Energy, Project Development & Finance

In an order issued April 18, 2013, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ("FERC") conditionally approved the Order No. 1000 compliance filing submitted by the California Independent System Operator Corporation ("CAISO") addressing local and regional transmission planning and cost allocation processes set forth in the CAISO Open Access Transmission Tariff. FERC required CAISO to submit a further compliance filing within 120 days of the order to address certain further tariff modificati . . .

Roxane E. Maywalt ; Raymond B. Wuslich

In orders issued April 18 and 19, 2013, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission acted upon four filings made in response to its directives in Order No. 1000. The linked memorandum summarizes the Commission's rulings on the Order No. 1000 compliance filings by NorthWestern Corporation and South Carolina Electric & Gas Company, in which the Commission directed further compliance by each utility. Also summarized are the Commission's grant of requests for waiver from compliance with Ord . . .

Roxane E. Maywalt ; Raymond B. Wuslich; Victoria L Hsia

In its Order No. 773-A, issued April 18, 2013, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission denied in part and granted in part requests for rehearing, and made certain clarifications, of its December 20, 2012 Order No. 773 in which it approved the revised definition of "Bulk Electric System" as developed by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation ("NERC"), for determining which facilities or elements are subject to NERC's Reliability Standards. Order No. 773-A also responded to c . . .

Roxane E. Maywalt ; Raymond B. Wuslich

On April 18, 2013, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ("FERC") issued an order on rehearing and clarification of its September 2012 Final Rule ("Order No. 768") under which it required non-public utilities that have more than a de minimis market presence to file Electric Quarterly Reports ("EQR") and revising certain EQR filing requirements applicable to both public and non-public utility market participants in the interstate wholesale electric markets. In the April 18 order, F . . .

Roxane E. Maywalt ; Raymond B. Wuslich

On April 18, 2013, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ("FERC") issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking proposing to adopt modifications to four existing Reliability Standards as submitted by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation ("NERC"). FERC proposes to approve revised Reliability Standards FAC-001-1 (Facility Connection Requirements), FAC-003-3 (Transmission Vegetation Management), PRC-004-2.1a (Analysis and Mitigation of Transmission and Generation Protection Syste . . .

Roxane E. Maywalt ; Raymond B. Wuslich

On Friday, April 5, UBS Securities, LLC sponsored a conference call to share perspectives on nuclear decommissioning funding issues. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff members responsible for power reactor decommissioning funding participated in the call and started things off by explaining their mission of protecting public health and safety and how NRC decommissioning funding rules satisfy that mission.

The first topic of discussion was the minimum funding requirement method . . .

David A. Repka ; William A. Horin; Darani Reddick

On March 19, 2013, the Congressional Research Service ("CRS") issued a revision to its report analyzing two bills introduced in the 112th Congress that would create a state permitting program for coal combustion residuals. The two bills – S. 3512 sponsored by Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND) and H.R. 3409 sponsored by Rep. David McKinley (R-WV) – would amend RCRA Subtitle D to include a new Section 4011, entitled Management a . . .

May Wall ; Stephanie B. Sebor

In an order issued March 22, 2013, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ("FERC") addressed the compliance filings by the transmission owning utilities who are primary participants in the WestConnect planning region, which generally includes service territories in the mountain and southwestern area of the United States.  In the order, the Commission found that WestConnect Utilities only partially complied with the Order No. 1000 requirements and required that further compliance filing . . .

Roxane E. Maywalt ; Raymond B. Wuslich

In an order issued March 22, 2013, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ("FERC") addressed the Order No. 1000 compliance filings by PJM Interconnection, L.L.C. ("PJM"), and its transmission owning utilities ("PJM TOs").  In the order, the Commission found that PJM and the PJM TOs partially complied with Order No. 1000 requirements and required that further compliance filings be submitted within 120 days of the order, or by July 20, 2013.  Linked below is a memorandum summarizing . . .

Roxane E. Maywalt ; Raymond B. Wuslich

At its regular meeting held March 21, 2013, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ("FERC" or "Commission") issued several orders addressing pending electric industry matters, including the Southwest Power Pool's Integrated Marketplace proposal, a complaint against Entergy over refund calculations, and a complaint by a Qualifying Facility over its disconnection by a Midland Power Cooperative. These three orders are summarized in the attached memorandum.

This entry has been creat . . .

Roxane E. Maywalt ; Raymond B. Wuslich; Victoria L Hsia

FERC issued an order on March 22, 2013, extending the time for its action on the pending merger application filed by ITC Holdings Corp. and Entergy Corporation to September 18, 2013.

This entry has been created for information and planning purposes. It is not intended to be, nor should it be substituted for, legal advice, which turns on specific facts.

As a result of its regular meeting held March 21, 2013, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ("FERC" or "Commission") issued four orders addressing proposals by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation ("NERC"), including significant modifications to the Vegetation Management rules and a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking proposing to adopt changes to how a transmission provider calculates Total Transfer Capability, as summarized in the attached memorandum.

This entry ha . . .

Roxane E. Maywalt

At its regular meeting on March 21, 2013, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ("FERC") approved, subject to a further compliance filing, the New York Independent System Operator, Inc.'s ("NYISO") new interface pricing policy in response to certain interregional transactions in and around the Lake Erie region (i.e., loop flow). Attached is a summary of the FERC order.

This entry has been created for information and planning purposes. It is not intended to be, nor . . .

Roxane E. Maywalt

As summarized in the attached memorandum, FERC's agenda for its March 21, 2013, regular meeting includes electric industry proceedings, including three expected orders addressing Order No. 1000 compliance filings in the PJM Interconnection region, Midwest ISO region, and WestConnect region. Other expected orders will address certain NERC reliability standard proposals and various utility and RTO/ISO tariff proposals.

This entry has been created for information and planning pu . . .

Roxane E. Maywalt

The D.C. Circuit issued an opinion on March 15, 2013, finding that FERC lacks jurisdiction to penalize alleged manipulation of natural gas futures contracts, even where the conduct affects natural gas prices. FERC had levied a $30 million fine against Brian Hunter, a former natural gas trader for hedge fund Amaranth, for allegedly manipulating the settlement price for natural gas futures contracts. Hunter appealed the fine, claiming that Congress vested the CFTC with exclusive juris . . .

Gordon A. Coffee

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has denied a petition to sell the 1,054 MW New Harquahala gas-fired generating station in Arizona to Saddle Mountain Power, LLC. FERC determined that the applicants failed to mitigate adequately the market power that would result from combining the New Harquahala facility with approximately 1,167 MW of natural gas-fired generation at the Gila River power station that is owned by a Saddle Mountain affiliate.

The applicants conceded that combinin . . .

Raymond B. Wuslich

On Feb. 21, 2013, the Commission issued its Final Rule on the Standards for Business Practices and Communication Protocols for Public Utilities. The Commission amended 18 C.F.R. § 38.2, which established standards for business practices and electronic communications for public utilities, in order to incorporate by reference the updated business practice standards adopted by the Wholesale Electric . . .

Victoria L Hsia ; Raymond B. Wuslich

Today, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the Fermi 3 combined license (COL) application (NUREG-2105). After considering the environmental aspects of the proposed action, the NRC Staff recommends that the COL be issued. 

Significantly, the FEIS is among the first to be issued after the remand by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals of the Waste Confidence Decision and Temporary Storage Rule. As directed by the . . .

Tyson R. Smith ; David A. Repka; Darani Reddick

On December 21, 2012, EPA released a progress report on its ongoing comprehensive study to evaluate the potential impact on drinking water resources of hydraulic fracturing activities. The study began in late 2011 and is expected to be completed by 2014. The report describes the progress that has been made as of September 2012 on 18 ongoing research projects and describes the additional work that will be conducted. Of note, t . . .

May Wall ; Averil M. Edwards

In the past year, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) issued over five orders directing various companies and individuals to show cause why they should not be sanctioned for allegedly manipulating energy markets. In each case, FERC’s Office of Enforcement is seeking not only the disgorgement of the profits realized by the companies and individuals from the allegedly manipulative schemes, but also the imposition of substantial civil penalties, ranging from $1 million up to $435 m . . .

Gordon A. Coffee

On December 5, 2012, the Congressional Research Service ("CRS") published a report critical of pending legislation in the House and Senate meant to pre-empt EPA's authority to regulate coal ash. These bills would create federal standards intended to provide a required level of protection, and a state-implemented permit program. The report states that the bills each lack detail with regard to how, when, or to whi . . .

Charles A. DeVore ; May Wall

Today, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission publicly released a December 7, 2012 direction to its staff that mandatory hearings on combined license (COL) applications will continue on schedule despite the remand by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals of the Waste Confidence Decision and Temporary Storage Rule. The Commission stated that mandatory hearings will proceed according to the schedule currently specified in Internal Commission Procedures – the hearings will commence following the completi . . .

Darani Reddick ; David A. Repka

Today, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission ("NRC") approved a final rule amending 10 C.F.R. Part 51 regarding the environmental impacts of renewed operating licenses. The revision is based upon the updated Generic Environmental Impact Statement ("GEIS") for the license renewal of nuclear power plants. The GEIS, first promulgated in 1996, determined that certain environmental impacts associated with license renewal were the same or similar for all plants, and therefore, could be treated on a gen . . .

Darani Reddick ; David A. Repka

On November 29, 2012, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation ("NYSDEC") released a revised set of proposed fracking regulations. As drafted, these regulations would open a large portion of the State to fracking, including the portions of the Marcellus and Utica shale plays in the State. The proposal includes additional reporting requirements for drillers seeking to refracture existing wells, and enhanced minimum stand . . .

Charles A. DeVore ; May Wall

Yesterday, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission ("NRC") approved the NRC staff's proposal to revise the agency's Enforcement Policy. The Commission's decision highlighted three main policy issues inherent in the revision or to be further considered by the staff for future revisions. 

First, the Commission approved the staff's recommendation to maintain the base civil penalty amount for violations at uranium conversion facilities at $70,000. That amount reflects an increase adopted i . . .

Darani Reddick ; David A. Repka

On November 16, 2012, EPA announced the proposed new source MATS standards. EPA proposed to raise the new source emission limits new EGUs for Hg, PM, HCl, sulfur dioxide, selenium, and lead. EPA proposed to revise the new source emission limits after receiving petitions for reconsideration from industry alleging that EPA had not considered all of the data in the record before establishing the emission limits for filterable PM and . . .

Jay Holloway ; Stephanie B. Sebor

Recently, the NRC staff held a public meeting to collect comments on the scope of the environmental impact statement (EIS) that will support the rulemaking to update the Waste Confidence rule to address the issues remanded to the agency by the D.C. Circuit in N.Y. v. NRC. Several stakeholders offered comments regarding the scenarios and alternatives that should be considered in the EIS, the timing of the NRC staff's work, and what existing information should be relied upon. Some comm . . .

Darani Reddick ; David A. Repka

On November 15, 2012, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued a Policy Statement clarifying the demonstration applicants for incentive-based rate treatment for new transmission projects must make to be granted risk-reducing incentives, such as construction-work-in-progress recovery or abandoned project cost recovery, and for an overall incentive-based Return on Equity. A summary of FERC's Policy Statement is attached.

In an order issued late on November 14, 2012, FERC has taken the highly unusual step of suspending a trader's market based rate authority for six months because of false and inaccurate statements to the Commission and the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) in the course of a market manipulation investigation.

FERC said that the trader, J.P. Morgan Ventures Energy Corporation (Ventures), violated a regulation that requires sellers to provide accurate and factual information . . .

Raymond B. Wuslich

In a notice published in the Federal Register on November 9, 2012, EPA invited the public to identify and submit relevant data and scientific literature to inform its pending study of the impacts of fracking on drinking water. This study was undertaken at the request of Congress and includes analysis of water use in al . . .

Charles A. DeVore

Today, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) referred a request by Friends of the Earth (FOE) to hold an adjudicatory hearing on the steam generator replacement at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) to the Executive Director for Operations (EDO) and the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB).

In 2010 and 2011, SONGS replaced the steam generators without a license amendment – as is typical – through the 10 C.F.R. § 50.59 process. But in January 2012, SONGS shut down . . .

David A. Repka

A recent Government Accountability Office ("GAO") report requested by a group of Congressional Democrats finds that EPA enforcement actions regarding hydraulic fracturing are beset by two key difficulties: lack of baseline data and limited legal and regulatory authority. The GAO report, entitled "Key Environmental and Public Health Requirements," notes that baseline data on groundwater quality and other pre-drilling conditions are generally . . .

Charles A. DeVore ; May Wall

Under its Smart from the Start initiative, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management ("BOEM") has identified a number of offshore Wind Energy Areas ("WEAs") suitable for wind energy development and has conducted environmental reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act ("NEPA") to determine the suitability of development in identified WEAs. The next step in the process will be the issuance of c . . .

Averil M. Edwards ; May Wall

U.S. EPA's draft report of its investigation of groundwater contamination related to fracking in Pavilion, Wyoming, marked the first time EPA publicly indicated that fracking could have caused contamination of a drinking water aquifer. This draft report has drawn sharp criticism since its publication on December 14, 2011. 

Recently, the U.S. Geological Survey ("USGS") released results of additional groundwater sampling in Pavilion in a report dated September 26. EPA stated that t . . .

Charles A. DeVore ; May Wall

The NRC staff will proceed with issuance of environmental impact statements (EISs) pending the agency’s generic rulemaking on waste confidence, it told the Commission in a recently-released paper. The staff’s paper responds to the Commission’s direction that licensing reviews and proceedings continue while the agency conducts a generic rulemaking to address the D.C. Circuit’s remand of the waste confidence update. Although the Commission ordered the staff to conti . . .

David A. Repka ; Darani Reddick

In anticipation of certain provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act coming into effect on October 12, in late August, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC") issued two proposed orders intended to provide relief from certain provisions of the Commodities Exchange Act ("CEA") for transactions relating or linked to the physical delivery of electricity.

In the first of the proposed orders, the CFTC would exempt certain non-financial energy transactions (generation, transmission or deli . . .

Michael P. O'Brien

On October 3, 2012, environmental groups filed a complaint before the Illinois Pollution Control Board alleging that groundwater pollution leached from coal-ash ponds at four Midwest Generation facilities. Sierra Club, Environmental Law and Policy Center, Prairie Rivers Network, and Citizens Against Ruining the Environment allege that coal-ash ponds at Midwest Generation's facilities in Joliet, Pekin, Waukegan, and Romeoville, Illinois have released contaminants into the gr . . .

Charles A. DeVore ; Jay Holloway

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) held a public meeting on October 11, 2012, to gather information relating to financial qualifications (FQ) for a combined license (COL) applicant for a "merchant" (i.e., non-electric utility) nuclear power plant. The NRC requires a merchant applicant to demonstrate that it "possesses or has reasonable assurance of obtaining" the funds necessary to cover estimated construction costs and related fuel cycle costs in order to obtain . . .

Tyson R. Smith ; David A. Repka

In ruling on cross-motions on summary judgment, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana handed EPA a victory in its long-running NSR enforcement initiative. The Court ruled on the applicability of a key defense–the routine maintenance, repair and replacement exclusion–to New Source Review applicability. 

At its regular meeting held on September 20, 2012, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ("FERC" or "Commission") issued orders on nearly two dozen electric agenda items. Of those, the attached memorandum summarizes five electric agenda decisions that involve curtailment of non-dispatchable generation resources, including Qualifying Facilities ("QFs") and intermittent resources such as wind generation; state law versus federal rules under the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of . . .

Roxane E. Maywalt ; Raymond B. Wuslich

This summer, the NRC's Executive Director for Operations denied Southern Nuclear Company's appeal of a staff decision to impose a compliance backfit at the Hatch Nuclear Plant regarding the plant's degraded voltage protection scheme. In 1991, the NRC issued a Notice of Violation on the issue, and in 1995, the staff granted a license amendment to allow Hatch to rely on administrative controls and manual actions as part of the site's voltage protection configuration. However, during a 2009 insp . . .

Darani Reddick ; David A. Repka

The NRC has just released NUREG-1307, Rev. 15, "Report on Waste Burial Charges." As you know, this report provides the waste disposal cost data for licensees to use in preparing decommissioning minimum cost estimates for inclusion in their biennial decommissioning status reports. In this revision of the NUREG, the NRC has changed the way in which they account for licensee estimates using the "vendor" option for waste disposal. The NRC has elected to only credit 60% of waste disposal through v . . .

William A. Horin

The Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, prohibits the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) from issuing a license to construct and operate a nuclear power reactor to any entity that the Commission knows, or has reason to believe, is owned, controlled, or dominated by foreign interests. The NRC's position is that there is no specific percentage of ownership above which the agency must conclude without further inquiry that an applicant for a combined license is controlled by . . .

David A. Repka ; Darani Reddick

Today, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) shed some light on the path forward that the agency will follow on the issue of waste confidence. A Staff Requirements Memorandum (SRM) instructed the NRC staff to develop a generic environmental impact statement (EIS) to support an updated Waste Confidence Decision and Temporary Storage Rule. The Commission directed the staff to set a schedule to publish a final rule and EIS within 24 months. These actions are being taken in response to a June 2 . . .

Darani Reddick ; David A. Repka

Recently, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) approved publication of a Plan for Retrospective Analysis of Existing Rules. The impetus behind the Plan is a series of Executive Orders aimed at improving regulatory efficiency. Executive Order 13579 asked independent regulatory agencies to consider how best to promote retrospective analysis of rules that may be ineffective or excessively burdensome, and tasked them with developing a public plan describing periodic reviews of existing signifi . . .

Darani Reddick ; David A. Repka

On August 7, 2012, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued a decision on several petitions filed before the agency to suspend final decisions in reactor licensing cases. The petitions were based on the recent ruling by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals vacating the NRC’s Waste Confidence Decision and Temporary Storage Rule and remanding the issue back to the agency for further environmental reviews. The Commission granted the petitions in part by agreeing not to issue . . .

David A. Repka ; Darani Reddick

On July 19, 2012, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) issued a series of orders that show it will take more than simply eliminating rights of first refusal to build transmission facilities from FERC tariffs to level the playing field for new transmission developers to get into the game. The orders signaled that FERC may effectively limit third party transmission developers to competition to build transmission facilities to economic upgrades and policy upgrades. The orders may im . . .

Raymond B. Wuslich ; Roxane E. Maywalt

Attached is a final memorandum summarizing a FERC order granting Xcel Energy Services Inc.'s complaint against American Transmission Company, LLC which opposes American Transmission’s claim to construction and ownership of a proposed 145-mile, 345 kV electric transmission line connecting Northern States’ facilities near La Crosse, Wisconsin, with American Transmission’s facilities near Madison, Wisconsin.

Attached is a memorandum summarizing a FERC order denying rehearing of a previous Commission order dismissing a complaint filed by FirstEnergy Solutions Corp. and Allegheny Energy Supply Company, LLC seeking to modify provisions of PJM Interconnection, L.L.C’s Open Access Transmission Tariff and Operating Agreement as related to the funding of Financial Transmission Rights.

Attached is a memorandum summarizing a FERC order on Ameren Corporation's accounting entries resulting from a Federal Power Act Section 203 application.    

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) has issued four show cause orders and notices of proposed penalty against three companies and an individual who allegedly engaged in fraud in ISO New England, Inc.’s Day-Ahead Load Response Program (“DALRP”). Staff from the FERC Office of Enforcement alleged that the fraud occurred when two manufacturers in Maine inflated their load baseline when joining the DALRP and subsequently claimed payment for load reductions that never happened. In ess . . .

Raymond B. Wuslich

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s agenda for its July 19, 2012, Regular Meeting includes consideration of several interesting electric proceedings in which the Commission is expected to address, among other issues,  participation and compensation of demand response resources in RTO/ISO markets; allocation of capacity and priority rights to merchant and participant-funded transmission projects; automatic under-frequency load shedding reliability standards; underfunding and misapp . . .

Raymond B. Wuslich ; Roxane E. Maywalt

On June 22, 2012, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued a Notice of Proposed
Rulemaking (“NOPR”) in response to a growing interest in rate flexibility by both purchasers and sellers of ancillary services. In this NOPR, FERC sought comment on a package of related proposals developed in response to a June 16, 2011 Notice of Inquiry (“NOI”). FERC proposed to revise certain aspects of its current market-based rate regulations, ancillary services requirements under the pro forma . . .

Raymond B. Wuslich ; Gordon A. Coffee

Following are summaries of the electric proceedings listed on the agenda to be addressed at the FERC regular meeting to be held June 21, 2012. Agenda item numbers missing from the sequence were omitted from FERC's agenda prior to its release to the public.

E-1 Docket No. RM12-3-000, Revisions to Electric Quarterly Report Filing Process

There is no information or documentation in FERC's eLibrary under this docket number at this . . .

Roxane E. Maywalt ; Raymond B. Wuslich

Yesterday, FERC issued an order, in Docket Nos. QF11-235-001 and QF12-99-001, granting the applications of two wind facilities for Commission certification as qualifying small power production facilities (“QFs”) over the objections of the local utility. The applications were filed by DeWind Novus, LLC for a facility with a maximum gross power production capacity of 80 MW and by DeWind Novus II, LLC for a facility with a maximum gross power production capacity of 40 MW.

Xcel Energy Serv . . .

Raymond B. Wuslich ; Christine A Kolosov

Transmission Planning and Cost Allocation by Transmission Owning and Operating Utilities

On May 17, 2012, FERC issued Order No. 1000-A in which it affirmed and upheld Order No. 1000, issued July 21, 2011, reforming transmission planning and cost allocation processes. In responding to approximately sixty (60) requests for rehearing and clarification, FERC affirmed its prior Order No. 1000 final rule, made no changes to the regulatory text promulgated therein, and denied rehe . . .

Raymond B. Wuslich ; Roxane E. Maywalt

Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator, Inc., et al. Docket No. EL12-35-000

In an order issued May 17, 2012, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ("FERC") initiated an investigation and established paper hearing procedures to determine whether the formula rate protocols under the Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator, Inc. ("MISO") Tariff are sufficient to ensure just and reasonable rates. FERC named MISO a . . .

Roxane E. Maywalt ; Raymond B. Wuslich

It is unknown what FERC will issue in this docket. The last filings were submitted in June 2004, commenting on the FERC report on the August 13-14, 2003 Northeast blackout.

On May 4, 2012, FERC issued an order responding to the North American Electric Reliability Corporation’s (“NERC”) motion for an extension of time to submit a revised Reliability Standard BAL-003 (Frequency Response and Bias) in compliance with earlier FERC directives. NERC had requested an indefinite extension beginning with two additional technical conferences to be followed by a proposed schedule. After pointing out that NERC had already been granted an extension from the original deadline . . .

Raymond B. Wuslich

In an order issued May 3, 2012, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) set for investigation, trial-type hearing, and settlement judge procedures a complaint filed by an ad hoc group of the state regulatory commissions of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine, the Massachusetts and Connecticut Attorneys General, and certain state consumer advocate agencies, municipalities, trade associations, and industrial companies located in New . . .

Roxane E. Maywalt ; Raymond B. Wuslich

Docket No. RM11-17-000

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ("FERC") issued a Final Rule amending its regulations to require each regional transmission organization ("RTO") and independent system operator ("ISO") to electronically deliver to FERC, on an ongoing basis, data related to the markets that it administers. Specifically, FERC is requiring ongoing electronic delivery of data relating to physical and virtual offers and bids, market awards, resour . . .

Roxane E. Maywalt ; Raymond B. Wuslich

Docket Nos. AD12-14-000, AD11-11-000

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) issued a Notice of Inquiry (“NOI”) seeking comments on whether, and if so how, FERC should revise its current policy concerning open access and priority rights to transmission service capacity on certain generator interconnection facilities known as generator lead lines. FERC’s current policy has allowed, on a case-by-case basis, an owner of generator interconnection facilities to h . . .

Roxane E. Maywalt ; Raymond B. Wuslich

Docket No. ER12-480-000

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) conditionally accepted the Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator, Inc.’s (“MISO”) proposal to establish a five-year transition plan for the integration of Entergy and its operating companies into MISO’s transmission planning and cost allocation process. During the transition, MISO will apply its existing transmission planning process to the Entergy region to identify necessary network . . .

Roxane E. Maywalt ; Raymond B. Wuslich

Docket No. ER09-1063-004

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) accepted the PJM Interconnection, L.L.C.’s (“PJM”) filing of tariff provisions establishing the rules for scarcity pricing during operating reserves shortages, in compliance with the shortage pricing rules established in FERC Order 719. FERC was concerned that existing pricing rules had not been properly valuing energy during operating reserves shortages and emergencies. When these conditions a . . .

Roxane E. Maywalt ; Raymond B. Wuslich

Docket Nos. ER09-187-000; ER09-187-001; ER10-160-000

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) issued an order on April 19 establishing base returns on equity (“ROEs”) for three Southern California Edison Company (“SoCal Edison”) transmission projects, the Rancho Vista transmission substation, the Tehachapi Transmission Project, and the California segment of the Devers-Palo Verde II Project (“DPV2”). FERC approved a base ROE of 10.04 percen . . .

Kyle E. Gilbertson ; Raymond B. Wuslich

Docket Nos. EL12-13-000; ER12-336-000

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) issued an order today setting for hearing and settlement proceedings PacifiCorp’s complaint against Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (“UAMPS”), alleging that UAMPS is required to provide operating reserves for the Hunter II generating resource under the transmission services operating agreement (“TSOA”) between PacifiCorp and UAMPS, or when UAMPS fails to self-supply operati . . .

Kyle E. Gilbertson ; Raymond B. Wuslich

Following are summaries of the electric proceedings listed on the agenda to be addressed at the FERC regular meeting to be held April 19, 2012.

E-1: Docket No. ER12-480-000, Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator, Inc., and Transmission Owners of the Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator, Inc.

This proceeding involves the consideration of revisions to the MISO Open Access Transmission, Energy and Operating Reserve Markets Tariff ("Tariff") . . .

Kyle E. Gilbertson ; Raymond B. Wuslich; Roxane E. Maywalt

On April 16, 2012, FERC issued an order approving the Midwest Independent System Operator’s (MISO) request to recover $60,000 in reliability penalty costs from its customers under MISO’s Open Access Transmission, Energy and Operation Reserve Markets Tariff (Tariff). The penalty costs, which were the result of a settlement between MISO and ReliabilityFirst arising from a non-public investigation, will be assessed on a pro rata basis to MISO customers in May 2012.

MISO will r . . .

Kathy Konieczny ; Raymond B. Wuslich

On April 13, 2012, President Obama signed an executive order forming an interagency working group to promote the safe development of domestic natural gas. This working group will include officials from at least 13 administrative agencies and executive departments including the EPA, Department of Energy, Department of Transportation, and the Office of Science and Technology Policy. The group was established to . . .

Charles A. DeVore ; May Wall

Representative Pete Olson (R-TX), together with five cosponsors, introduced H.R. 4273 on March 28, 2012. The bill, entitled the "Resolving Environmental and Grid Reliability Conflicts Act of 2012," seeks to clarify that compliance with an emergency order under section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act may not be considered a violation of any Federal, State, or local environmental law or regulation. The bill is a bipartisan effo . . .

Kyle E. Gilbertson ; Raymond B. Wuslich

Recent enforcement actions by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission indicate that the agency is taking a more aggressive position on activities that some would view as ordinary hedging. As shown by public issuances entitled “Staff Notice of Alleged Violations,” a notification tool that the Commission is using with increasing frequency, FERC’s Office of Enforcement is examining the interplay between physical energy trades and futures markets in search of uneconomic trades in one market that . . .

Raymond B. Wuslich ; Gordon A. Coffee

In a stern reminder of the need to obtain FERC authorization before closing jurisdictional transactions, FERC has referred ITC Holdings Corp., International Transmission Company and their affiliates to its Enforcement Staff after the companies asked the agency to belatedly approve 10 transactions up to six years after they closed.

According to FERC’s order issued on April 2, 2012 (Docket No. EC12-48-000), the transactions involved transfers of transmission assets with DTE Energy tha . . .

Raymond B. Wuslich

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's ("FERC") March 30, 2012, order approving PJM Interconnection, L.L.C.'s ("PJM") plan to recover the costs of new transmission lines rated above 500 kV using the "postage stamp" method provides the first insight into how the agency is likely to evaluate the cost allocation plans that transmission owners are required to file under Order 1000. 

Order 1000 directed all transmission owning public utilities to file cost allocation p . . .

Raymond B. Wuslich

PJM’s market monitor issued its annual report on March 15, in which it concludes that energy and capacity sub-markets in the region were not competitive in 2011, and only achieved reasonable results after mitigation measures were imposed as provided under the PJM tariff. Among other things, the report recommends eliminating demand response resources that are not available at all times from capacity markets, changing the way operating reserves charges are calculated, and requiring one-year not . . .

Raymond B. Wuslich

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued an order stating it would not act on a complaint brought by an individual, Benjamin Riggs, who claimed Rhode Island’s standard offer contract setting prices for power sales violated the avoided cost rules under the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA). PURPA requires FERC to review state avoided cost payment programs in the first instance, and if it declines to act interested parties may file enforcement actions in federal dist . . .

Raymond B. Wuslich

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has proposed to revise its Electric Quarterly Reports to include simultaneous energy exchange transactions, which it equates to transmission service when power is simultaneously injected and withdrawn at different locations on the transmission grid in transactions involving the same parties. FERC believes that reporting exchange transactions will increase transparency. Comments are due within 60 days after publication in the Fede . . .

Raymond B. Wuslich

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued an order today finding that Pioneer Wind Park 1 and 2 did not violate the size limitation for qualifying small power production facilities even though the two projects interconnect to the transmission grid using the same generation tie line and the project owners had described them as a single project in other contexts. Under the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA), wind, solar and other generators using qualifying fuel source . . .

Raymond B. Wuslich

Today FERC approved NERC's petition requesting approval to make informational filings in a Find, Fix, Track and Report ("FFT") spreadsheet format. The FFT, in contrast to the in-depth Notice of Penalty format, is designed for possible violations of minimal risk that have been remediated. The FFT spreadsheet lists the registered entity, region, Reliability Standard, and it includes a short description of the remediated issue, risk assessment, and mitigation activity. FERC acknowledged tha . . .

Raymond B. Wuslich

138 FERC ¶ 61,124, Docket No. RM96-1-037

Last week FERC issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeking comments on a proposal to incorporate the most recent business practice standards adopted by the Wholesale Gas Quadrant of the North American Energy Standards Board ("NAESB") applicable to natural gas pipelines into FERC's regulations. FERC also proposed guidance on when it would approve waivers or extensions of time to comply with the NAESB standards. 

. . .

Kathy Konieczny ; Raymond B. Wuslich

Under the proposed Cybersecurity Act of 2012 (S. 2105), unveiled on February 14, 2012, energy companies would be required to annually certify that they have fully protected their assets against cyber threats. The bill includes new measures to safeguard the grid with cooperation from the Department of Homeland Security ("DHS") and FERC, starting with an energy sector risk assessment and a designation of critical infrastructure. Under the proposed bill, owners and operators of critica . . .

Raymond B. Wuslich

E-1 Omitted

E-2 Docket No. RM11-14-000; Analysis of Horizontal Market Power under the Federal Power Act

This may be a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in response to comments received on the Commission's March 17, 2011 Notice of Inquiry. The Commission had sought comments on whether, and if so, how the Commission should revise its approach for examining horizontal market power concerns in transactions under § 203 of the Federal Power Act to reflect the Horizontal . . .

Kathy Konieczny ; Raymond B. Wuslich

On February 9, 2012, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) took its final action to approve a Combined Operating License (COL) for two additional nuclear generating units at the Southern Company’s Vogtle Generating Station. There are presently two operating units at Plant Vogtle, operated by Southern Nuclear Operating Company. The new units will incorporate the Westinghouse AP1000 advanced plant design, which was recently awarded a revised Design Certification by the NRC.

The N . . .

David A. Repka

Over the past three years, wind energy developers and conservation groups have worked together to develop a set of voluntary best practices for siting and building wind energy projects in Colorado while minimizing adverse environmental impacts. Five environmental groups and ten wind developers, working collectively as the Colorado Renewables and Conservation Collaborative, have developed wind energy guidelines that simultaneously . . .

Charles A. DeVore ; May Wall

Winston & Strawn energy partners Joseph Karp and Raymond Wuslich will lead a practical, interactive eLunch, "Changing Projects Under The California ISO Interconnection Process," on January 18, 2012 at 12:15 p.m. (Central). This program will discuss negotiating the interconnection process to meet evolving project requirements and will focus on:

• Overview of the interconnection proc . . .
  
  Raymond B. Wuslich

Not long after Congress granted the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission new authority to police market manipulation in the physical electric and natural gas markets that it regulates, then commissioner Sue Dean Kelly proclaimed that FERC now has the power to prosecute manipulation of the currency markets if it “affects” prices in markets within FERC’s core jurisdiction. With its decision on November 18 to reaffirm a $30 million penalty against Mr. Brian Hunter—a natural gas futures trader—FE . . .

Raymond B. Wuslich

FERC recently issued an order affirming its decision in June to require owners of electric
generation to comply with NERC’s reliability rules that apply to the owners and operators of electric transmission facilities. The NERC rules cover transmission lines with thermal ratings above 100 kV if the loss of the line would have a material impact on the reliability of the bulk power transmission system. The specific case involved a 230 kV generation tie line owned by Cedar Creek Wind Energy, L . . .

Raymond B. Wuslich

In an interesting development, the Delaware River Basin Commission ("DRBC") announced on November 18th that it would postpone the vote on fracking regulations that was originally scheduled for November 21, 2011. The proposed regulations were predicted to substantially advance fracking operations in the Delaware River Basin, and had been met with fierce resistance from several quarters. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and several environmental groups filed suit in federal . . .

May Wall ; Charles A. DeVore

At the November 17, 2011, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Technical Conference on Penalty Guidelines, two panels of electric and natural gas industry representatives made brief presentations and responded to questions from FERC enforcement staff members and FERC Commissioners LaFleur, Moeller, and Norris, on issues arising from compliance efforts since the issuance of the penalty guidelines approximately one year ago, and issues affecting FERC calculation of penalties under the gu . . .

Raymond B. Wuslich

Inadequate project monitoring and the Western Area Power Administration's (Western) failure to require the sponsors of the Montana Alberta Tie Line (MATL) to set aside reserves against potential cost overruns has placed U.S. taxpayers at risk for $161 million and highlights the need to reform the way Western administers stimulus funding for similar projects according to a November 4, 2011 report published by the Department of Energy's Inspector General (IG).

MATL is a planned merchant . . .

Raymond B. Wuslich

Winston & Strawn attorneys join Environmental Resources Management (ERM) to present "The Future of Electric Generating Units Under the EPA's New NSR Rules, Cross-State Air Pollution Rules, and New Clean Air Act Regulations." This informative seminar will take place at Winston & Strawn's San Francisco office on November 8, 2011 and Chicago office on December 1, 2011.

The s . . .

May Wall ; Raymond B. Wuslich; David A. Repka

On October 20, 2011, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it will develop national standards for the disposal of wastewater generated by fracking and shale gas production. The EPA indicated the new standards are necessary due to the tremendous increase in shale gas production in recent years. The disposal of . . .

Raymond B. Wuslich ; May Wall

On October 20, 2011, FERC issued Order No. 755, revising its regulations in order to remedy undue discrimination in the procurement of frequency regulation in the organized wholesale electric markets and to ensure that providers of frequency regulation receive just and reasonable rates. FERC finds that regional transmission organization ("RTO") methods for compensating regulation service fails to compensate generators for all of the service they provide, or to appropriately compensate for the . . .

Kathy Konieczny ; Raymond B. Wuslich

On October 20, 2011, FERC issued an order regarding Puget Sound Energy, Inc.'s ("Puget's") filing to (1) update its rates for regulation service, (2) assess regulation service charges on wind generators that export from its balancing authority, and (3) require the wind generators to purchase regulation service equal to 16.77% of the customer's transmission reservation while requiring load and dispatchable generation to purchase an amount equal to 2%. In this Order, FERC accepted the filing su . . .

Kathy Konieczny ; Raymond B. Wuslich

Winston & Strawn hosted an eLunch, From Enron to Today: An Insider's Guide to Safely Navigating the New Enforcement Landscape, on October 20 at 12:15 p.m. Central. Litigation partners Robb Adkins and Jack Knight discussed the latest enforcement trends and how companies can be best prepared to address them if th . . .

Raymond B. Wuslich

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will hold a two-day technical conference on November 29 and 30 to hear comments and concerns about possible effects on service reliability that may result from new Environmental Protection Agency rules on coal-fired generation. Among the topics for discussion will be "emerging issues, including processes used by planning authorities and other entities to identify reliability concerns that may arise in the course of compliance with Environmental Pr . . .

Raymond B. Wuslich

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has issued an order clarifying that utilities must reapply for transmission rate incentives when their projects are reconfigured in a significant way. Explaining that incentives granted under Order 679 are project specific, FERC ruled that Public Service Electric and Gas Company lost its right to collect rate incentives for its originally proposed $1.1 billion Branchburg Project when PJ . . .

Raymond B. Wuslich

New energy use disclosure regulations, concerns about energy security, ever-rising energy costs, and a variety of other factors have made building energy efficiency an increasingly important issue in commercial real estate transactions. Calculating a commercial building's energy efficiency can be complicated, however, due to variations in seasonal energy use, tenant occupancy, building operating hours, and the period of time over which energy use data is collected. The Amer . . .

Stephanie B. Sebor ; May Wall

Winston & Strawn environmental attorneys Jay Holloway, Michael T. Champion, and Laura A. Fleischmann are hosting an eLunch titled "An Overview of the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule: What Utilities Need to Know About Implementation and the Emerging Legal and Political Challenges to the Rule" on W . . .

Raymond B. Wuslich

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) issued two orders last week that approved interpretations of Reliability Standards TOP-001-1 and TPL-002-0. FERC also issued an order in which it rejected challenges to the many directives FERC provided the North American Electric Reliability Corporation regarding Reliability Standard PRC-023-1. A summary of those interpretations and the order is attached.

On September 15, 2011, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NOPR”) in which it proposed approving Reliability Standard PRC-023-2 – Transmission Relay Loadability. PRC-023-2 requires transmission owners, generator owners, and distribution providers to set relays according to specific criteria in order to ensure that the relays reliably detect and protect the electric network from fault conditions, but do not limit transmission loadability o . . .

Kathy Konieczny ; Raymond B. Wuslich

On September 15, 2011, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued an order approving the Personnel Performance, Training and Qualification Reliability Standard PER-003-1 – Operating Personnel Credentials. The purpose of PER-003-1 is to ensure that system operators have demonstrated a minimum competency in the areas pertinent to their role. To that end, PER-003-1 requires that system operators who perform the reliability-related tasks of a Reliability Coordinator, Balancing Authori . . .

Kathy Konieczny ; Raymond B. Wuslich

On September 15, 2011, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in which it proposed approving Version 4 of the Critical Infrastructure Protection Reliability Standards CIP-002 through CIP-009. The change in Version 4 centers on the identification of Critical Assets, the “facilities, systems, and equipment which, if destroyed, degraded, or otherwise rendered unavailable, would affect the reliability or operability of the Bulk Electric System.” Identifyin . . .

Kathy Konieczny ; Raymond B. Wuslich

On September 12, 2011, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ("FERC" or "Commission") staff hosted a technical conference via phone that summarized some of the key requirements presented in Order No. 1000 (the "Rule"). The purpose of the teleconference was to provide general guidance rather than delve into the definition of terms or other specific items better dealt with through rehearing requests. 

The first topic was Regional Transmission Planning and Public Policy. . . .

Kathy Konieczny ; Raymond B. Wuslich

The Department of Energy’s (DOE) recent proposal to assign (FERC) the task of studying transmission congestion and designating congested areas as “national interest electric transmission corridors,” or NIETCs, has drawn fire from an unexpected source:  Senator Jeff Bingaman. Senator Bingaman was the chief draftsman of Section 216 of the Federal Power Act, which also gave FERC “backstop” transmission siting authority that can be invoked when states fail to approve transmission projects in . . .

Raymond B. Wuslich

In follow-up to Winston & the Legal Environment's recent blog update, "West Virginia Issues Emergency Horizontal Drilling Rule," the team recently published a more extensive briefing on the topic titled "Update on the Ever-Changing Fracking Landscape." According to the briefing, many people consider natural gas to be the most important ener . . .

Raymond B. Wuslich ; May Wall

The topic of the broken federal program for acceptance and disposal of spent nuclear fuel has been in the news. The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (NWPA) assigned the responsibility for development of a high level waste repository to the federal Department of Energy (DOE), and established the Nuclear Waste Fund to pay for the program based on charges for electricity generated by nuclear power plants. DOE has collected the fee continuously, but has defaulted on its obligation to ac . . .

David A. Repka

Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) continues to raise questions regarding foreign ownership interests in nuclear energy projects.

The Atomic Energy Act of 1954 includes at least one Cold War era relic. Section 103.d of the Act provides that no license for a "production or utilization facility" (a power reactor is a "utilization facility") may be issued to any corporation or other entity that the Commission knows or has reason to believe is "owned, controlled, or dominated by an alien, . . .

David A. Repka

Yesterday, FERC announced a major new initiative to revise the way new transmission is planned, owned and built, and how transmission costs will be recovered from customers. Order No. 1000 requires all public utility transmission providers and RTOs to make compliance filings within one year of the effective date to, among other things:  (1) incorporate planning for policy-driven transmission upgrades, such as those required to integrate renewable and demand resources; (2) include an . . .

Chimera N. Bowen ; Raymond B. Wuslich

Attached are the matters set for consideration by the FERC commissioners open meeting on July 21, 2011. Of particular significance is the proposed rulemaking on transmission planning and cost allocations that could affect how "policy upgrades" for renewable are built and paid for, as well as transmission owner rights of first refusal to build upgra . . .

Raymond B. Wuslich

FERC issued an order today to end a rulemaking process where it was considering whether to establish the standards to govern the way public utilities implement "smart grid" technologies on their transmission lines. The idea behind smart grid is to modernize the power grid using advanced computer and telecommunications systems to make energy transactions less costly and more reliable. The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 directed FERC to adopt smart grid standards in coordinat . . .

Raymond B. Wuslich

On June 30, Treasury released an additional guidance document outlining the process used to evaluate the amount of a renewable energy project's basis that is eligible for a Cash Grant under Section 1603 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. This newly-published guidance document is linked . . .

Maher H. Haddad ; John C. Lorentzen

Earlier this year, FERC issued a notice of inquiry seeking comment on whether it should revise its horizontal market power test for mergers and other transactions under Section 203 of the Federal Power Act. FERC's current horizontal market power test derives from merger guidelines issued by the Department of Justice ("DOJ") and Federal Trade Commission. This past June, the DOJ issued an updated version of its policy guide to merger remedies, reflecting the DOJ's new approach to conduct r . . .

Chimera N. Bowen ; Raymond B. Wuslich

On June 20, 2011, the Supreme Court determined that the Clean Air Act and the authority delegated to EPA to regulate greenhouse gas (GHGs) emissions displaced federal common law public nuisance claims in American Electronic Power Co., Inc. (AEP) v. Connecticut, No. 10-174. The Supreme Court's decision prohibits litigants from bringing federal common law claims against power companies where Congress has delegated authority to EPA to regulate emissions, even when EPA has not yet a . . .

Phoebe N. Coddington

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ("FERC") recently granted an application filed by Pacific Gas and Electric Company ("PG&E"), San Diego Gas & Electric Company ("SDG&E"), and Southern California Edison Company ("SCE") (collectively, the "IOUs") to terminate their mandatory obligation to purchase electric energy and capacity from qualifying facilities ("QFs") with a net capacity in excess of 20 MW. The application to terminate the IOUs' mandatory purchase obligati . . .

Jerry R. Bloom ; Raymond B. Wuslich

ELECTRIC

E-1-6, 8 13-14 OMITTED

E-7, QM11-2-000, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, San Diego Gas & Electric Company, Southern California Edison Company

• This involves a 3/18/11 application by PG&E, SDG&E, and SCE seeking termination of the obligation under the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA) to enter into new contracts to purchase electric ene . . .
  
  Kathy Konieczny ; Raymond B. Wuslich

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) requires transmission owners, including generation tie-line owners, to provide non-discriminatory open access transmission service upon request by a third party. While FERC has shown a willingness to confirm that gen-tie owners can have "priority use" rights in their lines for planned expansions, it has heightened the evidentiary showing needed to obtain those rights while also ruling that priority use must be taken under an open access transmis . . .

Raymond B. Wuslich

According to the National Journal Daily, EPA is looking to delay issuing the proposed draft New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) to control greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by at least two months, but retain the current deadline to finalize the rules. Pursuant to two settlement agreements entered into in December 2010, EPA agreed to propose revised rules and emission guidelines containing limitations on GHGs for electric power plants and oil refineries. Under these settlement agreem . . .

Laura A. Fleischmann ; Jay Holloway

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) cleared its backlog of incentive transmission rate cases during last week’s Commission meeting by issuing seven orders on pending applications and requests for rehearing of prior rulings. In rulings on new filings, FERC granted incentive rate petitions for Atlantic Grid Operations A LLC and its affiliates (Docket No. EL11-13-000), Desert Southwest Power (Docket No. EL10-54-000), Central Transmission, LLC (Docket No. EL11-21-000), and for two o . . .

Raymond B. Wuslich

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has dismissed a complaint filed by the California Attorney General (AG) and associated state agencies and utilities seeking $180 million in penalties from Allegheny Energy Supply Company, LLC (now owned by FirstEnergy). The complaint, which was filed in July 2009, alleged that Allegheny and other wholesale power marketers unfairly profited from power sales to the Scheduling Division of the California Department of Water Resources (known as CERS) . . .

Raymond B. Wuslich

On May 19, 2011, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) accepted the ISO New England, Inc.'s (ISO-NE) informational filing reporting on the qualification of capacity resources to participate in the fifth Forward Capacity Auction. See a copy of the order here. Protests to the informational filing centered around the ISO-NE's Internal Market Monitor's (IMM) determination of new demand resources to be Out-of . . .

Raymond B. Wuslich

Thank you for your interest in Winston & Strawn’s Energy Industry Watch blog. It is our commitment to provide timely updates on the myriad of issues affecting the energy industry sector, including tax, labor, nuclear security, regulatory compliance, project finance and legislative policy developments.

Our dedicated te . . .

Raymond B. Wuslich ; May Wall

FERC recently issued a series of orders granting transmission rate incentives and denying requests for rehearing challenging previous incentives orders. Together, the decisions reinforce FERC's commitment to encourage new transmission investments to promote renewable energy, enhance grid reliability and lower the cost of delivered power as envisioned by Section 219 of the Federal Power Act. At the same time, FERC announced that it is re-examining its incentive rate policies given the nea . . .

Raymond B. Wuslich

FERC has tightened the way it assigns Violation Risk Factors (VRF) and Violation Severity Levels (VRL) under North American Reliability Corporation (NERC) reliability rules. The new approach assigns VRFs and VRLs only for main reliability standard requirements, and no longer assigns them to sub-categories. The change responds to industry criticisms that NERC's approach exposed regulated utilities to "double jeopardy" by making them pay multiple fines for a single violation.