The jurisdictional discussion in Order No. 841-A was lengthy. It could have been very short. This blog today takes a personal turn as I relate the tale of FERC’s jurisdiction over energy storage resources (ESRs) connecting to a public utility’s distribution system to sell wholesale power. There is only reason that the tale is long (like this blog entry) – Order No. 2003. In the bundled era, no one seemed to give much thought…

“We hold only that where a utility uses energy from a QF to meet a state RPS, the avoided cost must be based on the sources that the utility could rely upon to meet the RPS.” Californians for Renewable Energy v. CPUC (CARE) Wow! This ruling is now binding within the Ninth Circuit and could have ripple effects throughout the country. In 2010, in CPUC v. SCE, FERC reversed several decades of…

Yesterday, FERC issued an order on a Petition for Declaratory order from Sunrun, asking that FERC waive the QF certification filing requirements for separately-interconnected, individual residential rooftop solar PV systems and related equipment with maximum net power production of 20 kW or less that Sunrun provides financing for but which the homeowner has an option to purchase, where such 20 kW or less systems may aggregate to over 1 MW within a one-mile radius; and…

Stampedes are dangerous. QF stampedes toward stale above-market standard avoided costs rates are dangerous to ratepayers. The first stampede occurred in the 1980s in California. California’s utilities were compelled to offer standard rates to QFs based on gas and oil prices at the time and then very shortly thereafter the bottom fell out of the oil and gas markets. California ratepayers paid for that stampede for decades. Stampedes toward stale avoided cost rates are continuing…

On April 1, 2019, FERC issued deficiency letters to all the ISOs/RTOs that submitted Order No. 841 (Storage Rule) compliance filings: CAISO, ISO-NE, MISO, NYISO, and PJM. Generally such letters ask the RTOs and ISOs to explain in much greater detail how their tariff provisions permit energy storage resources (ESRs) to participate in their markets. It appears that FERC wants each requirement imposed by Order No. 841 to be discussed…

On February 7, 2019, comments were submitted to FERC on the six RTO/ISO Order No. 841 (storage) compliance filings. FERC will need to address several issues regarding energy storage resources (ESRs), which are also distributed energy resources (DERs). This summary does not address issues that apply to all ESRs, such as limits on qualifying for capacity payments, transmission charges being properly excluded, PJM’s 10-hour rule, etc. Rather, it focuses on comments relating to ESRs that are also…

Updating the Year in Review on Legally Enforceable Obligations (LEO), FERC issued an Intent Not to Act on New Mexico Public Regulation Commission’s (NMPRC) LEO standard, which was challenged by a QF’s (Great Divide) Petition for Enforcement under PURPA.  It is not remarkable that FERC decided not to bring an enforcement action against the NMPRC LEO standard, which provides that a QF must demonstrate that it is ready to interconnect and deliver energy before a…