The U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources’ subcommittee on Energy to discuss the shifting geopolitics of oil and natural gas. The U.S. became the world’s top producer of natural gas in 2009 after surpassing Russia, and the leading producer of hydrocarbons in 2013 after edging out Saudi Arabia, according to data by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Over the last decade U.S. petroleum and natural gas output has surged by nearly 60 percent.

The U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources will consider nominations for the Department of Energy. The nominees are Teri Donaldson for Inspector General; Christopher Fall for Director of the Office of Science; Karen Evans for Assistant Secretary of Energy focusing on cybersecurity, energy security and emergency response; and Daniel Simmons for Assistant Secretary of Energy for energy efficiency and renewable energy.

The U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources’ subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources will discuss draft legislation to develop a leasing program for offshore renewable energy, offshore wind lease sale requirements and an offshore wind career training program. New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Delaware, Maryland, Rhode Island, Hawaii, and California are leading efforts to jumpstart the nation’s fledgling offshore wind industry.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration will issue its Monthly Energy Review, providing data on energy production, consumption, prices and trade. Demand for fossil fuels to run the nation’s electric generating fleet plunged to the lowest in over two decades last year as weak power prices spurred a wave of closures of coal- and oil-fired plants, according to EIA data. (Previous Report)

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is taking comments on the effects of larger amounts of distribution-level renewables on the bulk power system, and efforts by system operators to integrate the power into wholesale markets. System planners face the challenge of more accurately projecting future growth in renewable generation, particularly rooftop solar power, as burgeoning supplies threaten to hamper the smooth operation of the grid and depress prices in wholesale markets. (AD18-10)

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will discuss opportunities for boosting real-time and day-ahead market efficiency and enhancing the robustness of the bulk power system through improved software as part of its wider resilience investigation. In January FERC requested information on the resilience of the bulk power system after rejecting a controversial proposal by the U.S. Energy Department to compensate money-losing coal plants and nuclear reactors. (AD10-12-009)

PJM Interconnection LLC requests a ruling by federal regulators on an overhaul of its annual capacity market designed to adjust for a growing influx of subsidized generation that risks cutting prices and suppressing revenues for competing generators. Under a plan by PJM unveiled in the spring, subsidized offers for capacity would be repriced in the second stage of a two-stage auction to ensure competitive prices. The market monitor’s proposal would apply a screening process to offers to reflect the actual cost of the generator without a subsidy. PJM asks for an effective date of January 2019. (ER18-1314-001)