On June 30, 2022, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 205 (“AB 205”), which, among various other things, expands the siting jurisdiction of the California Energy Commission (“CEC”) to include non-thermal generating facilities, such as solar and wind projects, with a capacity of 50 megawatts (MW) or more. The CEC’s siting jurisdiction was previously
On May 18, 2022, the California Energy Commission met to discuss its draft report to evaluate and quantify the maximum feasible capacity of offshore wind to achieve reliability, ratepayer, employment, and decarbonization benefits and establish megawatt offshore wind planning goals for 2030 and 2045. The report is the first of three interim work products that California AB 525 directs CEC to prepare. By the end of this year, the CEC must complete and submit a preliminary assessment of economic benefits as they relate to seaport investments and workforce development needs, and complete and submit a permitting roadmap. The ultimate requirement of AB 525 is to require, by June 30, 2023, the CEC, in coordination with federal, state, and local agencies and a wide variety of stakeholders, to develop a strategic plan for offshore wind energy developments installed off the California coast in federal waters and submit it to the California Natural Resources Agency and the Legislature.Continue Reading California Energy Commission Discusses Draft Report on Offshore Wind
In its first move since hitting “pause” on the California Public Utilities Commission’s (Commission) consideration of a controversial December 2021 proposed decision (Proposed Decision or PD) that would have overhauled the existing net energy metering (NEM) tariff for California’s solar customers, the presiding administrative law judge (ALJ) issued a ruling on May 9 to reopen the record and invite party comments on a limited scope of issues.
Background
The Commission adopted California’s existing solar tariff, known as NEM 2.0, on January 28, 2016 in Decision (D.) 16-01-044. Customers opting into this tariff pay a one-time interconnection fee (less than $150 for systems under 1 MW and $800 for systems over 1 MW). Customers taking service on the NEM tariff are automatically opted into a time-of-use rate plan and are subject to select non-bypassable charges (NBCs) that are used to fund general customer programs such as contributions to the wildfire fund, nuclear decommissioning, and the public purpose program, among others. NEM customers receive a bill credit for any excess generation produced by their system and exported to the electric grid, which credits may be used to offset customer energy costs. Under NEM 2.0, any excess generation credits are applied to the customer’s bill at the same retail rate (including generation, distribution and transmission charges) the customer would have paid for the energy consumption.
Continue Reading Commission Ruling Reopens the NEM 3.0 Record to Invite Comment on and Consider Limited Issues
Today, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Director Amanda Lefton announced a Call for Information and Nominations (Call) to assess commercial interest in potential offshore wind leasing within two areas off the Oregon coast. Together, the two areas total 1,158,400 million acres located at least 12 miles offshore Coos Bay and Brookings, respectively. Once the
On Friday February 25, the Biden administration continued its push to achieve 30 GW of offshore wind by 2030 when the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced three Call Areas for the development of floating offshore wind in federal waters off the Oregon coast. The Call Areas, located 13.8 miles off the coast of
On January 11, 2022, the California Energy Commission (CEC) issued an update to its Summer 2022 Stack Analysis. Previously, on September 8, 2021, the CEC issued a revised Summer 2022 Stack Analysis that showed potential energy shortfalls ranging from 200 MW to 4,350 MW during the months of July through September 2022, in the evening
The Oregon Department of Energy (ODOE) is kicking off the stakeholder engagement part of its Floating Offshore Wind Study on January 20 at 9 a.m. As directed by HB 3375, ODOE is preparing a report on the challenges and benefits of integrating up to 3 gigawatts (GW) of floating offshore energy into Oregon’s grid by 2030, and it will submit that report to the legislature in September. A summary from the first part of the study, a literature review, should be released soon. Following the kickoff meeting, ODOE anticipates two more virtual meetings, as well as an opportunity to submit comments.
Continue Reading Oregon Department of Energy Seeks Stakeholder Input on Floating Offshore Wind Development
On November 18, 2021, FERC issued a Notice of Inquiry (NOI) seeking comments on reactive power capability compensation and market design. (Link to NOI here). Reactive power is a critical component of the bulk electric system. Almost all bulk electric power is generated, transported, and consumed in AC networks. These AC systems consume both real and reactive power. Reactive power supports the voltages necessary for system reliability to allow the supply of real power from generation to load. All balancing authorities must procure enough sources of reactive power to safely manage the grid and generator interconnection agreements contain provisions requiring generators to operate within certain reactive power limits. Reactive power is an ancillary service and costs are recovered separately from the cost of standard transmission service.
Continue Reading Reactive Power Compensation for Renewable Generators – On the Chopping Block?
In June 2021, the California Public Utilities Commission (Commission) issued its Mid-Term Reliability Procurement Decision, Decision (D.) 21-06-035, which directed load-serving entities subject to its jurisdiction (investor-owned utilities, community choice aggregators, and energy service providers) to procure at least 11,500 megawatts (MW) of net-qualifying capacity (NQC) for reliability for the period 2023 through 2026. The decision established cumulative annual procurement requirements: 2,000 MW in 2023, 6,000 MW in 2024, 1,500 MW in 2025, and 2,000 in 2026. The decision also states that the Commission expects all of the resources procured pursuant to that decision to be zero-emitting, unless they otherwise qualify under renewables portfolio standard eligibility requirements (biomass, for example).
Continue Reading CPUC Issues Net-Qualifying Capacity Values to Be Used for Mid-Term Reliability Procurement
In docket R.20-05-003, its Integrated Resource Planning (IRP) proceeding, the California Public Utilities Commission is considering its preferred portfolio of new resources for the next ten years. A lengthy administrative law judge ruling issued August 17, 2021 set out a suggested Preferred System Plan (PSP) for the proceeding, including a suggested resource portfolio through 2032,