed cleanup plan in favor of more stringent federal requirements.
The agency is requiring major technology upgrades at the coal-fired Hunter and Huntington power plants in central Utah. Agency officials said new technology could help cut the regional haze problem in and around the state and promote clearer views at national parks and monuments. continued…
first published week of: 09/12/2016
Last year, a decision from lawmakers and regulators set off an exodus of solar companies from the state. (FlickrCC/BlackRockSolar)
A group of heavy hitters in Nevada politics is fed up with the state’s electric utility, so they’re pushing a plan to make it compete for business.
Sheldon Adelson, the Las Vegas casino magnate and Republican megadonor, doesn’t often agree with U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, the outgoing Democratic majority leader. But this year, they're teaming up in an attempt to break up Nevada’s electric monopoly.
The two are part of an effort to amend Nevada’s constitution to force legislators to rewrite the state’s policies for electric utilities, giving customers the choice of which company they want to provide their power. The arrangement would force electric companies to compete for business, rather than operating as monopolies in their area and charging rates set by state regulators.9The first step in that amendment process comes Tuesday, when voters will decide whether to go ahead with the plan. But it would still be a while before any changes could take effect: In order for the amendment to pass, voters would have to approve it again in 2018. Lawmakers would then have five years to overhaul the electric utility law. continued…
first published week of: 11/07/2016
Do you know your synchrophasors from your microgrids?
How much do you know about the grid and how electricity is delivered to your home?
Have you studied our grid infographic? Are you an expert on the War of the Currents? Do you know what a utility line worker does, or how a synchrophasor works?
Check out the top nine things you didn’t know about the grid, and then put your knowledge to the test with our electrifying new quiz.
Hopefully the results won’t come as a shock! continued…
first published week of: 10/24/2016