FERC Update RMEL ~ Keystone 2018

Transcription

1 FERC Update RMEL ~ Keystone 2018 Bill Derasmo Troutman Sanders william.derasmo@troutman.com May 21, 2018

2 Introduction Bill Derasmo Partner, Troutman Sanders 20 + years experience with energy regulatory issues Thank you for having me Feel free to ask questions on any topic I cover or do not cover If you want to follow-up after the conference: william.derasmo@troutman.com Cell: Office:

3 Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Selected Hot Topics Topics to be Discussed 1. Quorum Restored! 4 new members join in Grid Resiliency 3. Storage 4. Mountain West (not at FERC yet) 5. Uplift Costs within RTOs 6. Transmission Planning and Development and the Future of Order No PURPA still here and better than ever 8. Enforcement

4 Restoration of the Quorum In 2017, we went from: To:

5 Restoration of the Quorum For most of 2017, the Commission lacked a quorum, which meant that it lacked authority to take action on a variety of important issues. The agency still functioned through delegated authority for some items, but really had to delay action on much of the agency s blocking and tackling In August 2017, Commissioners Chatterjee and Powelson were confirmed and Chatterjee served as Chairman until, November 2017, when Chairman McIntyre and Commissioner Glick were confirmed. The new lineup: Chairman McIntyre (R), Commissioner Chatterjee (R), Commissioner Powelson (R), Commissioner LaFleur (D), and Commissioner Glick (D)

6 Restoration of the Quorum My Observations from the Cheap Seats First order of business was to clear the backlog of orders that had built up During the brief Chairman Chatterjee period (August November), in an unusual move, Secretary Perry invoked rarely used authority to direct FERC to initiate a rulemaking on grid resiliency Grid resiliency took all the oxygen out of the building in those early months (we will discuss more later in this presentation) Still get the feeling that this group is trying to find its signature issue At first, not sure how aggressive and possibly unconventional the new group might be As time has gone on, there seems to be a sense of a return to normalcy

7 Grid Resiliency The Ill-Fated Grid Resiliency Rulemaking was like a Meteor Flashing Across the Sky And, it Burned Up on Entry into the Atmosphere Secretary Perry invoked rarely used authority under the DOE Organization Act FERC followed up with a proceeding Focus of the proceeding was allowing for costbased rate recovery for coal and nuclear units (though not explicitly) Faced a torrent of criticism and was eventually terminated Ongoing inquiry continues in Docket AD * The issue of generator retirements is not going away

8 Storage Interest Driven By Several Factors Technological advancements Desire to pair with renewables and resolve the intermittency / dispatchability problem. Grid resiliency Microgrids Address the decline in certain types of grid support ancillary services, such as Primary Frequency Response / Regulation Industry interest in channeling investment Major FERC Developments Indianapolis Power & Light Co. v. MISO, Docket No. EL , 158 FERC 61,107, order on reh g and compliance, 162 FERC 61,266 (2017). Compliance docket: ER MISO-specific Order No. 841, 162 FERC 61,127 (2018) Generic rulemaking storage participation in RTO markets Storage Policy Statement, 158 FERC 61,051 (2017) Recovery of market-based and cost-based revenues

9 Mountain West Not Before FERC yet Group of entities considering move into SPP Significant Issues with crossing the Western/Eastern Interconnection Significant from FERC s perspective because it also addresses a major hole in the RTO map

10 Mountain West SPP Board s vote on March 13, 2018 approved a set of policies for moving forward with Mountain West s integration into SPP Directed the organization s staff and stakeholders to draft amendments to SPP s tariff, bylaws and membership agreement in support of those policies The policies governing Mountain West s membership include, among others, provisions for: East and west balancing authority areas East and west planning regions that will follow the same transmission planning processes Cost allocation of transmission expansion specific to each planning region Joint dispatch of electricity via SPP s wholesale market under a single set of rules An expansion of SPP s Regional State Committee to include state commissioners from the Mountain West region SPP anticipates that integration of the Mountain West entities as RTO members will take approximately two years, though it plans to implement reliability coordination services sooner, in late 2019.

11 RTO Uplift Costs In response to growing concerns from stakeholders a few years ago, FERC initiated a rulemaking to address socialized, or uplift, costs On April 19, 2018, FERC issued Order No. 844 (163 FERC 61,041) Order No. 844 drops the proposal to allocate formerly socialized costs to those causing the cost incurrence Rather, FERC will require RTOs to report monthly on uplift costs in several different ways

12 Transmission Planning Order No The Solution in Search of a Problem Will there be changes to Order No and the current regional planning regime? What does transmission planning look like in an era of flat/declining load growth, changing demand curves, storage deployment, and a significant change in the generation fleet? What about industrial development, micro-grids, and self-builds? There have not been many competitively-solicited transmission projects, but will this requirement spur new entry? Perhaps. Slowly.

13 The Future of PURPA Remember PURPA? Well, it is back in a big way. If you are in an RTO, and you don t want QF power to be sold to you, maybe you should have filed your 210(m) exemption In an era of generally flat demand and plenty of supply in most parts of the country (and renewables and behind-the-meter options that are mainstream ) do we really want/need the PURPA must-take provisions? Congress has not acted to repeal, but FERC could act in certain implementing areas

14 FERC Enforcement Focus Pure speculation on my part, but. Much discussion within the FERC bar regarding the future of FERC enforcement Will the new Commission move towards a compliance / collaboration mode and away from a prosecutorial mode? Not sure, but A few anecdotes

15 Thank you! Questions?? I hope you enjoyed the show.

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