The Bonneville Power Administration (“BPA”) made headlines this week with the release of its Draft Oversupply Management Protocol (the “Draft Oversupply Protocol”). BPA’s Draft Oversupply Protocol is intended to address concerns raised by BPA’s Environmental Redispatch (“ER”) policy of curtailing wind generation without compensation during periods of high water. Back in December, in response to a complaint…

In a previous blog, we reported on a proposed decision pending consideration by the California Energy Commission (CEC), which would allow solar photovoltaic project developers to opt-in to the CEC’s permitting process.  The CEC has announced that its decision on this matter has been postponed to an as-yet undetermined date.

On February 2, 2012, the Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") issued a Notice of Violation ("NOV") of the Renewable Fuel Standard ("RFS") to Absolute Fuels, a company located in Lubbock, Texas. The NOV alleges that between August 31, 2010, and October 11, 2011, Absolute Fuels generated over 48 million Renewable Identification Numbers ("RINs") and that all…

On January 31, 2012, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) conditionally accepted additional reforms to the California ISO’s Generator Interconnection Procedures (GIP) that significantly change the rules that apply to developers seeking to interconnect power generation facilities in the California ISO’s balancing authority area.

The decision continues the California ISO’s efforts to reform the GIP…

The U.S. Department of Energy (“DOE”) recently released two new nationwide resource assessments for wave and tidal energy projects in the U.S. The reports, funded by the DOE and prepared by the Electric Power Research Institute ("EPRI") and the Georgia Tech Research Corporation, present the most rigorous and comprehensive analysis to date on the magnitude of the…

Yesterday, the California Energy Commission (CEC) issued a notice that, as part of the CEC’s February 8, 2012 Business Meeting, the Commission will consider adoption of the Lead Commissioner’s Final 2011 Integrated Energy Policy Report (IEPR). 

The CEC’s notice included the following information:

Background
Senate Bill 1389 requires the CEC to adopt an integrated energy…

Today, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ("FERC") issued its first pilot project license for a tidal energy project to Verdant Power, LLC for its Roosevelt Island Tidal Energy ("RITE") Project in New York’s East River (pictured at right).  As a first-of-its-kind license, this is a significant step for the burgeoning tidal energy industry in the United…

A legal update from our colleagues Seth Hilton and Allison Smith:

On December 15, 2011, the California Public Utilities Commission adopted Decision 11-12-052, implementing Portfolio Content Categories for the 33% Renewables Portfolio Standard (RPS) Program in California. The Decision implements portions of Senate Bill (S.B.) x1-2, which created the 33% RPS Program. S.B. x1-2…