PURPA and Distributed Energy Resources Blog

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PURPA and Distributed Energy Resources Blog

Order No. 841 (Storage Final Rule) Deficiency Letters – The Double Charging Issue

By Jennifer Key on April 3, 2019

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…

PURPA and Distributed Energy Resources Blog

DER Issues Raised by Storage Compliance Filing Comments

By Jennifer Key on February 20, 2019

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…

PURPA and Distributed Energy Resources Blog

Legally Enforceable Obligations: An Update on Great Divide

By Jennifer Key on February 10, 2019

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…

PURPA and Distributed Energy Resources Blog

Charging Storage Load – Distribution Owner Challenges Regarding Inbound Wholesale Distribution Service

By Jennifer Key on January 21, 2019

FERC, not surprisingly, has asserted jurisdiction over the “inbound” wholesale distribution service (WDS) required by distributed storage resources that participate in FERC-jurisdictional energy and ancillary service markets (Wholesale Storage DERs). Although FERC has long asserted jurisdiction over WDS, it addressed charging Wholesale Storage DERs several years ago in a case involving Commonwealth Edison and Energy Vault. There, FERC explained that ComEd may recover the costs of the use of its distribution system by Energy…

PURPA and Distributed Energy Resources Blog

The Formation of Legally Enforceable Obligations: The Year in Review (2018)

By Jennifer Key on December 8, 2018

The Legally Enforceable Obligation (LEO) concept is a construct of FERC that is used in one of FERC’s avoided cost pricing regulations, i.e., 18 CFR § 292.304(d)(2)(ii). The date a LEO is formed is the date a QF is entitled to have its avoided cost rate determined, if it so elects. Through the decades, state utility commissions have adopted a quite broad array of standards for when a QF has established a LEO with…

PURPA and Distributed Energy Resources Blog

QF & DERs: Ignorance of the Law Is No Excuse

By Jennifer Key on November 21, 2018

As the industry continues to await action from FERC on PURPA in Docket AD16-16 or through a new rulemaking, various parties have submitted comments or pleadings in that docket and in other cases, that effectively take the position that QFs should not be accountable for knowing the laws and regulations to which they are subject. This same mindset may repeat itself when FERC adopts a Final Rule DER aggregation As to PURPA, in August 2018…

PURPA and Distributed Energy Resources Blog

FERC to Address Several PURPA Issues In Coming Weeks and Months

By Jennifer Key on October 5, 2018

Over the last several weeks, a variety of entities have filed Petitions for Declaratory Order (PDO) or Enforcement Petitions relating to PURPA that may prove interesting to watch. Sunrun asked FERC to make an exception for the need to self-certify (through Form 556) QFs under common ownership that total in aggregate more than 1 MW of capacity if all the QFs are located with one mile of one another, but only if such aggregation includes…

PURPA and Distributed Energy Resources Blog

Virtual Net Metering –Vulnerabilities of Free Delivery Service to Legal Challenges

By Jennifer Key on August 21, 2018

Some states permit end-users to “obtain” energy generated at a remote location, without requiring such end-users to pay the utility to which they and the generator are interconnected for the delivery and ancillary services required to move the energy to the end-user’s load. Such “virtual net metering” is a key element of some community (or shared) solar programs. Examples of end-users that pay no delivery charges for energy delivered from “off-site” or “remote” generation are…

PURPA and Distributed Energy Resources Blog

PURPA – Update on Docket No. AD16-16 and Other FERC PURPA Developments

By Jennifer Key on August 10, 2018

Supplemental Comments in Docket No. AD 16-16 In testimony before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources subcommittee as well as other venues, FERC Chairman McIntyre has made clear his desire to update PURPA, which has led to several entities submitting supplemental comments to FERC in Docket No. AD16-16. Supplemental comments have been filed by ELCON, et al., North American BioFuels LLC (BioFuels), EEI, and NARUC. Largely, these comments reiterate prior positions taken…

PURPA and Distributed Energy Resources Blog

DERs and Double Payment Streams

By Jennifer Key & Thomas Kirby on July 28, 2018

As noted in the DERs Rulemaking Comments of various entities, the issue of double compensation was a considerable concern for some, while the issue generally dismissed by the DER industry generally. For example, the New York Transmission Owners (NYTOs) explained to FERC that they support the participation of DERs in wholesale markets, but suggested that “a review of each retail-level program by the relevant RTO/ISO is required so that the compensation at the retail and…

PURPA and Distributed Energy Resources Blog

Order No. 841 (Storage Final Rule) Deficiency Letters – The Double Charging Issue

DER Issues Raised by Storage Compliance Filing Comments

Legally Enforceable Obligations: An Update on Great Divide

Charging Storage Load – Distribution Owner Challenges Regarding Inbound Wholesale Distribution Service

The Formation of Legally Enforceable Obligations: The Year in Review (2018)

QF & DERs: Ignorance of the Law Is No Excuse

FERC to Address Several PURPA Issues In Coming Weeks and Months

Virtual Net Metering –Vulnerabilities of Free Delivery Service to Legal Challenges

PURPA – Update on Docket No. AD16-16 and Other FERC PURPA Developments

DERs and Double Payment Streams

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