Highlights from industry news from May 15-June 1 from Bob Persons.
No ‘silver bullet’: Report lays out fixes for interconnection delays plaguing US renewables and storage 5/25/23 Utility Dive Brief by Stephen Singer. The non-profit Clean Energy Group sponsored a study by Applied Economics Clinic outlining the interconnection problem and concluding that:
- “policymakers need to establish interconnection processes to ‘take a systemic view’ of applications rather than examine interconnection applications and grid upgrades” on a case-by-case basis.
- “utilities, state officials, grid operators and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission should iterate interconnection processes to ‘build in regular improvements, examine effectiveness, and coordinate stakeholders to tackle ad hoc coordination problems.’”
- “end the model of cost allocation for grid upgrades known as cost causation by spreading distribution system upgrade costs over a broader set of stakeholders than the projects applying for interconnection”
- “study proposed storage resources in a way that reflects how the resources would reasonably be expected to operate once interconnected.”
The generators who cry ‘wolf’: How competitive wholesale markets handle generator bankruptcy 5/24/23 Utility Dive Opinion by Mike Hogan. “During the recent Winter Storm Elliott, a shockingly large amount of generation receiving capacity payments from PJM and ISO New England failed to perform when called upon. Nearly all of it was fossil-fueled, most of it fueled with natural gas. Under the pay-for-performance arrangements established years ago following a similarly dismal performance during 2014’s ‘Polar Vortex,’ under which these generators have collected hundreds of millions of dollars a year to be reliable capacity, they face steep financial penalties for their failure to perform. Now some are seeking to evade those penalties, offering a flurry of excuses… Regardless of the validity of any of the excuses offered (or lack thereof), these generators are also attempting to fall back on the stratagem behind which the fossil industry customarily retreats when caught with their pants down — claiming a threat to reliability, in this case from the possibility that the penalties might drive some generators into bankruptcy… Recent history demonstrates this tired grandstanding about reliability should receive no weight in considering their appeals (or in considering changes to the market rules). Why? Bankruptcy rarely leads to a loss of the associated capacity, in fact, quite the opposite…”
Mass. agency dismisses 2 battery storage projects, citing lack of legal clarity over ‘generating facility’ 5/23/23 Utility Dive Brief by Stephen Singer. MA DPU will review proposals for two battery energy storage systems after – with prodding by local interest groups – MA’s Energy Facilities Siting Board couldn’t determine whether it had the jurisdiction to do so.
Federal judge dismisses whale case, upholds permits for offshore Vineyard Wind project 5/23/23 Utility Dive piece by Diana DiGangi. “Judge Indira Talwani of the District of Massachusetts ruled Wednesday that the advocacy group Nantucket Residents Against Turbines failed to demonstrate that the wellbeing of the endangered species wasn’t sufficiently taken into account by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and National Marine Fisheries Service when permitting the project… The project currently faces three other lawsuits, with two of them representing the interests of the fishing industry.”