Michigan Public Utility Commission is working on building a EV charing station program.

3 Steps the Utility Regulator Took to make it happen:

• Solicited input from experts
• Solicited input from stakeholders like:
  • utilities
  • automakers
  • charging equipment companies
  • environmental groups
• 5 Regulatory policy questions MI wants to answer:
  • how to encourage charging during periods when rates are lower
  • impact on the electrical grid
  • where charging stations should be located
  • how to educate customers
  • the role of public utilities

Detroit Free Press | Got ideas for electric vehicle charging projects in Michigan? 

Duke Energy Florida settlement agreement was approved by the Florida Public Service Commission and includes:

• $6 billion investment over 4 years
• smart meters
• grid modernization projects
• optional billing programs
• 700 MW of solar power facilities over the next four years
• installation of more than 500 EV charging stations
• up to 50 MW of energy storage under a pilot battery storage program
• residential rate will be $123.88 per 1,000 kWh
  • includes a reduction of $4.65 per 1,000 kWh as a settlement benefit
• commercial & industrial customer bills  will increase approximately 1% to 3% from 2019-2021

Next Gen Transportation News | Fla. Utility to Add 500 EV Charging Stations Under Settlement Agreement 

Vermont Legislators have imposed noise standards on wind energy projects.

Supports of wind energy say: the noise restrictions will chill wind energy in Vermont

Legislators say: the goal is to prevent sound from disturbing neighbors’ health and sleep

The Noise Limits:

• Large wind projects limited to 42 dBA during the day and 39 dBA at night
  • Noise is measured 100 feet from the residence of a homeowner who isn’t participating in the project
• Small and medium wind projects would be limited to 42 dBA
• The new Vermont wind energy noise limits are not the lowest in the country 

Burlington Free Press | Lawmakers approve tighter sound rules on wind power

The report is by: Bay Area News Group

What is the causal link between transmission line mapping and wildfires? California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection is investigating whether a utility’s equipment caused the fire

What’s the background on transmission line mapping in California? Transmission line mapping was sparked by a 2007 San Diego Fire and required by the California Public Utility Commission in 2008. The project has been delayed and has not been completed.

Mercury News | PG&E helped stall effort to map risky power lines prone to wildfires

Amazon launched a wind farm in Snyder TX on October 20th. 

Amazon’s Snyder TX windfarm details details:

•  1,000,000+ MWh of clean energy
• 100 turbines
• 300 feet tall turbines with a rotor diameter more than twice the wingspan of a Boeing 787

Amazon’s foray into renewables throughout the US:

• 18 wind and solar installations
• 35 more in the works
• Goal is to power 330,000 homes annually & support 100s of jobs

Amazon Press Release | Amazon Launches Biggest Wind Farm Yet – Company’s Renewable Energy Projects Will Together Generate Enough Clean Energy to Power More Than 330,000 Homes

• Cost of EV Chargers.
  • ​ Will regulators/legislators allow utilities to rate-base infrastructure costs?
  • Will regulators/legislators permit a shift in costs from private installers and owners onto the general rate base?
  • Can investments be recovered through performance-based regulations?
  • How to incentivize investments by rewarding social benefits without exposing ratepayers to undue risk?
  • Will regulators and utilities adopt the free and open-source Open Charge Point Protocol to support interoperable information exchange for transactions and charger operations?

Forbes | Five Ways Utilities Can Gain From Building Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure 

The Pipeline Capacity Battle: Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey is reviewing whether a pipeline is artificially constraining capacity.

What triggered the MA A.G. review of the pipeline? Environmental Defense Fund

What do opponents of the review say? That state regulators are not properly equipped for this review, it is more properly a review for FERC

Utility Dive | Massachusetts AG reviewing report on Eversource, Avangrid constraining pipelines

State: Ohio

The nuclear subsidy bill would be funded with:

• A $2.50 monthly fee on residential customers
• A fee of the lesser of 55 the monthly bill opr $3500 for commercial customers

The revisions in bill version #2:

• lower fees (above)
• shorter subsidy length. 12 years, instead of 16 years

Ohio HB 381 (2017)

Utility Dive | New Ohio bill reintroduces nuclear subsidy program as DOE pushes cost recovery NOPR

The Oil Company: Shell

The Charging Station Company: NewMotion that has more than 30,000 private charging stations and 50,000 public stations throughout Europe

Bloomberg New Energy Finance analysists predict by 2040 1/3 of cars worldwide will be EV that reduces oil need sby 8 million barrels per day.

The Hill | Oil giant Shell buys leading operator of electric vehicle charging stations

Oklahoma legislators are considering selling water from Northeastern Oklahoma to either Western Oklahoma or Texas.

What 2 issues are arising over the potential legislative approval of the water sale?

• There is no way to guarantee how much water can be sold
• Pipelines will have to be constructed to move the water to the buyer

Tulsa Public Radio | Lawmakers Discuss Selling Oklahoma Water

The Grid Innovation Caucus: Congressional. Chairs are Robert E. Latta (R- OH) & Jerry McNerney (D- CA)

Why does grid security matter? Grid Security is fundamental to National Security & Clean Energy future

What bipartisan goals are there for grid security in legislative action?

• Encourage and enable innovative advancements that improve security & reliability of the energy grid
  • Like encouraging new partnerships between companies whose cutting-edge technologies complement and enhance electric companies’ efforts.
• Requires that legislators actively engage with industry leaders
• Requires that consumers  consumers have  more customer choice, enhanced integration of all energy sources, & improved reliability and security

Does the Grid Innovation Caucus have Partners? Yes:

• Edison Electric Institute
• National Electrical Manufacturers Association
• GridWise Alliance
• + they hosted the House Grid Innovation Expo

Utility Dive | Op-Ed the Grid Innovation Caucus | A bipartisan view on modernizing the US electric grid

PHI Group, Inc. and AQuarius Power, Inc. , a Texas Company, to exclusively sublicense, sell, build, own and/or operate the AQuarius wave energy systems in Eastern Europe and the European Region.

What do I need to know about wave energy?

• Land-based wave energy system using a combination of gravity and “buoyancy” (the interaction between air and water) to produce power
• The power from wave based energy can generate electricity and / or produce potable water.
• It is a baseload zero carbon footprint
• Potential to instal virtually anywhere
• cost effective (operating cost is comparably low as hydroelectric systems.)
• can be built turn-key within 6 months of obtaining permits
• operating life of over 60 years
• clean, scalable, reliable, and extremely flexible. 

Business Insider | PHI Group and AQuarius Power Provide Breakthrough Land-based Wave Energy Technology to EuropeFirst system to be built in Romania in coming months

Oklahoma’s Alliance of Energy producers called on the Oklahoma Legislature to retore a 7% tax rate on oil and natural gas production.

Why is industry asking to be taxed? To help fix the OKlahoma budget deficit

The Ada News | Speaker calls for restoring 7 percent tax rate for oil and gas production

• 63% of utility executives believe “their country faces at least a moderate risk of electricity supply interruption from a cyber attack on electric distribution grids in the next 5 years”
• If you look at North American utility executives its 76%
• 57% of world wide utility executives say power disruptions from hacks is the most serious concern
  • 53% say employee/consumer safety is the most serious concern
  • 43% say destruction of physical assets is the most serious concern
• 77% of utility executives say the Internet of Things is a great threat to utility safety
• Utilities executives in Europe and Asia think hackers are the greatest cyber threat, while North American utility executives say its cyber threats from foreign governments

Electric Light & Power | Cyber attacks could bring down power grid, many utilities think

Farmer in Iowa opines 6 reasons wind farms are a nuisance:

• Wind Farms are LOUD. Wind lobby in Iowa wants to increase the noise level to 45 and 60 dBA from the current level of 25dBA
• Wind Farms Create pressure wakes and turbulance impacting humans and animals.
• Wind Farms shadows impact crops.
• Wind Farms decrease farming efficiency and complicate farming.
• Wind turbine blades fall off at a rate of 1 per 61 turbines. Danger. Danger. 
• Wind turbines kill birds.

Wallaces Farmer | Industrial wind farms a horrible nuisance

State: North Dakota

What happened with this land to trigger this bill? The landowners say that the state took their oil and gas mineral rights from property acquired by the federal government for the construction of the Garrison Dam. The State Supreme Court agreed.

What was the Legislative fix? To except mineral rights from land transactions by the state as it relates to the dam project

The Bill: North Dakota SB 2134 (2017)

Bismark Tribune via Dickinson Press | Family ‘elated’ over ND Supreme Court ruling in mineral dispute

A House Companion to the Senate’s, Securing Energy Infrastructure Act of 2017 by Senator Angus King (I-ME) and Senator James E. Risch (R-ID), has been filed by Congressman C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger (MD-02) and Congressman John R. Carter (TX-31). The legislation will:

• “establishes a two-year pilot program to study covered entities and identify new classes of security vulnerabilities and research and test technology – like analog devices – that could be used to isolate the most critical systems of covered entities from cyber-attacks
• develops a working group to evaluate the technology solutions proposed and develop a national cyber-informed strategy to isolate the energy grid from attacks
• requires the Secretary of Energy to submit a report to Congress describing the results of the program, assessing the feasibility of the techniques considered, and outlining the results of the working group’s evaluations.”

Congressman Rup[ersberger | RUPPERSBERGER INTRODUCES HOUSE COMPANION TO SENATE ENERGY GRID SECURITY MEASURE

The 28 utilities: Ameren Missouri, Ameren Illinois, Ameren Transmission Company of Illinois, American Transmission Company LLC, Associated Electric Cooperative, Inc., six Duke Energy utilities, Duquesne Light Company, East Kentucky Power Cooperative, Entergy Corporation, Florida Power and Light Company, ITC Midwest, ITC Transmission, METC, Santee Cooper, and South Carolina Electric & Gas Company.

What is RESTORE?  Regional Equipment Sharing for Transmission Outage Restoration – was founded in 2016 by Louisville Gas and Electric and Kentucky Utilities, PPL Electric Utilities, Tennessee Valley Authority and Southern Company.

What is the Goal of RESTORE?

• address the threats outlined earlier this year in the Department of Energy’s Strategic Transformer Reserve Report
• Utility cooperation
• Increase ability to call on additional resources among utilities

Utility Dive | 28 utilities join RESTORE program to boost grid resilience, reliability

The 5th circuit is chiming in on whether Texas delegation of eminent domain authority to a pipeline is a violation of the constitution.

The 5th circuit’s opinion- Probably Constitutional.

Why just probably Constitutiona? Because the ruling related to an injunction not the issue of constitutionality itself. 

Boerschig v. Trans-Pecos Pipeline, L.L.C. , No.  16-50931 (Oct. 3, 2017)

Reuters | 5th Circuit rebuffs Texas rancher’s challenge to pipeline

How is eminent domain bringing together “gun toting conservatives” & “liberal envrionmentalists”? Eminent Domain use for pipelines

Tell me where this is happening…? In Virgina & North Carolina with opposition to the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, which is set to bring natural gas from West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio to electric power plants in Virginia and North Carolina

(it also happened in Keystone XL)

Duke University  | The Chronicle | They’ll be singing Kumbaya

Arizona  Public Service is going to start using reverse demand response.

What is reverse demand response?

• Its definitely not load shifting.  “Reverse demand response is very different than load shifting.”
• It definitely is flexible & open to ” all non-residential dispatchable loads with at least 30 kW of demand.”
  • the key phrasing: specific to dispatchable non-essential load
• it means free energy for the customer and Load serving entities can make money by having more load

Utility Dive  | Arizona utility will use ‘reverse demand response’ to avoid renewables curtailment

South Carolina State Attorney General calls the law that permits a utility to recoup costs for a failed nuclear development “constitutionally suspect.”

What specifically did the A.G. Opinion say about the law? “portions of the Base Load Review Act are constitutionally suspect. The Act fails to strike the constitutionally required balance between investors and ratepayers. It also denies ratepayers procedural due process”

How much is the utility charging customers each month related to the failed nuclear facility? According to the Charlotte Business Journal $37 Million per month

Utility Dive | South Carolina AG: SCANA should not charge customers for failed Summer nuke

A lawsuit in Colorado asks for personhood status for the Colorado River Ecosystem.

A river can have person legal person status? The lawsuit aligns the personhood status to the same afforded to ships, an ecclesiastic corporations or a standard commercial corporations.

Is this legallay weird?

•  Personhood was also used in the majority opinion for Citizens United for campaign finance
• Recent rulings in Ecuador, Colombia, India and some U.S. municipalities which have recognized that rivers, glaciers and other ecosystems may be treated as legal persons

Courthouse News | Environmentalists Seek Personhood for Colorado River Ecosystem

• Texas natural gas has a market
• Texas based operators can help Mexico access its resources more efficiently
• Demand for oil, gas and refined products is growing quickly in Mexico

Tyler Morning Telegraph | Editorial: Texas benefits from Mexico’s energy sector reforms

Carlos Rubenstein et. al. write that  water markets have been suppressed in 3 manners:

• Conflicting interests by Groundwater Conservation Districts
• Regulations by Groundwater Conservation Districts
• Legislative requirements that devalue water such as the “junior water rights provision” when it comes to interbasin transfers

​The solution: new omnibus water bill to reform state regulations
 

​The Gilmer Mirror |  Carlos Rubinstein of RSAH2O, Herman Settemeyer  of RSAH2O, &  Megan Ingram of Armstrong Center for Energy & the Enviro |  Texas Water Past Present and FutureTexas Water Past Present and Future

San Francisco and Oakland are suing Bay Area-based Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Shell and BP.

What do the cities want? Billions in compensation for the public nuisance created by past and future flooding, coastal erosion and property damage resulting from climate change.

Are there more local governments involved? Yes, the California counties of Marin and San Mateo & the San Diego County city of Imperial Beach

Have similar lawsuits happened before? Yes, in 2008 the Alaskan village of Kivalina filed a similar suit & the federal court found federal clean air rules trumped the nuisance claims raised by the local governments.

How are these California lawsuits different from the Alaska lawsuit that failed? The California suits are filed in state court and not federal court.

San Francisco Chronicle | San Francisco, Oakland sue major oil companies over rising seas

Driving a EV in Wyoming? Need a charge? Wyoming Department of Transportation is making it easier by including charging stations on its publicly available & accessible 511 map.

Equipment World | Wyoming maps out sites for alternative vehicle fueling

Duke Energy is spoending $30 Million to install 2 install battery storage in North Carolina.

The battery storage projects in the company’s regulated market are said to be “the first large-scale energy storage projects built by its regulated utility business.”

The 2 projects:

• 9 MW lithium-ion battery system at a Duke substation in the Rock Hill community
  • will be used to provide energy support to the grid by supplying frequency regulation
• 4 MW li-ion battery system and is considering a solar facility in Hot Springs, NC

Utility Dive | Duke to build its first utility-scale regulated battery storage projects

California’s Governor Jerry Brown has proposed water tunnels to move water from the wet areas of the state to Los Angeles, where the populations resides. There have been obstacles, lots of obstacles. Let’s look at 3 of the obstacles:

• Federal Government. Part of the tunnel system will be built by a federal water project, the federal Central Valley Project. The feds have different ideas and requirements for fudning and buiulding.
• Taxpayer support to pay for the tunnels is nonexistent.
• Local Water Districts are not on board. Its said the Westlands Water District, a major farm irrigator in the San Joaquin Valley, stunned California’s water community by being opposed to paying for the benefits the tunnel may bring its farmers.

Sacramento Bee | What’s next for Brown’s Delta tunnels now that a big chunk of funding has disappeared?

Arizona Public Service Co.

•  Demand-Side Management Implementation Plan includes:
  • incentives for smart thermostats, electric school buses, electric vehicle (and bus) charging infrastructure, energy storage and water heater timers
  • handful of EV pilot programs
    • EV charging network for non-residential customers that would allow APS to own and operate the equipment while establishing a demand response structure
    • provide electric buses and charging infrastructure free for selected schools
  • a “reverse” demand response pilot project for customers with loads of 30 kW or more
    • to mitigate for negative pricing events caused by solar generation and the steep ramping that occurs as solar power declines

Southern California Edison

• electric vehicle pilot programs
  • combining mid-range commercial and heavy duty electric vehicles and testing rate designs

Utility Dive | How utility pilot programs are driving renewable energy integration

Texas Lt. Governor Patrick appointed Larry Taylor and Lois Kolkhorst to the Joint Interim Committee to Study a Coastal Barrier System.

Co-chair designation was given to Larry Taylor.

LT. GOVERNOR PATRICK ANNOUNCES APPOINTMENTS TO JOINT INTERIM COMMITTEE TO STUDY A COASTAL BARRIER SYSTEM

The Department of Energy announced this week $50M to “support early stage research and development of next-generation tools and technologies to further improve the resilience of the Nation’s critical energy infrastructure, including the electric grid and oil and natural gas infrastructure”

That’s a lot of words, where is the money going?

• 7 Resilient Distribution Systems projects via DOE’s Grid Modernization Laboratory Consortium
  • includes microgrids
  • includes scalable regional grid technology
• 20 cybersecurity projects that will enhance the reliability and resilience of the Nation’s electric grid and oil and natural gas infrastructure
  • includes identifying energy delivery system equipment inadvertently exposed to the public internet to reduce the cybersecurity risk 
  • includes adaptability to survive cybersecurity incidents

If desalination sounds new and fancy, the Department of Energy has funding for you for newer and fancier- solar desalination.

Department of Energy announced a funding oipportunity announcement to fund:

• Low cost solar thermal heat;
• Innovative thermal desalination techniques;
• Solar thermal integrated desalination; and
• Solar thermal desalination analysis.

Department Of Energy | Notice of Intent to Issue Solar Desalination

Tennessee created the Tennessee Renewable Energy and Economic Development Council in 2008 with the goal of being neutral on renewable technologies.

So, how is the Switzerland of renewable programs working?

• It has membership of more than 100 city and county mayors and businesses
• Holds free forums throughout the state to educate members on grants and other opportunities available
• If a city swipes right on a renewable presentation, then University of Tennessee provides technical assistance
•  Presenttions are fast tracked with businesses given  15-minute presentation slots
• Its been successful program for small and rural commubnities who do not have the infrastructure to roll out renewable projects

Governing | How Tennessee’s Taken the Politics Out of Renewable Energy

Bill Peacock of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, in The Hill, offers 3 reasons to eliminate renewable energy subsidies:

• Renewables increase costs & decrease reliability.” U.S. Department of Energy report on electricity markets and reliability makes it clear that renewable energy subsidies are contributing significantly to the increasing cost—and the decreasing reliability—of the national electric grid.”
• Energy Poverty. Unless we eliminate renewable energy subsidies we’re living in energy poverty.
  • energy poverty is defined as “a sharply reduced standard of living caused by high energy costs”
• Renewable Subsidies Cost Too Much. 
  • In Texas from 2006-2015 renewable subsidies were $13 Billion.
  • Federal extension of Production Tax Credit in 2014 was $13 billion too.
  • There’s a 3rd cost to traditional sources of energy

Bonus feature: The piece adds in Texas being the only state that has a energy-only market

The Hill | Bill Peacock | Eliminating renewable energy subsidies is key to increasing prosperity

If generation is Lex Luther of  the DOE Grid Study, then transmission is Superman.

• Investments in transmission keep increasing
• There’s a working understanding that a ‘“robust and flexible” system is needed “to accommodate drastic changes in flows and dispatch” from variable renewables and to integrate plug-in electric vehicle and battery technologies.”
• We can learn from regional transmission successes to address interoperability

Utility Dive | Transmission: The unsung hero of the DOE grid reliability study

A review of grid security by Symatec reveals that since 2015 hackers have been trying to gain access to the energy sector.

What new technology targets are hackers after?  the hackers are looking for expanded access to operational systems & are taking screenshots of all systems in use to outline their function

How did hackers gained access through malware and phishing?  employees of 

• power generation
• transmission and
• distribution companies 

were all targeted with phishing attacks and malware from false Adobe updates.

The Hill | Sophisticated hacking campaign has targeted energy sector since 2015

SC Media  | Dragonfly APT group may be prepping to sabotage U.S. power facilities, report warns

The state: Idaho

The energy company: Franklin Energy

What did Frankin Energy want from Idaho’s Utility Regulator? 20 year contracts for 4 energy storage facilities charged by solar power with the capacity of 2.5 MW.

What did Idaho’s energy regulator decide? Contracts, yes, but only for 2 year terms.

Utility Dive | Idaho PUC says storage projects only eligible for 2-year PURPA contract

Hurricane Harvey exposed the need for energy security legislation by:

• highlighting that we must ensure our energy resources are safe, secure and plentiful
• allowing states to leverage federal resources, knowledge, and expertise to build stronger partnerships with public and private stakeholders to guarantee a better energy future

The Hill | Opinion by Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI) | In Harvey’s wake, energy security legislation needed now more than ever

How did retailers open and remain open during Hurricane Harvey? Microgrids.

 How does the microgrid work when normal utility operations are unavailable?

• Natural gas powered
• Provide electrical reliability to supply the energy needs of an entire store when the usual utility power is not available

Business Wire | Enchanted Rock / Texas Microgrid Powers H-E-B Retailer takes steps to ensure stores remain open when utility grid goes down

San Antonio Business Journal | H-E-B considers adding microgrid technology to San Antonio-area stores

The 5 states adding carbon costs to utility planning guidelines in various formats. Here’swaht we know:

• California is working to include carbon costs in its comprehensive energy and climate programs
• Colorado imposed a regulatory requirement that utilities use carbon costs in resource planning
• Minnesota raised its cost of carbon standards
• New York affirmed the carbon costs through its zero-emission credits
• Illinois incorporated carbon costs in a ZEC calculation & it is withstanding court challenge

Utility Dive | Carbon calculus: More states are adding carbon costs to utility planning guidelines

What happened at the Jersey Shore? New Jersey Board of Public Utilities last week launched a stakeholder process to study what happens to electric distribution in the state if the sales of EVs skyrocket

New Jersey Board of Public Utilties President believes policies should be adaptive and flexible.

What we need to know about the report from this stakeholder group?

• 180days and we’ll see a draft report
• the report will specifically include  stakeholder input
• the report will offer recommendations on:
  • potential EV infrastructure policies
  • any tariff revisions
  •  policy updates needed to address EV charging infrastructure

Utility Dive | New Jersey regulators to study impacts of widespread EV adoption

“U.S Energy Dominance Starts in Texas” a report by Texas Oil & Gas Association says that the Port of Corpus Christi is the largest exporter of crude in the U.S. due to:

• Proximity to Eagle Ford and Permian Basin
• New pipelines that feed the Port from infrastructure investments

The levels of sweet crude exports at the Port of Corpus Christi in 2017, 1st Quarter:

• 22 million barrels of crude oil for export
• that’s 30%of crude oil exports in the United States

San Antonio Business Journal | Port Corpus Christi top crude oil exporter in United States

Here’s what TPPF identified in the DOE Grid Security Report:

•  “renewable energy subsidies are contributing significantly to the increasing costs”
• renewable energy is “decreasing reliability of the national electric grid”
• If we want to improve reliability we have to eliminate subsidies

TPPF | TPPF STATEMENT ON THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY’S REPORT ON ELECTRICITY MARKETS AND RELIABILITY

3 Takeaways from DOE Report on Grid Security.

The Department of Energy released its much awaited grid security report.

Highlights from the report:

• renewables do not weaken grid security
• natural gas to be the greatest driver of baseload power plant retirements
• State energy policies are to be respected according to Secretary Perry

DOE | Staff Report to the Secretary on Electricity Markets and Reliability

• The supporters: Rural interests & environmentalists joined forces like the wonder twins 
• Tax Impact: The tax would be approximately $10 per year for the average home or 95 cents per month
• The opposition: water districts
• The bill’s goals: generate $2 billion over the next 15 years to clean up contaminated groundwater and improve faulty water systems and wells

KVCR | Calif. Legislature Considers New Tax To Help Get Rural Communities Safe Drinking Water

Mercury News | First-ever water tax proposed to tackle unsafe drinking water in California

California Senate Bill 623 (2017)

Chesco Township in Pennsylvania is proposing new ordinances that concern the operation pipelines, including:

• Limiting that can travel in the pipe- bn snything heavier than air- no compressed gas within 2500 feet of homes.schools and churches
• Requiring fencing around pipelines
• Requiring comapnies to pay cities any lot tax revenue from poroperty declines due to the pipeline
• City would have input on minimizing the impact on aquifers, private water wells, and building foundations
• Required monitoring systems

Pennsylvania State Impact | Chesco township plan would give municipalities more control over pipelines

Mexico is experimenting with biogas generation from the plentiful cacti.

Why cacti?

• Mexico is the 1st emerging nation to set renewable goals of 50% with the UN
• Mexico renewables are currently at 15.4% of its energy mix
• Producation at one cacti facility will produce 170 cubic meters (45,000 gallons) of biogas plus a little more than one tonne of compost, processing 3 to 5 tonnes of waste a day; and generating  175 kilowatt hours

The Sun Daily | Mexico’s prickly pear cactus: Energy source of the future?

A group of nuns in Pennsylvania own land that the Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline would like to occupy.

The nuns have taken the unusual step of suing the federal government claiming that the interstate natural gas pipeline violates their rights under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

Its a show down between the 5th Amendment (private property rights home) and the 1st amendment (protection of freedom of religious exercise).

Judge Awards Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline Builder Rights to Seize Last 5 Holdout Properties, Including Nun’s Land

DOE | Staff Report to the Secretary on Electricity Markets and Reliability 

The Department of Energy released its much awaited grid security report.

Highlights from the report:

• renewables do not weaken grid security
• natural gas to be the greatest driver of baseload power plant retirements
• State energy policies are to be respected according to Secretary Perry

DOE | Staff Report to the Secretary on Electricity Markets and Reliability

• Mexico has 343 trillion cu ft plus about 6.3 billion barrels of oil in the Bugos Basin, connected to Eagle Ford
• Energy Information Administration estimates Mexico’s total recoverable shale gas resources of 545.2 trillion cu ft
• In July 2017 Mexico announced it is opening the onshore part of the basin to private foreign investments in natural gas exploration
• Burgos Basin currently produces 15% of Mexico’s natural gas production
• Burgos basin production is highly capital intensive and thereby complicated in a high gas glut

Oil Price.com | Can Mexico Replicate The U.S. Shale Boom?

Commissioner Sitton statements concenring Mexico de-regulation:

• Mexico’s demand for US oil and natural gas “has gone up substantially and continues to climb”
• “From a regulator perspective, my job is not to drive business. My job is to make it easy for people to do business. So I say to a guy who wants to build a pipeline, we want to make sure that pipeline is safe.”
• Following up Secetary of State Pablos comments on more afforable electric trade into Mexico spurring manufacturing growth, Sitton commented that he’d like to see work on agreeable standards.

Rivard Report | Texas and Mexico Energy Sectors Strengthening Trade Alliances

The Company utilizing fuel cells: Equinix data centers

The capacity of the fuel cells:  37 MW of capacity under 15-year power purchase agreements

The benefits to businesses of fuel cells:  energy efficiency and financial  

Utility Dive | Bloom claims largest fuel cell data center deployment with Equinix

Kauai Island Utility Cooperative has 2 proposals for rooftop solar that it presented to the Hawaii Public Utility Commission:

• Customer Self-Supply

  • Residents would agree not to export any amount of energy except for “inadvertent” volumes

  • No compensation for any amount of energy export

  • Sets a minimum electric bill

•  Smart Export option

  • compensated only at times when “exported energy has value to the utility

  • compensates customers at a fixed rate between  $0.15/kWh to $0.28/kWh, which is lower than the retail rate, and set a cap for both. 

Background: IN 2015, Hawaii eliminated its net metering system with the goal of replacing the system

Utility Dive | Hawaii electric cooperative proposes new pair of rooftop solar compensation options

Missouri’s Western District Court of Appeals held that all counties along the Grain Belt Express, wind transmission line, must approve the project. Appeal of this ruling has been declined by the state supreme court.

Missouri’s Public Service Commission relied on this ruling  to deny approval until all counties sign off on the plan.

Missouri is the oinly state to withhold approval, and thereby deny the project the power of eminent domain.

St. Louis Post Dispatch | Despite giving vocal support, state regulators again deny Grain Belt Express transmission line, citing court ruling

The automanufacturer: Nissan

How it would work: charging stations will pay EV owners for selling juice back to the power grid

What jargon do I need to know: vehicle-to-grid (V2G) mobile energy storage

The goal of vehicle to grid energy storage: improve grid stability by collecting excess energy from V2G stations and redistributing it to cars or homes 

Autoweek | Will vehicle-to-grid energy storage become a moneymaker for EV owners?NISSAN AND ENEL EXPERIMENT WITH ELECTRIC CARS FOR GRID STORAGE, AHEAD OF MASS EV ADOPTION

Aaron Velasco, the new Texas Railroad Commission seismologist:

• He will share his time between the RRC and TexNet Seismic Monitoring program run by UT Austin’s Bureau of Economic Geology
• He will retain his post as a professor of geological sciences at the University of Texas in El Paso
• B.A. from UCLA and his PhD from University of California at Santa Cruz 
• He has more than 64 peer reviewed publications

Orlando is the 40th city to pledge a shift to 100% renewables.

The target date? 2050. 2030, for city operations.

What’s the hubub? In June 2017, the U.S. Conference of Mayors passed a resolution supporting 100% renewables by 2035

Did the U.S. Conference of Mayors offer local campaign matrials? Yes, yes, they did. Ready for 100 campaign

Utility Dive | Orlando becomes 40th US city to pledge 100% renewable energy

Oklahoma’s recently enacted HB 1449 imposes a $100 fee on an electric vehicle and a $30 fee on a hybrid.

After the bill was signed by the OK Governor, a lawsuit has been filed by the Sierra Club & a Republican candidate for Governor caliming the fee runs afoul with state legal requirements for legislation that raises revenue.

The revenue issue: OK has a $900 M shortfall, a big deal for OK. The EV and hybrid fee is estimated to bring in $1M annually to fund highway construction and maintenance

The energy issue: Is a fee on EV and hybrid vehicles effectively a tax on energy storage?

Bloomberg | Oklahoma’s $100 Electric Car Fee Challenged by Sierra Club

The U.S. Supreme Court this term may decide a case involving the extent to which states can regulate groundwater rights.

The Attorneys General of Nevada, Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, Wisconsin and Wyoming are asking the Supremes to calrify whether the implied federal reserved water rights doctrine preepts state groundwater regulation.

What is this legal mumbo jumbo? Native Americans in California obtained a 9th Circuit ruling that they have priority right to groundwater in the Cochella Valley because federal law preempts. 

las Vegas Review Journal | Nevada attorney general joins coalition to defend water rights

• California Legislature granted cities the ability to shut down polluters quickly
• The power to shut down the worst pollution outputs was given to local air districts
• A local air enforcement officer can issue a temporary abatement while the administrative courts determine the issue when there is “imminent and substantial endangerment to the public health or welfare”
  ​

AB1132 California (2017)

Governing | California Gives Local Officials Power to Quickly Shut Down Polluters

California is experiencing a new EV market- blockchain enabled EV charging. Distributive peer to peer charging.

The system allows for owners of personal EV charges to receive payment from others for their use.

How and when do you regulate the peer to peer sale of EV charging on private property? Is there a tax tied to the transaction? How does the shared EV charger work in a city with parking permit requirements?

Green Tech Media | Blockchain-Enabled Electric Car Charging Comes to California

The Coin Telegraph | California to Offer Blockchain-Linked EV Charging Stations

Fitch Ratings found that Texas utility water facility related debt will continue to rise due to:

• utilities need to invest in diversification of their water supplies
• utilities have aging infrastructure to replace
• Texas population and economy continues to expand

Bond Buyer | Aging Texas water facilities may require more debt 

Fidelity Investments | Aging Texas water facilities may require more debt

A bill that required an industry study on solar distributed energy has triggered study stnadards by the Montana Public Service Commission.

The study will include data that:

• factors that have a direct impact on the utility system and service to customers
• But, will NOT include data associated with the economic impact of jobs from solar installation

Montana House Bill 219 (2017)

Montana Public Service Press Release

Utility Dive | Montana regulators set criteria for NorthWestern’s net metering study

Maine Public Utility Regulators are working to phase out solar incetives for homeowners.

How did Maine get to the point of phasing out solar incentives? The legislature did not pass a bill to continue the solar incentives.

What is the current incentive for residential rooftop solar? excess power is compensated with a credit at the full retail rate of that electricity. Yes, Maine is a net metering state.

What is the Maine PUC proposed rollback? 

•  Grandfather all existing net-meter customers
• Extend grandfathering to any who install solar before Jan. 1, 2018
• Allow the current incentives for grandfathered customers for 15 years
• New customers who install solar over the next 10 years receive a credit on the transmission and distribution portion of the electric bill, which is decreased at a rate of 10% each year
  • That’s confusing what does it means? Rooftop solar installed on 1/2/18 would have a 90% net metering credit for 15 years.

Portland Press Herald | With incentives bill killed, PUC solar rules ready for enactment

Idaho Power is asking state regulators to step away from net metering and to put residences with rooftop solar into a separate rate paying category.

Utility Dive | Idaho Power wants to put rooftop solar customers in separate rate class

Idaho Power’s request for a separate rate structure for rooftop solar

The rapid retirement of power plants contributes to power grid security vulnerabilities for the following reasons:

• rapid retirement of power plants relies on lowest short-term costs & ignores long-term considerations such as the security issues relatef to an overreliance on natural gas;
• when a power plant closes, there are an additional 4 indirect jobs lost, which creates economic insecurity; and
• baseload power plants have the highest forms of power plant security and resilliency.

Jim Hunter, the former director of the IBEW Utility Department | Charleston Gazette Mail | Jim Hunter: Rapid retirement of power plants endangers grid security

CA, MA, OR and NY are the 4 states that have energy storage procurement targets.

Establishing as energy storage procurement targets on the state level will:

• Generate more procurement as seen in California which saw procurements exceed target levels
• Lead to time-varying electricity rates that can demonstrate the value of storage
•  energy storage is realized through acurate market signals such as locational pricing and crafting rates that signal the best time to leverage storage capabilities

Utility Dive | Energy storage group outlines ways for states to promote the technology

The world’s first floating wind famr is being deployed off the coast of Scotland. 

How do floating wind turbines differ from current water based wind turbines?

• Current water based wind turbines operate in depths up to 40m
• Floating wind turbines can operate in depts of 100 m to 700m, perhaps more
• The five floating turbines will power 20,000 homes

The Guardian | World’s first floating windfarm to take shape off coast of Scotland

California floods have come and gone, but the clean up and prevention has not. To expedite flood control projects, a California legislator is proposing an expedited permitting process in 4 insgtances:

•  Reducing Down Stream Risk. Oroville Dam and work to reduce the downstream flood risk. Workers already are racing to rebuild the dam’s gutted spillway.
•  Where Tragic & Costly Events Have Occurred. Projects in flood-risk watersheds that have experienced flooding within the last 10 years that caused more than $50 million in damage.
• Near earthquakes. Dams at risk from earthquakes. Some of those dams are near major population centers.
• The Worst of the Worst. Dams that are in serious disrepair and slated to be replaced.
• Locations of national economic importance. High-risk tidal flood zones of “national economic importance.” A combination of high tides and major storms threatens Silicon Valley.

These expeidted permit criteria aren’t limited in use to floods when drafting.

Sacramento Bee | Oroville, other flood-safety projects would be fast-tracked under new bill

Do you support “elected officials work[ing] to prevent and limit the use of eminent domain to take property rights from private landowners for use in oil and gas pipelines?”

That’s the question Whatcom County Council in Washington State wants to ask its residents in November.

KAFE 104.1 | Private property won’t get extra protection from eminent domain

What you need to know about the new study:

• nonpartisan report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine
• Congress asked for the study

3 key points for policy makers and utilities:

• researchers call for $$$$ to invest into the security of the “physical resources to ensure that critical electric infrastructure”
• greater integration so to limit the economic impacts of a large scale blackout
• agencies should oversee the relaibility of backup power sources

Utility Dive | National Academies report finds grid vulnerable to cyber, physical attacks

• access the capacity in the estimated 6,000 miles of natural gas pipelines
• current demand exceeds available capacity
• high interest in cross-border interconnections with flows from southern Texas to Mexico on both private and CENAGAS-operated transmission pipelines
• Mexican shale is in the top 10 in the world in technically recoverable reserves

UPI | Mexico opens gas infrastructure capacity to bidders

Grand Rapids Michigan is creating a renewable energy district that will:

• be a public private partnership between Consumers Energy, Rockford Construction & the city
• connect solar panels on new roofs with a battery project at a cell tower site
• support 4 policy goals of Grand Rapids:
  • lower energy bills
  • provide electric vehicle charging
  • test renewable technologies
  • provide for improved communications bandwidth

Utility Dive | Consumers Energy announces first solar+storage project for Michigan city

A german Battery Storage company, Sonnen, has signed an agreement with an Arizona home builder to include battery storage in all its new construction.

2 Ways the partenrship will help Arizonans meet energy goals:

• it will mitigate the evening ramping problems that occur when midday solar output declines as evening demand rises
• provides backup power for home owners at times of power outages

Utility Dive | Sonnen inks deal to install batteries in new Arizona homes

The eminent domain case involving Denbury’s pipeline through land owned by Texas Rice Partners is before the Texas Supreme Court for the 3rd time.

Will the 3rd time be a charm for closure?

What has these two kids back before the the Texas Supremes?

• In 2016 the Texas Supreme Court sent the case back to Jefferson County
• On July 12, 2017 a Jefferson County judge denied Denbury access to an easement at issue
  • Its like not letting an ex-wife back into the marital home after divorce to pick up her Persian kitty
• Why was Denbury denied access? Because it enjoined TX Rice Partners from access funds from the acquisition of the property

What could this mean for future eminent domain bills? Clarification of whether a condemining entity lawfully takes possession when a court enjoins access to the compensation

SE Texas Record | Eminent domain fight between Denbury Green Pipeline and rice farmers now before Texas SC

California’s SB 700 passed the Senate and died in the House. 

• SB 700 created a 10 year residential energy storage rebate
• SB 700 would have funded $1.4 billion in rebates & would have been funded through fees charged to customers by electric utilities to establish the Energy Storage Initiative
• SB 700 ensured the program would be financed it through 2027

The policy goal of SB 700:

•  “reduce the cost of energy storage systems so the average ratepayer could pair this technology with rooftop solar arrays”

Utility Dive | California Assembly pulls residential storage rebate bill off agenda, delaying it until 2018

The Great North: Oklahoma

The agency implementing emergency long lateral drilling rules: Oklahoma Corporation Commission

What triggered emergency rules? Senate Bill 867, the Extended Horizontal Well Development Act

What the emergency rules will do:

• Allow for long lateral drilling up to 1 mile
• 1 mile lateral drilling is limited to non-shale formations

What’s unclear on what the rules will address:

• how vertical producers can participate in horizontal drilling development in large spacing units where they already had an interest and the impact to existing pooling orders.

News OK | Oklahoma Corporation Commission studies emergency rules for long-lateral drilling law

The last week of June, the North Carolina legislature enacted House Bill 589, to amend integration of renewable energy integration and distributed resources access.   It’s a mouth full.

HB 589  was a 9 month stakeholder negotiation that  some say was upended by a  floor amendment calling for a 4 year moratorium on wind to protect military installations.

Here’s the framework of what passed:

• 18 month wind energy moratorium for new wind permits
• Increases solar capacity to 6,800 MW by 2022
• Ratepayers save $849 million over 10 years
• Solar reforms in PURPA & implementing a new competitive procurement

NC Sustainable Energy Association statement on HB589

Utility Dive | North Carolina wind moratorium threatens hard-won solar compromise

Property rights advocates are challenging an Idaho law requiring forced integration of oil and gas rights.

What does Idaho’s law say?   Owners with at least 55 % of the mineral rights in an area agree to lease, the remaining minority can be forced to take part.

Could this have broad impact? Ultimately yes, as the challenge is in federal court alleging a violation of the US Constitution

AP via The State  | Lawsuit: Idaho oil and gas rules violate landowner rights

The business:  Apex-CAES

2 Steps to Underground Wind Energy Storage:

• Apex-CAES will use electricity at night to compress air into an underground cavern.
• Later, the air is released through turbines to generate electricity when the price is right.

Company purports these goals from underground wind storage:

• reduce reliance on coal power
• lower energy costs for Texans

Compressed air v. battery storage, according to compressed air storage:

• lower cost for wind storage
• wind storage allows for charging and discharging at the same time, unlike a battery

Houston Chronicle | Houston startup plans to store wind energy underground

The FBI and Homeland Security are issuing an urgent amber warning to utility companies.

Good news:

• Hackers have targeted administrative and business portion of utilities networks.
• Nuclear reactors are disconnected from the internet

Bad news: 

• Hackers could be preparing for more by testing hacks of administrative functions
• 60% of information security professionals believe that a successful cyberattack on U.S. critical infrastructure will take place within the next 2 years

SC Media | Reports: Feds issue alert after adversary breaches power plant business networks

Philadelphia has a solution to making water rates more accessible: charge people based on how much income they have.

What income standard will Philadelphia use to set a lower water rates? Lower water rates will apply for people who are  at or below 150% of the federal poverty line

What will the lower water rate be? Philadephians at or below 150% of the federal poverty line will pay 2-4% of their come, which could translate to as low as $12/mo

Governing | The Cost of Water Is Rising. Philadelphia Has an Unprecedented Plan to Make It More Affordable.

New York became the latest state to pass energy storage legislation in the form of S 5190 and AB 6571, and it is expected that regulators will impose a mandate.

The other states that have enacted energy storage legislation: 

California

Oregon

Maryland

Nevada

Massachusetts

Utility Dive | New York expected to set high bar for energy storage after target bill passage

New Hampshire’s PUC adopted temporary net metering rules that would:

• monthly credits to small solar customers equal to 100% of the value of energy and transmission service
• credits include a 25% of distribution service for excess generation sent back to the grid

New Hampshire has set a goal to find common ground and will revise the net metering rules after results from a study on distributed energy resource valuation.

Utility DIve | New Hampshire Regulators Approve New Net Metering Tariffs

Energy Secretary Rick Perry made the following 3 points about his agency’s grid reliability study:

• roll back prioritization of renewables to protect the grid
• grid reliability and economic stability are tied together
• “These politically driven policies, driven primarily by a hostility to coal, threatened the reliability and the stability of the greatest electrical grid in the world,”

The Hill | Perry defends energy grid study

To whom is the right attributing these statements that renewables harm grid security? 3 people

• Steve Holliday, the the former chairman of the U.K.’s national grid
• Frederic Bret-Mounet, a cyber-security expert who hacked his own solar panel
• A 2016 Manhattan Institute study

​What did the former chair of the UK Grid allegedly say? Renewables are decentralized and web connected making them vulnerable to cyber threats

Libertarian Republic | Experts Say Green Energy Made Cyber-Attacks On Power Grid Much Easier

Daily Caller | Experts Say Green Energy Made Cyber Attacks On Power Grid Much Easier

State: North Carolina

5G Legislation: House Bill 310 (2017) 

North Carolina’s HB 310  allows 5G facilities to be placed on telephone poles. Opponents say this triggers eminent domain for 3 reasons:

• home owners & businesses can’t object to 5G placement + any resulting health hazards
• allows for cell towers in front yards with no mechanism for objection
• tramples over muncipal rights to control utility placement

North Carolina’s Herald Sun | Opponents op-Ed | Bill would turn North Carolina’s neighborhood utility poles into cell towers – Clair Viadro

Initiative & Referendum  in small cities in California seeks to stop sanctuary city policies by repealing the city’s utility user tax. In small cities this amounts to $1 million + in revenue for cities as small as 24,000.

The initiative and referendum is being pushed until the targeted cities repeal their sanctuary city policies.

Sacramento Bee | He’s out to make sanctuary cities pay – and he only needs 62 signatures to get started

An interview with John Carrington of Stem, a commercial-scale intelligent energy storage company says this is the #1 thing to drive down energy costs from energy storage:

long-term policy certainty that sets “larger, longer policies that create a Texas market big enough to drive down costs for both standalone and solar-storage systems”

Stem and hte CIty of Austin have a “partnership to test new customer offerings that result in sustainable aggregation models.”

Renewable Energy Magazine  | Energy Storage in Texas: An interview with John Carrington of Stem

Santa Clara, California has installed EV charging stations:

• Located at major event parking facilities, such as stadiums, convention centers and theme parks
• Including a 6 story parking structure has 49 charging stations, including 1 DC Fast Charger
• The 6-story garage features a 370-kilowatt photovoltaic installation & uses battery technology

Santa Clara Convention & Visitors Bureau | Santa Clara Event Parking Includes Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Stations

The California Public Utility Commission has ruled to permit:

•  small utilties to 
• unify multiple meters under one bill for the purposes of net metering
• 5 years ago California’s Senate Bill 594 allowed for aggregated net metering for the state’s 3 largest investor owned utilties, this levels the playing field

The agency also found that aggregated net-metered bills do not raise costs for non-net metered customers.

The data the agency utilitized:

•  59% the state’s net-metering capacity is from net-metered (NEM) solar non-residential generators
• This 59% only account for just 9% of the total cost 
• The current net metering cap of 5% remains in tact

Utility Dive | California will allow small utilities to aggregate bills for net metering

PV Magazine | Small utilities score huge victory in California aggregate net metering case

Nevada Governor Sandoval  (R) vetoed SB 392 due to:

• the uncertainty in an evolving energy market
• SB 392 conflicted with a bill that the Governor signed  to raise credits for rooftop solar customers under a structure known as net metering

Las Vegas Sun | Sandoval vetoes community solar, higher clean-energy standard

Utility Dive | Nevada governor vetoes popular RPS, community solar bills

HB 1166  By : Stephenson Relating to liability of certain electric utilities that allow certain uses of land that the electric utility owns, occupies, or leases.
 

The veto statement makes these assertions:

• HB 931 was signed & it does statewide what HB 1166 does for just 1 county.
• If HB1166 was signed  it would have been legally confusing.

HB 1284  By : Thompson, Senfronia  Relating to the licensing and regulation of a journeyman lineman.

The veto statement makes this point:

• Been there, done that. Vetoed in 2015. Vetoed in 2017.

The 2017 vetoes on water related bills:

HB 2377  By  Larson | et al. Relating to the development of brackish groundwater.

HB 2378  By Larson Relating to extensions of an expired permit for the transfer of groundwater from a groundwater conservation district.

 HB 2798  By Farrar Relating to the authority of a county to implement a pilot program to reuse wastewater at county facilities.

HB 2943  By Larson  Relating to the use of money in the state water pollution control revolving fund.

HB 3025  By: King, Tracy O. | et al. Relating to open, uncovered, abandoned, or deteriorated wells.

HB 3987  By: Larson | et al. Relating to the authority of the Texas Water Development Board to use the state participation account of the water development fund to provide financial assistance for the development of certain facilities.

HB 4310  By: Isaac Relating to the temporary board of and financing of certain facilities and improvements by the LaSalle Municipal Utility District No. 1; providing authority to impose an assessment.
 

HB 4311 By : Isaac Relating to the temporary board of and financing of certain facilities and improvements by the LaSalle Municipal Utility District No. 2; providing authority to impose an assessment.

HB 4312 By: Isaac Relating to the temporary board of and financing of certain facilities and improvements by the LaSalle Municipal Utility District No. 3; providing authority to impose an assessment.
 

HB 4313 By : Isaac Relating to the temporary board of and financing of certain facilities and improvements by the LaSalle Municipal Utility District No. 4; providing authority to impose an assessment.

 HB 4314  By: Isaac Relating to the temporary board of and financing of certain facilities and improvements by the LaSalle Municipal Utility District No. 5; providing authority to impose an assessment.

SB 1525  By: Perry Relating to studies by the Texas Water Development Board of water needs and availability in this state.

• US shale boom
• Mexico’s slumping oil output (down by more than 1m barrels a day in a decade)
• Mexico’s energy deregulation in 2014

The biggest boon: hydrocarbons

• Hyrocarbons from  American refineries are 1/2 of Mexico’s domestic consumption
• In May 2017, Tesoro, a Texan refiner,  became the 1st non-Mexico firm to move imported petroleum products through Pemex’s own tanks and pipelines.

The Economist | American energy firms are enjoying a bonanza south of the border