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

The bill:  Securing Energy Infrastructure Act 

The author: Angus King (I-ME)

What the bill does: 

• 2-year pilot program within the National Laboratories 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.

• Require the establishment of a working group to evaluate the technology solutions proposed by the National Laboratories and to develop a national cyber-informed strategy to isolate the energy grid from attacks. Members of the working group would include federal government agencies, the energy industry, a state or regional energy agency, the National Laboratories, and other groups with relevant experience.

• Require 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 groups’ evaluation.

• Define “covered entities” under the bill as segments of the energy sector that have already been designated as entities where a cyber-security incident could result in catastrophic regional or national effects on public health or safety, economic security, or national security.

The Hill | ‘Crash Override’ malware heightens fears for US electric grid

S.79 115th Congress (2017)

Angus King | King Legislation to Protect America’s Energy Infrastructure from Cyber-Attacks Gains Momentum

Michigan’s Attorney General charged Michigan’s Health and Human Services Director with the following 2 felonies:

• involuntary manslaughter
• misconduct in office for “for allegedly instructing his staff to stop an analysis that would have helped to determine the cause of the outbreak”

Michigan’s Attorney General also charged Michigan’s chief medical executive with 2 crimes:

• obstruction of justice by “threatening to withhold funding for a study into the outbreak”
• lying to a police officer

In total, 15 current or former state or city officials have been charged.

The Hill | Michigan health director charged with involuntary manslaughter

A Fuel Fix article, Texas lack of statewide metering policy slows adoption of rooftop solar, that examines the adoption of solar in El Paso makes these popints about Texas solar energy policy:

• non-competitive electric providers in Texas are competing with their own customers who produce solar energy
• Statewide metering policy would 
  • improve adoption of solar energy in Texas
  • restore the differences in competitive and noncomeptitive electric markets

The Dallas Morning News Editorial, The best reason Texas needs a business plan for clean energy: It worked before, makes the following key points for its argument:

• It worked in the 1990s when the state “pulled together experts from industry, government, universities, and consumer and environmental groups, and they created a strategic planto clean up the air and boost the economy”
• Texas has vast renewable energy potential
• Texas renewable energy potential is available economic capital, use it

90% of Pecos County property tax revenues are based on oil and gas industry.

During the oil bust, property tax revenues in Pecos County declined, but are being filled by wind and solar energy projects. Such as:

•  100 megawatt solar project should be $30 million property tax revenue/year
•  Solar Energy Industries Association estiamtes utility size solar projects in Texas will double in 2017

Houston Chronicle | Big solar projects potential boon for rural areas

Grid Security Consortium: Illinois’ Cyber Resilient Energy Delivery Consortium 

• universities
• national labs
• private industry

Goals of the Cyber Resilient Energy Delivery Consortium:

• bolster the security and reliability of a power grid
• build public trust in the system

Is there a state agency connection between the Consortium and the State of Illinois? Yes, the Illinois Commerce Commission created the Office of Cybersecurity and Risk Management

How is the Consortium funded?

• $22.5 million in Department Of Energy  funding
• $5.6 million in recipient cost-sharing

Midwest Energy News | Illinois partnership looks to build trust in grid through cybersecurity research 

Investor owned utilities have  13 community solar programs representing 91 MW of capacity.

Municipal power has  22 programs with a combined 29 MW capacity.

Electric cooperatives have 63 programs with a 43 MW capacity.

National Renewable Energy Labortatory makes these predictions about community solar by 2020 2ill:

• be between 32% to 49% of the overall distributed PV market
• represent between $8.2 billion and $16.3 billion in cumulative investment

Utility Dive | What makes a successful utility-led community solar program?

North Carolina Legislature is moving a solar reform bill, House Bill 589, that will:

• changes how PURPA is enforced in North Carolina
• sets up a system of competitive bids for new solar construction
• designed to give utilities more say in where and when projects will be built
•  requires rebates to customers who install rooftop solar on their homes and businesses

Charlotte Business Journal | Solar reform bill moves to the N.C. Senate

Why are pipelines seen as the referendum issue in the campaign for Virginia’s next Governor?

• pipeline projects unite disparate groups. several recent pipeline projects have spurred action by activists on all sides:
  • envrionmentalists
  • wildlife groups
  • private property rights groups
• election timing. its one of the first governor races since the 2016 presidential election
• jobs there’s conflicting feelings as to whether pipelines bring more jobs, or for the tourist areas where the pipelines will traverse cause a loss of tourism jobs.

The Franklin News Post | Virginia governor’s race ‘a referendum on pipelines’

Kansas City Power & Light operates in both Kansas and Missouri. How each of the states has regulated its thermostat DSM project shows the different regulatory models:

Kansas regulators are in the process of review:

• modest program
• regualtors are focused on a lengthy debate over how the program’s benefits are calculated
• KCPL is trying to bring the Missouri regulatory structure that allows for the capitlization of both kW and kWh energy efficiency value

Missouri regulatory framework allows for:

• the program is going swimmingly
• offering hefty customer rebates
• innovative regulatory model that allowed for the program to be rolled out under the Missouri Energy Efficiency Investment Act (MEEIA) which allowed the utility to recover its investment by accounting for multiple value streams beginning in 2014
• Missouri’s structure “allows them to capitalize on both the kW — the capacity value delivered through the Nest thermostat — as well as the kWh energy efficiency value,”

Utility Dive | KCP&L thermostat program shows how regulatory design can make or break DSM

Hawaii’s HB 1593 will:

• reduce oversight in order to speed the loan process for energy storage
• sets up a 2 year rebate program to incentivize energy storage that is installed concurrently with solar panels
• potentially increases internal rates of return between 110 basis points and 140 basis points
• could incentivize between 75 MWh and 300 MWh of storage in Hawaii

Utility Dive | Maryland, Hawaii turn to storage incentives as state markets gain momentum

Where is this happening? Pennsylvania

What’s the legislation in Pennsylvania? HB 1412

What does PA’s HB 1412 do?

• Pilot program allowing utilities to earn a rate of return on the cost of constructing microgrids
  • Utlities would be able to propose, develop & profit from microgrids and energy storage
• Allow for wholesale participation in markets with the benefits accruing to customers
• Within 5 years, the PA’s PUC has to issue a report answering this question:
  • Whether there are “circumstances under which the ownership, development and deployment of energy storage and microgrids by electric distribution companies may be in the public interest.”
  • The issuance of the report triggers a 2 year rule making period.

Utility Dive | Pennsylvania bill would allow utilities to earn returns on microgrids, storage

5 States are home to pending proposals by utilities to employenergy storage solutions:

• Texas
• Maine
• Massachusetts
• North Carolina
• Utah

NC Clean Energy | 50 States of Grid Modernization

• One Cypress Energy has a deal to use its Port of Brownsville terminal to supply gasoline, diesel and other refined products to customers in Reynosa and Matamoros.
• Howard Energy partners is building 2 pipelines linking the Eagle Ford Shale  to Monterrey
• Valero Energy Corp is investing $200 million to build 3 storage terminals for refined products in northeastern Mexico

San Antonio Business Journal | San Antonio companies landing lucrative energy deals in Mexico

Rep. Landgraf touts Texas newly passed grant program for local governmental entities purchaseing natural gas powered vehicles by saying:

• helps create jobs in the Permian Basin
• allows Texas Emissions Reductions Program funds to be used to convert state fleets to natural gas vehicles
• supports  increased natural gas production in Texas
• good for the economy- no new taxes or fees under this bill

Odessa American | Landgraf touts Texas Fuels bill

Background: Ohio is looking for way to protect its nuclear generation. To protect the nuclear plant, Ohio is considering a fee for utility customers. 

Since a fee to subsidize nuclear is a hard sell, the author is proposing a familiar amendment: A one time opt-out option for all customers.

Why is this a familiar amendment? Ohio tacked on a similar opt-out provision for a renewable bill 

WKSU | Ohio Lawmaker Floats the Idea of a Customer Opt-Out of FirstEnergy’s Proposed Nuclear Subsidies

The Court: Texas Supreme Court

What’s the issue: Whether trespass occurs  on Land B when a Mineral Owner drills horizontally from its landA, through Land B owned by another, to its landC. 

Is it the mineral owner of LandB or the surface owner of Land C that gets to negotiate this? The surface owner. The mineral owner does not “possess the specific place or space where the minerals are located” 

The decision: No trespass

Lightening Oil Company v. Anadarko E& P Offshore LLP  NO. 15-0910 

• 11 cross border transmission lines from US to Mexico
• Mexico wants to expand beyond 11
• 2 Successful examples
  •  A combined cycle plant in Mission, Texas. It sends 100 percent of the electricity it generates to Mexico
  • A wind-generated electricity for the California grid is being imported from Baja California
• 1000+ American jobs will be rooted in Mexico-US cross border transmission

Fronteras | Mexico Energy Reform Spurs Larger Scale Cross-Border Electricity Transmission

State:  Missouri

The economic development goal: 

• return jobs
• help a region of the state that’s suffered economically since a major aluminum smelter closed last year

What lure do the companies need to move into the economically repressed area of Missouri?

• a cheaper electric rate with a longer contract than is allowed under current law

What’s the opposition say? Doing this would allow electric companies to raise rates on residential customers

AP | Missouri Lawmakers Power up for Electric Special Session

State: Ohio

The legislative protection of coal generation plants: subsidies to ensure the plants operate even when it costs more to operate than price of electricity

How long will the subsidy be in effect: As long as the coal plants are operational

Is this the first time Ohio has subsidized coal plants? No, this bill assists 2 plants owned by Ohio Valley Electric Corp. Existing subsidies are in place for coal plants owned by American Electric Power & FirstEnergy

Did any policy issues bubble up during this process? yes, legislators explained that the subsidies were not re-regulation of the deregulated market

Columbus Dispatch | Bill in Ohio House would permanently subsidize 2 coal-fired power plants

According to E&E News, Cyber raises threat against America’s energy backbone, there are no requirements to disclosure a cyber threat unless 1 of 2 other laws are triggered:

• if the hack triggers safety or environmental rules

What disclosure did the Houston company make? Enterprise Products Partners LP, based in Houston, warned investors that there is a possibility that “one or more facilities or electronic systems that we own or that deliver products to us” could be damaged by a cyberattack, severe weather or other disruption.

Nevada Governor Sandoval (R) has before him the following package of energy sotrage bills:

• Senate Bill 204 directs state regulators to consider requiring utilities to purchase energy storage in the next couple of years’=

• Senate Bill 145 establishes an incentive program for energy storage within the state’s solar program. It would also create incentives for the development of electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

• Assembly Bill 223 directs utilities to develop efficiency and conservation plans, with at least 5% dedicated to low-income customers. 

• Senate Bill 314 makes changes to the siting of wind turbines to ensure uniformity of standards.

  Utility Dive | Nevada lawmakers pass bills for storage incentives, possible mandate

Renewables are pushing back against a Department of Energy grid study because:

• the study is built on a false premise that renewables are responsible for the retirement of coal and nuclear plants that, threby putting grid reliability at risk
• the study should include public comment with more energy industry input
• operators of renewables are effectively integrating renewable power onto the grid and changes to baseload power are driven by challenges from low-priced natural gas, which has made coal and nuclear plants less competitive

Which renewable energy groups have signed onto this position?

• American Council on Renewable Energy
• American Wind Energy Association
• Solar Energy Industries Association
• Advanced Energy Economy

The Hill | Renewable groups push back on Energy Department electric grid study

Mexico’s energy agency has an American fostering relationships with electric providers in the US: Chicago-born Jeff Pavlovic is managing director of Electric Industry Coordination at SENER — Mexico’s energy secretariat.

3 Cross Border Elecricity Projects highlighted:

• Frontera combined cycle plant in Mission, Texas
• San Diego-based Sempra Energy is bringing in wind-generated electricity for the California grid from Baja California
• Starting to build a stronger interconnection between Nogales, Sonora and Nogales, Arizona

“If Texas gives us electricity more cheaply, I would buy it,” said Mexico City resident Jose Aviña in Spanish.

Fronteras | Mexico Energy Reform Spurs Larger Scale Cross-Border Electricity Transmission

University: California State University

Battery storage sought: software-driven energy storage services  a 1 MW / 4.2 MWh system to be housed on campus in Carson

Will there be integration? Yes, in coordination with battery storage in a Los Angeles campus,  there will be a total of 2 MW / 6.2 MWh &  will eventually be paired with solar generation

Electric Light and Power | Stem to install energy storage system at CSU Dominguez Hills

City: San Jose adopted community choice aggregation (CCA), giving its residents more options than PG&E

The caveats on community choice in San Jose:

• San Jose Clean Energy must  provide at least one option with 10% more renewable energy than PG&E’s power mix
• San Jose Clean Energy must offer a 100% greenhouse gas-free option.
• After multiple notifications, Residents will be auto-enrolled in San Jose Clean Energy but can opt back into PG&E

By 2020s, California’s retail load will contain:

• 85% of retail load could be supplied through CCAs, rooftop solar and direct access providers.

Mercury News | San Jose City Council approves new community choice energy plan, the largest in California

3 Ways to improve oil and gas industry data at the Railroad Commission:

• Fully Fund the Railroad Commission
• Improve the accessibility and clarity of RRC data
• Fully staff and update archaic data storage and management systems

Why do researchers want access to better data?  To better understand the efficiency of the oil and gas industry

TribTalk | Kate Willyard, Texas A&M Student | The need for better Texas oil and gas industry regulatory data

The Utility: Vermont’s Green Mountain Power

What battery is Green Mountain Power installing? 

• Tesla’s industrial Powerpacks are being installed on utility land
• Tesla’s home Powerwall 2s are being installed for up to 2,000 customers

How are the powerpacks and walls being used? For large-scale “grid-smoothing” installation including:

• to back up the grid instead of charging up diesel plants
• the powerpacks and powerwalls are rechaged at night when power usage is low

How did the idea start? During a power outage affecting 15,000, 3 customers with power walls never lost power.

Engadget | US utility offers clients cheap Tesla batteries for grid backup

Attorney General Opinion KP-0148 tells us:

• New school buildings are commercial buildings.
• Commercial buildings fall under subsection 388.003(b) of the Health and Safety Code 
•  subsection 388.003(b) of the Health and Safety Code requires that the International Energey Conservation Code is  the energy code for use in this state for all other residential, commercial, and industrial construction.

​Why is this important right now? The opinion requestor points out that legislative intent  was that the International Energy Conservation Code was to only apply to residential construction.

State: Oklahoma

The legislative trend to curb protestors at critical infrastructure: levy steep fines or prison time against people convicted of trespassing at a critical infrastructure facility to impede operations. That includes pipelines, refineries, chemical plants, railways and other industrial sites.

penalties: Range from $1000 with possibly 1 year in jail to $100,000 and possibly 10 years in jail.

Governing | New Oklahoma Law Could Mean Heavy Fines, Jail Time for Pipeline Protesters

The Court Ruling in March:  A  unanimously declared that neither sportsmen nor landowners had a superior right when non-meandered waters move over private land

the state:  South Dakota

What did the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Commission do after the March court ruling? Closed public access to some, or all, of 25 lakes and sloughs

What does nonmeandered water mean?  “Non-meandered is a legal reference to impermanent water bodies that government survey crews in the late 1800s declined to designate as permanent water bodies in what was Dakota Territory”

The legislative fixes:

• Authorizing the game commission to decide regulations for specific bodies of water
• Limiting landowner liability
• Authorizing game commission staff to negotiate with individual landowners.

Capital Journal | Legislators hint at June special session on non-meandered water

Which entities filed the white paper at the Texas PUC?  Calpine & NRG

What are Calpine & NRG seeking? changes to the pricing and settlement rules in the power market administered by ERCOT 

What Texas based facts does the White Paper rely on? “noticeable decline in energy prices since 2014″ due to low natural gas prices and higher penetration of subsidized wind”

• natural gas prices are at the lowest level in 15 years

Why are NRG and CALPINE seeking a change in pricing and settlement rules? Texas Generators profit is seen in scarcity events.

Outgoing PUC Chair Nelson spoke publicly about the decrease in scarcity wind due to subsidized wind 

Utility Dive | NRG, Calpine propose market fixes to avoid ‘subversion’ of ERCOT model

Why is this gaining attention? A fatal explosion in a flow line near a Colorado neighborhood

How are flow lines regulated?

• Generally most states may only regulate digging, backfilling, leaks, and spills
• Only California regulates the pressure of these lines & requires submission of detailed maps of small oil and gas pipelines in populated areas
• Pennsylvania has pressure-testing rules for “well development pipelines” that carry frack water to sites, but not for  gathering pipelines 

What information are some saying Colorado regulators should have about these lines?

• Where most flow lines are located
• The location of flow lines in areas with intense home development

E&E News | Most states don’t regulate lines linked to Colo. explosion

Mexico is continuing the process of deregulating its energy market.

The next round of reforms will focus on:

•  oil and gas production deregulation
• reforms will be a five-year plan
• reforms will open up 509 exploration and production blocks and 82 production fields both offshore and onshore

Houston Chronicle | Mexico moving ahead with energy market reforms, official says

Add Ohio to the list of states permitting drilling on state park lands.

Has the issue been defeated by the legislature previously?  Yes, during 2015 the bill was defeated.

How did Ohio legalize drilling on state park lands? By providing for state park land drilling in the state budget.

Cleveland.com | Ohio budget bill could force parks to allow oil and gas drilling

The Texas Supreme Court ruling in Sabine Oil & Gas Corp., v. El Rucio Land and Cattle Co. Inc. et al., case number 14-0979 has this implication for the railroad commission:

• The Railroad Commission does not have exclusive jurisdiction over contamination and remediation.

What is the statutory linguistic issue in the powers granted to the Railroad Commission?

• exclusive jurisdiction is not granted to the agency with terms like “​sole authority” & “solely responsible”

What’s the background? A landowner claims radioactive contamination on his land. The land owner was awarded $22.7 million in arbitration & that was confirmed by a lower court.

What 3 points did the Texas Supreme Court make?

•  Texas Railroad Commission can only decide nonjudicial issues
• RRC doesn’t have exclusive jurisdiction over the claims of landowner
• The $22.7 million award and judgment should not be vacated.

Law 360 | Texas Justices Say RRC Lacks Sole Claim To Sabine Fight

A hypothetical hack triggering a blackout in North America that is estimated to leave 93 million people without power  could cost anywhere from $21 billion to $71 billion in damages.

Harvard Business Review | Smart Cities Are Going to Be a Security Nightmare

The Opposition: The American Petroleum Institute (API) is opposing subsidies to nuclear power plants. 

The States considering new nuclear subsidies:  Pennsylvania & Ohio

The States that have created nuclear subsidies:  New York & Illinois

Arguments supporting nuclear power subsidies:

• nuclear power provides high-paying jobs in rural areas
• helps combat air pollution and climate change because they produce emission-free electricity. 

Wall Street Journal | Oil-Gas Lobby Opposes State Subsidies for Nuclear Power Producers

State: North Carolina

What mandate deos North Carolina want to eliminate? renewable energy portfolio standard

Why eliminate the renewable energy portfolio standard? it has cost the state more than estimated, including:

• $1.6 billion in tax credits to renewable energy in the last 7 years
• Plus, increased energy prices

Who opposes the bill? North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association

What are the opponent arguments? saved customers $162 million

What language would replace the  renewable mandate ? that energy will be procured “in a manner that is consistent with the development of the least cost mix of generation.””

North Carolina HB 745 (2017)

State: South Carolina

What triggered a bill to reign in power plant costs?  A nuclear power plant with cost overruns of billions and years behind schedule

The Legislation: South Carolina’s H 4022 (2017)

How does South Carolina try to tighten power plant costs?

• Gives an oversight agency, like OPUC,  more powers to “petition the Public Service Commission for orders modifying returns on equity to be applied to future rates,” along with other measures meant to protect consumers
• Requires utilities to prove rate increases are necessary

What are supporters saying? Its not drastic, ” its re-balancing”

Utility Dive | As Summer bills soar, South Carolina mulls bill for tighter rules on power plant costs

State: California

The Energy Storage Bill: SB 700 (2017)

What does California’s SB 700 do for the installation of energy storage systems?

• require utilities to collect funds from ratepayers to establish an Energy Storage Initiative
• The Energy Storage Initiative would worl in tandem with California’s existing Self Generation Incentive Program and the California Solar Initiative
• Funding will run through 2027
• 25% of the funds will go to low income communities and to job training

The goal of SB 700:  incentivize the adoption of solar-plus-storage systems

Utility Dive | California Senate committee clears bill for new energy storage rebate program

The Researchers identified a grid vulnerability:  that hackers could shut down parts of an electric grid.

The vulnerability would have allowed  “attackers to gain remote control of GE protection relays, enabling them to “disconnect sectors of the power grid at will.”

The issue is being addressed with software patches.

Reuters | GE fixing bug in software after warning about power grid hacks

Chapter 313 helps the energy industry by:

• It is the state’s single most important economic development program that allows Texas to compete for many new industrial and energy-related projects
• its transparent process that requires reporting and progress monitoring with the reports open to the public
• It is the catalyst for development of wind energy capacity in Texas

Chapter 313 projects by the numbers:

• 311: total number of 313 agreements signed through 2015
• $146 Billion: lifetime investment of 313 agreements
• $80 billion in investment has been brought to the state
• 50,000 jobs have been created
•  $2 billion in personal income has been added

The bills impacting Chapter 313 agreements:

•  Senate Bills 1026 & 1027, creating barriers to renewable generators being able to access the law’s incentives
• House Bill 445 and S.B. 277, which are directed specifically at wind facilities located near military facilities
• S.B. 600, which would eliminate the tax altogether

Daily Energy Insider | Chapter 313 in Texas puts energy fight in the school yard

The legislation: SB 1392 , a committee substitute to SB 1392 

Senator Perry on his SB 1392:  All the districts should join hands and sing.    “We’ve got all these little micro-managers running around on the same aquifer, that performs the same way, the same geology, recharges the same, uses the same, and we got different sets of rules,”- Sen. Perry

The groundwater district opposition believes this bill will lead to:

• loss of local control
• loss of private property rights
• more control for urban areas
• water exportation

Houston Public Media | Groundwater Districts Fear Loss of Local Control With Proposed Changes

How much access does a condemning entity have to survey land before eminent domain proceedings begin?

That’s the million dollar question before the Virginia Supreme Court. 

Is this a new issue percolating in the state courts? No, land owners near Big Bend are tacking a similar legal issue of the Pecos Pipeline and courts in California are grappling with the issue.

The Daily Progress | Virginia Supreme Court takes first look at pipeline survey law through two appeals

State: North Carolina

The competing interests: Military installations and property owners who can put their property to a highest and best use by leasing land to wind generation

The 2 legislative options:

•  2 year moratorium and study
• Ban wind 30 mile radius around military installations, which failed to recieve an affirmative vote in committee. 

New Bern, NC  Sun Journal | Windmill legislation remains up in the air

Colorado legislators are tackling stranded coal assets by:

• creating ratepayer-backed commercial bonds with a AAA rating
• that allow  utilities to refinance retiring coal plants
• and allow utilities to pass those savings back to the community

Colorado  HB17-1339 (2017) 

Utility Dive | Colorado lawmakers eye bond markets to help stranded coal assets