At the July 27, 2023, Open Meeting, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued long-awaited Order No. 2023, the Final Rule on Improvements to Generator Interconnection Procedures and Agreements in Docket No. RM22-14-000. The rulemaking arose from the Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking: Building for the Future Through Electric Regional Transmission Planning and Cost
D.C. Circuit Affirms FERC’s Broadview Order Confirming that Qualifying Facilities May Install Greater than 80 MW of Nameplate Generating Capacity
Yesterday, February 14, 2023, the D.C. Circuit issued an order affirming FERC’s order in Broadview Solar, LLC, 174 FERC 61,199 (2021) and its “send-out” approach to determining the net power production capacity of a Qualifying Facility (“QF”). As a brief recap of the history of Broadview, Broadview filed an application for QF certification
FERC Proposes Broad Reforms to Interconnection Process
At its June 16, 2022, open meeting, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or Commission) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR), Improvements to Generator Interconnection Procedures and Agreements, 179 FERC ¶ 61,194 (2022), proposing reforms to the Commission’s standard generator interconnection procedures and agreements. The goal of the NOPR is to reduce queue
Updated FERC Guidance on Qualifying Facility Certifications
FERC issued two notable orders this spring in Irradiant Partners, LP (Docket No. EL22-8-000) and Dalreed Solar (Docket No. QF20-1037-002) that provide further guidance on qualifying facility (QF) certifications. Here are the key takeaways:
- QF Re-Certifications Should Be Filed Before or At the Time of a Material Change: FERC’s regulations do not contain specific
Solar Power Had a Big Day at FERC
Today was a big day for the solar power industry at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).
In its monthly open meeting, FERC announced two decisions that significantly impact the industry — one involving PURPA and the other related to PJM’s Minimum Offer Price Rule (MOPR).
First, FERC reversed its Broadview Solar decision issued in
FERC Issues Final Rule Overhauling PURPA Regulations
Yesterday, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued Order No. 872 and implemented the largest overhaul to FERC’s regulations affecting Qualifying Facilities (QFs) in more than a decade. The order itself is 491 pages in length and there remain plenty of details to unpack in its implementation (including future proceedings to come at the FERC
D.C. Circuit Affirms FERC Order No. 841, Ensuring Storage Access to Wholesale Markets
On Friday, July 10, 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (“D.C. Circuit”) upheld the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (“FERC”) Order Nos. 841 and 841A, which established a framework for electric storage resources’ (“ESRs”) participation in wholesale markets. The D.C. Circuit rejected the petitioners’ arguments that FERC exceeded its jurisdictional boundaries and
FERC Takes Additional Actions to Address Coronavirus Pandemic
On April 2, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or the “Commission”) took several additional actions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. These actions supplemented FERC’s previous actions on March 19. In addition to the actions identified below, Chairman Chatterjee highlighted two additional procedural options for obtaining more formal enforcement or compliance-related guidance: standards of conduct waivers and no-action letters. Two FERC staff task forces were created to expeditiously process standards of conduct waiver requests and no-action letters, and contact information is available for the appropriate staff on FERC’s website: here, here, and here.
Continue Reading FERC Takes Additional Actions to Address Coronavirus Pandemic
FERC Updates Operations During the Coronavirus Pandemic
On March 19, 2020, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or the Commission) announced several updates to their operations in response to the Coronavirus pandemic. Chairman Chatterjee held a press conference and stated that FERC is fully functioning via the telework process and expects to continue to be able to complete its work considering matters
FERC Issues Orders Revising Requirements for Market-Based Rate Sellers
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or the “Commission”) issued two orders on July 18, 2019 revising the requirements applicable to market-based rate (“MBR”) sellers. The first, Order No. 861, lightens the regulatory requirements for MBR sellers in certain RTO/ISO-administered markets by eliminating the requirement to submit indicative screens in the horizontal market power analysis in initial MBR applications, triennial updates, and change-in-status notices. The second, Order No. 860, may also lighten regulation by reducing the amount of ownership information MBR sellers must report to the Commission, but also imposes new reporting requirements, including submissions to a relational database that will be maintained by FERC Staff to link MBR sellers and their affiliates.
Order No. 861
Order No. 861 eliminates the requirement that MBR sellers in RTO/ISO-administered energy, ancillary services, and capacity markets subject to FERC-approved RTO/ISO market monitoring and mitigation submit indicative horizontal market power screens. Instead, a seller may include a statement in its filing that it is relying on FERC-approved market monitoring and mitigation to mitigate any potential market power. With the exception of MBR sellers making capacity sales in CAISO and SPP, discussed below, this will lighten regulation on MBR sellers in ISOs/RTOs by eliminating the requirement to submit indicative screens in their initial MBR applications, triennial updates, and change-in-status notices.
The exemption will not apply to MBR sellers making capacity sales in CAISO or SPP, because CAISO and SPP do not have an RTO/ISO-administered capacity market. In addition, the Commission determined that MBR capacity sellers in CAISO and SPP can no longer rely on the rebuttable presumption that FERC-approved RTO/ISO market monitoring and mitigation is sufficient to address horizontal market power concerns for their capacity sales in CAISO and SPP. Therefore, SPP and CAISO capacity sellers must still submit indicative screens and, now, any seller that fails the indicative screens must submit a delivered price test or other evidence that it lacks market power in the capacity markets. CAISO and SPP sellers will be able to rely on Order No. 861’s exemption for their sales of energy and ancillary services.
The order is effective September 24, 2019 and FERC Staff announced that the new rules will be applicable to triennial reviews for the Northeast region due in December 2019 and June 2020.Continue Reading FERC Issues Orders Revising Requirements for Market-Based Rate Sellers