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week of Nov. 4, 2019

Happy Friday! THe EnerKnol Week Ahead returns with a selection of upcoming energy policy events powered by the EnerKnol Platform. In this edition, Congress discusses President Trump's Republican nominee for FERC commissioner, tipping the traditional political balance within the federal agency; FERC analyses grid-enhancing technologies that will boost reliability of the nation's transmission infrastructure; the Texas grid operator continues its debate of how best to integrate energy storage into its market.

Featured Entities


CO PUC

CT PURA

ERCOT

FERC

PA PUC

U.S. Congress

Federal Agencies

Tuesday,
November 5
U.S. Congress FERC Commissioner Nomination Hearing

The U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources will discuss President Trump’s nomination of James Danly to be a Commissioner at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for the remainder of the term expiring June 30, 2023, resulting in three Republican Commissioners and one Democratic Commissioner. Danly is the current General Counsel oat the federal regulator. The Committee will also consider Katharine MacGregor to be Deputy Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management at the Department of Interior.

Tuesday,
November 5
FERC Grid Modernization Technologies Workshop

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will convene a staff-led workshop to discuss grid-enhancing technologies that boost the capacity, efficiency, and reliability of transmission infrastructure. Participants will examine how grid-enhancing technologies are currently used, the challenges to their deployment, and what the commission can do to speed up adoption, including incentivizing or requiring it by utilities and grid operators. Specifically, the regulator will look at power flow control, storage technologies, advanced line rating management and other technologies. AD19-19-000

Wednesday,
November 6
U.S. Congress Growing American Innovation Now Act Hearing

The Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works will hold a legislative hearing to discuss S. 2662, also known as the Growing American innovation Now (GAIN) Act. The bill was introduced by Republican lawmakers Senator John Barrasso, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul eforms the New Source Review program under the Clean Air Act. The lawmakers see the program in its current form as a key barrier to manufacturing growth and argue the bill will make it simpler for manufacturers to get the permits they need to improve their plants.

Wednesday,
November 6
U.S. Congress Energy Legislative Hearing

The U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources will receive testimony on a series of legislative proposals related to energy. Some of the bills include S. 2508 Promoting American Energy Jobs Act of 2019, S. 2556 Protecting Resources On The Electric grid with Cybersecurity Technology Act of 2019 and S. 2668 Solar Energy Research and Development Act of 2019.

Eastern Region

Monday,
November 4
PA PUC Valley Energy Gas Rate Hearing

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission will gather public input on the rate hike proposed by Valley Energy Inc. The company originally requested a natural gas distribution revenue increase of about $1 million per year, a 20.6% bump.

Thursday,
November 7
CT PURA Electric Storage Investigation Deadline

The Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority is scheduled to receive input from electric distribution companies and other stakeholders on technical solutions to boost the adoption of electric storage in the state. The regulator wants to explore programs and rate designs that provide multiple benefits to the grid, including resilience, support for distributed energy resources, ancillary services and peak shaving. PURA will also determine the appropriate cost ­benefit methodology to calculate net benefits to ratepayers. The meeting will be held on November 14 and 15.

Western Region

Monday,
November 4
CO PUC Xcel Energy Rate Bump Hearing

The Colorado Public Utilities Commission is scheduled to receive public comments on a proposal by Xcel Energy to increase its electric rates by a net $153.8 million. The company’s proposal would increase monthly bills for residential customers by about $4.46 a month on an annual basis, or about 6.5 percent. The main driver of the proposed rate increase, according to Xcel, is $4.1 billion of investment in grid modernization and resilience made over the last five years.

Monday,
November 4
ERCOT Energy Storage Workshop

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas Inc. will discuss market rules to enable storage technologies to be dispatched and priced in the real-time energy market. Regional grid operators filled proposals in 2018 to comply with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s landmark energy storage order (Order 841), which paved the way for broader participation of storage resources in wholesale power markets. FERC issued the order because it found that current tariffs do not recognize the operational characteristics of electric storage resources and limit their participation.