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week of Mar. 16, 2020

The EnerKnol Week Ahead is back to give you the key energy policy events happening next week, all powered by the EnerKnol Platform. Coming up, California regulators review Southern California Edison’s request for a base revenue of $7.6 billion, representing an increase of more than 20 percent in 2021, driven by wildfire mitigation measures; New Jersey regulators examine a design for the state's solar program as the legacy Solar Renewable Energy Certificate is phased out; California explores the development of offshore wind energy, which is expected to play a large role in helping the state achieve carbon-free power.

Featured Entities


California EC

California PUC

District of Columbia PSC

FERC

Maine PUC

New Jersey BPU

New York PSC

Rhode Island PUC

Federal Agencies

Thursday,
March 19
FERC Monthly Commission Meeting

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will discuss its electric transmission incentives policy. FERC’s power line investment incentives are crucial to spur investment in grid infrastructure, which can provide benefits, such as improving reliability, reducing congestion, and allowing access to remotely-located renewable resources. The commission will also consider natural gas pipeline certificates, and other customer matters, reliability, security and market operations.

Eastern Region

Monday,
March 16
DC PSC Net Metering Working Group Meeting

The District of Columbia Public Service Commission will discuss about net metering credits of individual behind-the-meter generators for proposed generating thresholds beyond 100 percent of the customer’s historical usage. Following stakeholder consensus, the commission proposed to initially raise the threshold to 120 percent, with an automatic 20 percent annual increase, and reconvene the working group a year before reaching 200 percent, in order to discuss the impacts on the system. RM9-2015-01

Monday,
March 16
RI PUC Renewable Energy Growth Program Meeting

The Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission will hold a technical session to review revised tariffs and enrollment rules for compliance with the Renewable Energy Growth Program. The initiative, administered by National Grid, is designed to finance renewable, distributed generation projects using performance-based incentives, and is revised annually with new ceiling prices and megawatt allocation plan. The session may also start examining whether customers can receive a credit value higher than the performance-based incentive when they choose a combination of bill credits and direct payments, instead of direct payments. READ MORE

Friday,
March 20
NY PSC Invenergy 340 MW Wind Project Comments

The New York Public Service Commission is due to receive comments on a recommended decision to issue a permit for Alle-Catt Wind Energy LLC’s proposal to build and operate a 340-megawatt wind energy project in the western part of the state. The Invenergy LLC subsidiary proposes to install 116 turbines spanning an area of about 3,000 acres. The project would generate enough power to supply up to 123,000 homes and is set to begin operation in Q4 2020. 17-F-0282

Friday,
March 20
ME PUC Shared Distributed Generation Program Comments

The Maine Public Utilities Commission is scheduled to receive comments on a proposed mechanism to allow subscribers of a shared distributed generation facility to buy renewable energy credits, or RECs. A 2019 law directed the agency to procure 375 megawatts of distributed generation, including 250 megawatts from shared resources, and also set forth the requirements to procure shared distributed generation allocated to subscribers. The commission is exploring an approach that would have the utility, which is serving as the standard buyer, to retire the RECs on the subscriber’s behalf, allowing the subscriber to claim the attribute. 2020-00014

Friday,
March 20
NJ BPU Solar Successor Program Comments

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities is scheduled to receive comments on the design of a successor to the legacy Solar Renewable Energy Certificate, or SREC, program. In December, the board approved a transition incentive to bridge the gap between the legacy and successor programs as the state phases out the SREC program pursuant to a 2018 law, which closes the program when 5.1 percent of electricity sold in the state comes from distributed solar. The incentive consists of factorized, fixed-price, 15-year Transition Renewable Energy Certificates available to projects that are in the SREC pipeline after Oct. 29, 2018, but have not yet reached commercial operation at the time the 5.1 percent milestone is reached. READ MORE

Western Region

Tuesday,
March 17
CA PUC SCE Rate Case Hearing

The California Public Utilities Commission will consider Southern California Edison’s request for a base revenue requirement of $7.625 billion, which represents an increase of $1.32 billion in 2021 over currently authorized base rates. The proposed changes would increase the average residential monthly bill by approximately $14 in 2021, $4 in 2022, and $6 in 2023. The company said that the increase is larger than the requests sought in the recent past because of the need to undertake measures to reduce wildfire risk. READ MORE

Friday,
March 20
CA EC Offshore Wind Study Comments

The California Energy Commission is due to receive comments on a draft study regarding the development of offshore wind energy in California. The study supports the development of research efforts on potential offshore wind funding initiatives under the commission’s Electric Investment Charge, or EPIC, program. Offshore wind is expected to contribute to meeting the states’ goal of achieving 100 percent clean energy by 2045. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has identified that California has a technical resource potential of 112 gigawatts of offshore wind.