Energy Legal Blog

The American Clean Energy And Security Act of 2009 (“ACES”), or H.R. 2454,  is a comprehensive energy bill that was introduced on May 15, 2009.  ACES contains new enforcement provisions that would significantly increase the authority of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or “Commission”) by empowering FERC to require jurisdictional entities to terminate behavior deemed inappropriate, even before all legal recourse is exhausted.   (more…)

On June 4, FERC inked a memorandum of understanding (MOU)  with the state of Washington to coordinate reviews of hydrokinetic projects located offshore in state waters.  The MOU with Washington comes on the heels of an anticipated agreement between FERC and MMS, which memorialized a truce between the two agencies as to which possessed primary jurisdiction to site hydrokinetic projects in federal waters on the outer continental shelf (OCS).  Following resolution of the dispute between MMS and FERC on issues affecting the OCS, the next big regulatory question centered on how FERC will interact with states in siting hydrokinetic projects in state waters.  The recent MOU with Washington State could shed some light on this issue. (more…)

On May 21, 2009, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) solicited supplemental comments in the Smart Grid Policy docket specifically related to how it should address requests for rate recovery from public utilities to install Smart Grid facilities that are not paid for through U.S. Department of Energy (“DOE”) funds, such as those authorized under the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007.  FERC also wanted comments on whether granting conditional approval of Smart Grid projects would prove helpful to public utilities in seeking federal funding. 

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In a May 22 order, FERC approved a cost-based, participant-funded proposal by Northeast Utilities Service Co. and NSTAR Electric Co. to develop a new transmission project linking ISO New England with Hydro-Québec. The project, a 1200-MW, high-voltage direct-current transmission line, will cross the US-Canadian border and connect Hydro- Québec’s system with a point in southern New Hampshire. The line will bring large amounts of hydropower from Québec into ISO New England, displacing some of the existing gas-fired generation in New England. FERC Commissioners hailed the project as a way to get substantial amounts of low-cost, clean energy into ISO New England.

FERC approved Northeast Utilities’ and NSTAR’s funding proposal for the line despite protests that the proposed funding mechanism is anti-competitive and inconsistent with FERC’s prior precedent for merchant transmission lines. In previous cases, FERC has permitted new transmission projects to sell their transmission capacity at market-based rates so long as they offer their capacity in open-season auctions. This project, in contrast, will be funded exclusively by Hydro-Québec, which will then have sole rights to the capacity at cost-based rates for a 20-year term (although it will make any unused capacity available to third party shippers). (more…)

In a speech last week, President Obama committed more than $450 million dollars from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009 (ARRA) to specific renewable geothermal and solar energy projects.  Specifically, more than $350 million will be used to expand the geothermal industry, and another $117.6 million will be used to invest in solar energy projects.  These earmarks are consistent with the Obama Administration’s focus on renewable technologies and the creation of “green” jobs, as well as the targeted increase of geothermal production.  In particular, in Vice President Biden’s “100 Days, 100 Projects” report, Vice President Biden set forth the Obama Administration’s lofty goal of moving the nation towards having 50 gigawatts (GW) of installed geothermal capacity by 2030.

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