The Maryland Public Service Commission will hold a hearing regarding cybersecurity regulations for regulated entities. Legislation enacted in 2023 directed the commission to establish minimum cybersecurity standards and best practices for regulated entities and also share cybersecurity-related information/best practices with municipal electric utilities. Among other things, the legislation requires public service companies to adopt and implement cybersecurity standards and conduct assessments, and report cyber security incidents. In April, the commission issued a notice of additional rulemaking session to adopt proposed changes filed by the Leader of the Cybersecurity Reporting Work Group.

The Maryland Public Service Commission will hold a hearing to discuss electric companies’ efforts to procure federal funding under the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The commission seeks to evaluate the companies’ relative successfulness in procuring funding, and discuss the extent to which their efforts align with its existing distribution plan and state policy goals. Maryland has passed legislation, which is expected to take effect on Oct. 1, requiring the commission to adopt regulations or issue orders expressly requiring electric companies to apply for federal and other available funds in a timely manner.

The New York Public Service Commission will hold a meeting of the Indian Point Decommissioning Oversight Board, which was established to assess ways to protect the interest of communities affected by the three-unit Indian Point Energy Center ceasing operations, including current workforce and public safety. The state also established the Indian Point Closure Task Force, which is charged with exploring ways to mitigate local tax and workforce impacts and evaluate new economic opportunities and initiatives, as well as identifying a decommissioning timeline that is in the interest of local communities. Indian Point, which had a capacity of 1,040 megawatts, shut down its last nuclear reactor in 2021, marking the end of 59 years of continuous power generation.

The District of Columbia Public Service Commission is due to receive comments on a study regarding the potential value of distributed energy resources to address costs in the electric system associated with generation, transmission, and distribution. The Value of Distributed Energy Resource, or VDER, study is part of a proceeding to review the district’s energy system in light of recent sustainability goals and mandates. The commission welcomes comments on all topics covered in the study, and seeks answers to specific questions including how the study or successor studies, if any, would contribute to the district’s climate goals, and whether the study can support the expansion of solar resources in the district. FC1130

The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission will hold a virtual technical conference to discuss public utility status of distributed energy resource aggregators as contemplated under the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s Order No. 2222. The order directed regional grid operators to revise their tariffs to allow distributed energy resource aggregators to participate in wholesale energy markets. The commission has general rulemaking authority to implement Order 2222 including amending its interconnection and net metering rules as may be necessary to implement the order. 46043 – NONE

The Washington Department of Ecology will issue a summary report of its sixth greenhouse gas allowance auction, which offered allowances for current and future years. The current auction offered about 7.8 million allowances and the advance auction offered 2027 vintage allowances totaling about 2.2 million. Washington joined the Western Climate Initiative in December 2021, which provides an auction platform for linked programs in California and Québec, and a stand-alone program in Nova Scotia. The fifth auction, held in March, sold more than 7.4 million allowances at a clearing price of $25.76 per allowance.

The California Energy Commission seeks comments on an outlook for 2024 summer reliability. The commission recently held a workshop to discuss anticipated summer weather and fire conditions, new clean energy resources expected to come online, hydroelectric resource conditions, and system reliability conditions. The state is experiencing a substantial shift in conditions affecting the electric grid as it transitions to a cleaner energy future. In 2020, a west-wide heat event resulted in rotating outages, and in 2021, a wildfire in Oregon impacted transmission lines that California depends on for reliability. In 2022, the state saw record high temperatures resulting in a new peak load, and last July, parts of the West outside California experienced extreme heat, driving challenging and fast-moving market dynamics. 21-ESR-01