• Tulsa began aggressive flood planning began in 1984
• Tulsa’s flood plan accounts for urban growth 
• Development plans must include a network of drainage systems, creating green spaces that double as flood basins
• Tulsa adopted strict rules, stricter than the national standards, on where and how homes and buildings are constructed
• Tulsa paid for the program, that incudes buying flood zone properties, with a  fee to utility bills
  • The utility fee is offset by cheaper flood insurance prices because of the city’s strict flood plan

NPR | How Tulsa Became A Model For Preventing Floods

The power company: Gulf Power Customer Data Breach is estimated to impact 22,000 customers.

The Hack:  Attacked bill payment centers that accept checks for various bill payments.

The legislative issue: Data Security policy issues for energy companies are 3 fold:

• security of the the grid  +
• security of customer data +
• security of business data

3WEARTV | Data breach could impact 22K Gulf Power customers

Midway, Kentucky,  has a new EV Charging Station. Midway has a population of 1500.

So, how did this quaint commuity end up as a location of an EV charging station?

• Location, location, Location.  Midway is near I-64 and is near Frankfort, Louisville and Lexington
• Community support.  The community looks forward to the potential for economic growth
• Installed by Kentucky Utilities

Lexington Herald Leader | Electric cars sales are soaring. And now this small Kentucky city can charge them.

The 10th Circuit said NO, a utility cannot condemn tribal lands.

The utilities say- the 10th Circuit ruling “threatens the national power grid by effectively blocking Congress’ authorization of condemnation of allotted tribal lands”

What could this mean for Texas? The tribal lands between the Permian Basin and the border could impact pipelines and transmission lines for growth related to Mexico deregulation.

Eminent Domain and Real Estate Evaluation | Fox Rothschild | SCOTUS Asked To Hear Tribal Land Condemnation Case

A December 1 order by Federal Energy Regulatory Commission requires:

• states to not block energy efficiency from competing in regional electricity markets
• there’s an exception for projects that are approved

3 Reasons Supporters Say the Order is crucial:

• critical for maintaining free and open competition
• permits all technologies competing on price and performance
• allows  the best electric power services be delivered at the most reasonable cost to businesses and households

Utility Dive | States can’t bar efficiency technologies from wholesale electricity markets, FERC rules

Illinois Legislature enacted the Future Energy Jobs Act along with a requirement that 25% of the state’s power green by 2025 which has led to job growth by:

• Building the 1st community solar project in the state
• Attracted outside investors for projects that not-for-profit entities can’t individually afford
• “onslaught of renewable energy development will create construction, engineering and other positions that directly or indirectly support new installations”

Journal Star | One year later, Illinois energy jobs law bearing fruit

The transmission line: Transource Independent Energy Connection Project

The visitor’s bureau: The Franklin County Visitors Bureau (Pennsylvania)

The opposition to the transmission line: 

•  long-term and far-reaching negative impact on the entire tourism industry of Franklin County for perpetuity
• distinctly uninviting and counter to what attracts visitors to the beauty of the county’s open spaces
• Ag tourism is the backbone of the county’s fall tourism market

WITF | Franklin County Visitors Bureau opposes Transource power line

Pennsylvania is the only state that does not tax drilling.

5 Facts about oil and gas in Pennsylvania:

• 1st state to drill for oil in the 1850s
• 2nd-leading producer of natural gas
• Industry has spent $60M to oppose a severance tax
• It has an impact fee on drillers that generated $173 million last year
• The severance tax is a big campaign issue

Governing | The Only Oil-and-Gas State Not Taxing Drilling

Which state has 0MW privately developed community solar? California

Which is the top state for privately developed community solar? Massachusetts

3 Reasons Massachusetts is in the lead?

• overall rate of compensation in Massachusetts is much higher
• compensation in Massachusetts is easily understood and stable
• the Massachusetts regulations are “manageable and rational.”

Utility Dive | A tale of 2 states: Massachusetts and California provide different lessons on growing community solar 

Top 3 states for grid modernization:

• California
• Illinois
• Texas

3 Takeaways from the new Grid Modernization Index:

• California ended up on top because of its:
  • rapid acceleration to non-carbon energy sources is pushing California’s grid to modernize more quickly than any other state to accommodate higher penetrations of solar, energy storage and other demand-side resources
• Illinois gets kudos for its  Future Energy Jobs Act (FEJA) and participation in the Illinois Commerce Commission’s (ICC) NextGrid initiative
• Texas grid modernized because of its  booming solar and wind markets

PV Magazine | California, Illinois and Texas lead grid modernization efforts

How to best protect an electric grid from hackers brought to you by the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory:

• Information sharing. Voluntary information-sharing program among industry and the government to protect the entire grid system
• Use the Data. Analyzing the collective data to  alert utilities of potential vulnerabilities
• Improve situational awareness. develop an integrated, real-time view of utilities’ cyber risks
• Use Tehcnology to Protect Technology. enable a shift from digital signatures and encryption to a “keyless” solution

Tri City Herald | PNNL protecting electric grid from cyberattack

Colorado farmers supported a tax on farmers to promote water conservation.

What 3 things happened after the farmers were taxed for water use?

• Agriculture water pumping fell by 30%
• Farms did not close up shop
• Aquifers are recharging by a reduction in groundwater pumping by farmers

Texas Public Radio | To Save Their Water Supply, Colorado Farmers Taxed Themselves

According to Utility Dive the answer to whether utilities need rate design for EV charging stations are:

• YES for  investor-owned utilities
• YES if utilities or sttes have policies to put more EVs on the road 

3 Reasons why  proactive rate design necessary for EV charging stations?

• to harness the flexibility of charging stations for grid services
• to target when customers charge the vehicles (hello marketing!)
• to avoid overloading the grid during peak demand

Utility Dive | Do utilities need rate design for electric vehicle charging?

Pipeline infrastructure has reduced flaring in the Permian Basin.

What is an estimate of the flared gas in the Permian Basin? 

• 9% of produced gas
• that is 45.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas
• and that is enough to provide electricty for 2.5 years for all the Permian Basin Counties

Dallas Morning News | Natural gas wasted by Permian Basin drillers could fuel a few Texas counties for over 2 years 

Remember the wave energy project in Europe? Well, the The Department of Energy is spending up to $40 million to build a wave energy test facility on the Oregon Coast.

Which entities are partnering? US Department of Energy + Oregon State University

What type of contractors will they need? contractors that can connect the project  to the power grid by underwater cables

What’s the energy potential from the ocean? 10% according to the  Oregon Wave Energy Trust

Texas Public Radio |  Oceans May Host Next Wave Of Renewable Energy

Background: In 2012 Governor Jerry Brown executive order to require energy efficient new buildings. 

The new California state building standard: “zero net energy” projects

The new report found an increase of: adds 17 to 29% to the projected cost of some new buildings

Report recommendation: A cost-benefit analysis before proceeding with zero net energy projects.

The Houston Chronicle editorial ” MUD Morass” lays out the following 2 problems with municipal utility districts:

• TRANSPARENCY. MUD ballot propositions are announced in “secret and concealed in silence by special districts”‘
  • 10 special districts in Harris County asked for  $826 million worth of bonds on the November 2017 ballot
• BAD ACTORS. Examples of utility district practices:
  •  Mount Houston Road MUD  lacked even a basic website to explain the ballot proposition & MUD refused to release phone numbers for its board of directors
  • Crosby MUD board of directors president refused questions about the bond proposition and referred people to the Crosby D.A.
  • The Woodlands’ neighborhood Timarron Lakes MUD “failed to warn that their property existed in the flood pool behind the Barker Reservoir.”
  • Cinco Ranch MUD president lives 20 miles away and didn’t go near the MUD during Harvey flooding

Where:  Ohio  PUC

The net metering cap for residential customers:  120% annual energy use

Additional regulatory changes by Ohio’s PUC will: reduce net metering credits for residential customers by 30+%

2 Policy Goals of the Ohio PUC:

• establish consistent, state-wide parameters for net metering
• foster a competitive marketplace for innovative products and services

OHIO PUC November 8 2017 Net Metering Rules 

Utility Dive | Ohio regulators trim credits, limit system size in new net metering update

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf signed HB 118 (2017) to tablize the state’s solar renewable energy credits.

Why was this bill necessary? The state’s solar renewable energy credits had a depressed value from being able to be purchased from out of state to meet renewables goals, but the credits could not be sold outside Pennsylvania. This created a glut of solar energy

The bill’s goals:

•  balance the solar energy market in PA
• grandfather in  systems already certified

PV Magazine | Pennsylvania requires solar SRECs to come from within the state

Utility Dive | New Pennsylvania bill requires solar credits to come from in-state

The city of Barrie has received fiscal support from the Downtown Barrie Business Association (BIA) Board of Management to support Electric Vehicle Charging Stations throughout the city.

The Chamber of Commerce fiscal support is in the form of a “sponsorship/partnership for the hydro operational costs”

The pro-business support of EV stations:

• potential economic benefit for businesses
• EV stations require consumers to stay in the area for a longer time than a traditional gas station

Barrie Today | Downtown Barrie BIA offers to help pay for EV stations

In 2017 Florida Legislature passed legislation to create a reservoir south of Lake Okeechobee.

The kicker in the legislation: the project cannot use eminent domain becuase it requires land to be purchased from “willing sellers.”

TC Palm | Lake Okeechobee reservoir: Willing sellers contact SFWMD to offer more land

A city in Ohio is refusing to agree to easements for a proposed pipeline. 

How far is the city willing to go? 

• The city rejected a $146,000 offer for the easements over city lands and right of ways
• The city is making its case in federal court for an alternate route through less populated areas

What is the city’s policy argument? it is protecting the economic future. A study says the pipeline will cause the city to lose millions in economic development.

ABC News | Ohio city refuses to give up fight against gas pipeline

The North Carolina Clean Energy Technology Center quarterly report tallies solar policy actions.

The most common utility proposal: a separate Distributed Generation (DG) customer class but without a rate increase or rate change.

Why? 2 OPTIONS:

• The new rate class would test regulators
• The new rate class sets the stage for later rate changes

Is there regulatory or legislative precedent? Yes:

• Montana & North Carolina have new laws that allow separate rate class as part of a comprehensive DG proceeding
• Kansas Corporation Commission approved a separate solar rate class

How do these porposals compare historically:

• solar policy change requests have increases 21% for Q3 2017
• the largest portion of these solar policy requests relate to residential fixed charge and minimum bill increases

Utility Dive | In new trend, utilities propose separate rate classes for solar customers without rate increase

 Protect Our Power, a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to strengthen the reliability and resilience of the U.S. electric grid, supports a 4 part policy plan to strengthen grid security that includes:

• Independent, thorough and candid assessment of exactly where improvements and upgrades are needed, in order of priority
• Development of a collective national plan based on the independent assessment and codified by Congress, with oversight from the federal regulatory agencies
• Regulatory reform, including the “development of improved, uniform standards for the North American bulk power system that rise to the level of detail and rigor required to meet the threats we face” ; 
• Public and private funding mechanisms like  tax-exempt government bonds

The Hill Op-Ed | Escalating threats to infrastructure confirm our need to harden the electric grid

A district court in Ohio has followed in the footsteps of Texas nad Pennsylvania to issue the first decision in OH to allow at well costs to be born by royalty owner.

Contractual language that includes “at the well” provisions” has been interpreted by courts in Texas and Pennsylvania to  “allow[s] energy companies to assign costs to royalty holders.”

Lutz v Chesapeake Appalachia, U.S. District Court, Northeast District of Ohio, Eastern Division, No. 4:09-cv2256.

Reuters | Court decision settles long-standing Ohio energy royalty dispute

Michigan Public Utility Commission is working on building a EV charing station program.

3 Steps the Utility Regulator Took to make it happen:

• Solicited input from experts
• Solicited input from stakeholders like:
  • utilities
  • automakers
  • charging equipment companies
  • environmental groups
• 5 Regulatory policy questions MI wants to answer:
  • how to encourage charging during periods when rates are lower
  • impact on the electrical grid
  • where charging stations should be located
  • how to educate customers
  • the role of public utilities

Detroit Free Press | Got ideas for electric vehicle charging projects in Michigan? 

Duke Energy Florida settlement agreement was approved by the Florida Public Service Commission and includes:

• $6 billion investment over 4 years
• smart meters
• grid modernization projects
• optional billing programs
• 700 MW of solar power facilities over the next four years
• installation of more than 500 EV charging stations
• up to 50 MW of energy storage under a pilot battery storage program
• residential rate will be $123.88 per 1,000 kWh
  • includes a reduction of $4.65 per 1,000 kWh as a settlement benefit
• commercial & industrial customer bills  will increase approximately 1% to 3% from 2019-2021

Next Gen Transportation News | Fla. Utility to Add 500 EV Charging Stations Under Settlement Agreement 

Vermont Legislators have imposed noise standards on wind energy projects.

Supports of wind energy say: the noise restrictions will chill wind energy in Vermont

Legislators say: the goal is to prevent sound from disturbing neighbors’ health and sleep

The Noise Limits:

• Large wind projects limited to 42 dBA during the day and 39 dBA at night
  • Noise is measured 100 feet from the residence of a homeowner who isn’t participating in the project
• Small and medium wind projects would be limited to 42 dBA
• The new Vermont wind energy noise limits are not the lowest in the country 

Burlington Free Press | Lawmakers approve tighter sound rules on wind power

The report is by: Bay Area News Group

What is the causal link between transmission line mapping and wildfires? California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection is investigating whether a utility’s equipment caused the fire

What’s the background on transmission line mapping in California? Transmission line mapping was sparked by a 2007 San Diego Fire and required by the California Public Utility Commission in 2008. The project has been delayed and has not been completed.

Mercury News | PG&E helped stall effort to map risky power lines prone to wildfires

Amazon launched a wind farm in Snyder TX on October 20th. 

Amazon’s Snyder TX windfarm details details:

•  1,000,000+ MWh of clean energy
• 100 turbines
• 300 feet tall turbines with a rotor diameter more than twice the wingspan of a Boeing 787

Amazon’s foray into renewables throughout the US:

• 18 wind and solar installations
• 35 more in the works
• Goal is to power 330,000 homes annually & support 100s of jobs

Amazon Press Release | Amazon Launches Biggest Wind Farm Yet – Company’s Renewable Energy Projects Will Together Generate Enough Clean Energy to Power More Than 330,000 Homes

• Cost of EV Chargers.
  • ​ Will regulators/legislators allow utilities to rate-base infrastructure costs?
  • Will regulators/legislators permit a shift in costs from private installers and owners onto the general rate base?
  • Can investments be recovered through performance-based regulations?
  • How to incentivize investments by rewarding social benefits without exposing ratepayers to undue risk?
  • Will regulators and utilities adopt the free and open-source Open Charge Point Protocol to support interoperable information exchange for transactions and charger operations?

Forbes | Five Ways Utilities Can Gain From Building Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure 

The Pipeline Capacity Battle: Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey is reviewing whether a pipeline is artificially constraining capacity.

What triggered the MA A.G. review of the pipeline? Environmental Defense Fund

What do opponents of the review say? That state regulators are not properly equipped for this review, it is more properly a review for FERC

Utility Dive | Massachusetts AG reviewing report on Eversource, Avangrid constraining pipelines

State: Ohio

The nuclear subsidy bill would be funded with:

• A $2.50 monthly fee on residential customers
• A fee of the lesser of 55 the monthly bill opr $3500 for commercial customers

The revisions in bill version #2:

• lower fees (above)
• shorter subsidy length. 12 years, instead of 16 years

Ohio HB 381 (2017)

Utility Dive | New Ohio bill reintroduces nuclear subsidy program as DOE pushes cost recovery NOPR

The Oil Company: Shell

The Charging Station Company: NewMotion that has more than 30,000 private charging stations and 50,000 public stations throughout Europe

Bloomberg New Energy Finance analysists predict by 2040 1/3 of cars worldwide will be EV that reduces oil need sby 8 million barrels per day.

The Hill | Oil giant Shell buys leading operator of electric vehicle charging stations

Oklahoma legislators are considering selling water from Northeastern Oklahoma to either Western Oklahoma or Texas.

What 2 issues are arising over the potential legislative approval of the water sale?

• There is no way to guarantee how much water can be sold
• Pipelines will have to be constructed to move the water to the buyer

Tulsa Public Radio | Lawmakers Discuss Selling Oklahoma Water

The Grid Innovation Caucus: Congressional. Chairs are Robert E. Latta (R- OH) & Jerry McNerney (D- CA)

Why does grid security matter? Grid Security is fundamental to National Security & Clean Energy future

What bipartisan goals are there for grid security in legislative action?

• Encourage and enable innovative advancements that improve security & reliability of the energy grid
  • Like encouraging new partnerships between companies whose cutting-edge technologies complement and enhance electric companies’ efforts.
• Requires that legislators actively engage with industry leaders
• Requires that consumers  consumers have  more customer choice, enhanced integration of all energy sources, & improved reliability and security

Does the Grid Innovation Caucus have Partners? Yes:

• Edison Electric Institute
• National Electrical Manufacturers Association
• GridWise Alliance
• + they hosted the House Grid Innovation Expo

Utility Dive | Op-Ed the Grid Innovation Caucus | A bipartisan view on modernizing the US electric grid

PHI Group, Inc. and AQuarius Power, Inc. , a Texas Company, to exclusively sublicense, sell, build, own and/or operate the AQuarius wave energy systems in Eastern Europe and the European Region.

What do I need to know about wave energy?

• Land-based wave energy system using a combination of gravity and “buoyancy” (the interaction between air and water) to produce power
• The power from wave based energy can generate electricity and / or produce potable water.
• It is a baseload zero carbon footprint
• Potential to instal virtually anywhere
• cost effective (operating cost is comparably low as hydroelectric systems.)
• can be built turn-key within 6 months of obtaining permits
• operating life of over 60 years
• clean, scalable, reliable, and extremely flexible. 

Business Insider | PHI Group and AQuarius Power Provide Breakthrough Land-based Wave Energy Technology to EuropeFirst system to be built in Romania in coming months

Oklahoma’s Alliance of Energy producers called on the Oklahoma Legislature to retore a 7% tax rate on oil and natural gas production.

Why is industry asking to be taxed? To help fix the OKlahoma budget deficit

The Ada News | Speaker calls for restoring 7 percent tax rate for oil and gas production

• 63% of utility executives believe “their country faces at least a moderate risk of electricity supply interruption from a cyber attack on electric distribution grids in the next 5 years”
• If you look at North American utility executives its 76%
• 57% of world wide utility executives say power disruptions from hacks is the most serious concern
  • 53% say employee/consumer safety is the most serious concern
  • 43% say destruction of physical assets is the most serious concern
• 77% of utility executives say the Internet of Things is a great threat to utility safety
• Utilities executives in Europe and Asia think hackers are the greatest cyber threat, while North American utility executives say its cyber threats from foreign governments

Electric Light & Power | Cyber attacks could bring down power grid, many utilities think

Farmer in Iowa opines 6 reasons wind farms are a nuisance:

• Wind Farms are LOUD. Wind lobby in Iowa wants to increase the noise level to 45 and 60 dBA from the current level of 25dBA
• Wind Farms Create pressure wakes and turbulance impacting humans and animals.
• Wind Farms shadows impact crops.
• Wind Farms decrease farming efficiency and complicate farming.
• Wind turbine blades fall off at a rate of 1 per 61 turbines. Danger. Danger. 
• Wind turbines kill birds.

Wallaces Farmer | Industrial wind farms a horrible nuisance

State: North Dakota

What happened with this land to trigger this bill? The landowners say that the state took their oil and gas mineral rights from property acquired by the federal government for the construction of the Garrison Dam. The State Supreme Court agreed.

What was the Legislative fix? To except mineral rights from land transactions by the state as it relates to the dam project

The Bill: North Dakota SB 2134 (2017)

Bismark Tribune via Dickinson Press | Family ‘elated’ over ND Supreme Court ruling in mineral dispute

A House Companion to the Senate’s, Securing Energy Infrastructure Act of 2017 by Senator Angus King (I-ME) and Senator James E. Risch (R-ID), has been filed by Congressman C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger (MD-02) and Congressman John R. Carter (TX-31). The legislation will:

• “establishes a two-year pilot program to study covered entities and identify new classes of security vulnerabilities and research and test technology – like analog devices – that could be used to isolate the most critical systems of covered entities from cyber-attacks
• develops a working group to evaluate the technology solutions proposed and develop a national cyber-informed strategy to isolate the energy grid from attacks
• requires the Secretary of Energy to submit a report to Congress describing the results of the program, assessing the feasibility of the techniques considered, and outlining the results of the working group’s evaluations.”

Congressman Rup[ersberger | RUPPERSBERGER INTRODUCES HOUSE COMPANION TO SENATE ENERGY GRID SECURITY MEASURE

The 28 utilities: Ameren Missouri, Ameren Illinois, Ameren Transmission Company of Illinois, American Transmission Company LLC, Associated Electric Cooperative, Inc., six Duke Energy utilities, Duquesne Light Company, East Kentucky Power Cooperative, Entergy Corporation, Florida Power and Light Company, ITC Midwest, ITC Transmission, METC, Santee Cooper, and South Carolina Electric & Gas Company.

What is RESTORE?  Regional Equipment Sharing for Transmission Outage Restoration – was founded in 2016 by Louisville Gas and Electric and Kentucky Utilities, PPL Electric Utilities, Tennessee Valley Authority and Southern Company.

What is the Goal of RESTORE?

• address the threats outlined earlier this year in the Department of Energy’s Strategic Transformer Reserve Report
• Utility cooperation
• Increase ability to call on additional resources among utilities

Utility Dive | 28 utilities join RESTORE program to boost grid resilience, reliability

The 5th circuit is chiming in on whether Texas delegation of eminent domain authority to a pipeline is a violation of the constitution.

The 5th circuit’s opinion- Probably Constitutional.

Why just probably Constitutiona? Because the ruling related to an injunction not the issue of constitutionality itself. 

Boerschig v. Trans-Pecos Pipeline, L.L.C. , No.  16-50931 (Oct. 3, 2017)

Reuters | 5th Circuit rebuffs Texas rancher’s challenge to pipeline

How is eminent domain bringing together “gun toting conservatives” & “liberal envrionmentalists”? Eminent Domain use for pipelines

Tell me where this is happening…? In Virgina & North Carolina with opposition to the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, which is set to bring natural gas from West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio to electric power plants in Virginia and North Carolina

(it also happened in Keystone XL)

Duke University  | The Chronicle | They’ll be singing Kumbaya

Arizona  Public Service is going to start using reverse demand response.

What is reverse demand response?

• Its definitely not load shifting.  “Reverse demand response is very different than load shifting.”
• It definitely is flexible & open to ” all non-residential dispatchable loads with at least 30 kW of demand.”
  • the key phrasing: specific to dispatchable non-essential load
• it means free energy for the customer and Load serving entities can make money by having more load

Utility Dive  | Arizona utility will use ‘reverse demand response’ to avoid renewables curtailment

South Carolina State Attorney General calls the law that permits a utility to recoup costs for a failed nuclear development “constitutionally suspect.”

What specifically did the A.G. Opinion say about the law? “portions of the Base Load Review Act are constitutionally suspect. The Act fails to strike the constitutionally required balance between investors and ratepayers. It also denies ratepayers procedural due process”

How much is the utility charging customers each month related to the failed nuclear facility? According to the Charlotte Business Journal $37 Million per month

Utility Dive | South Carolina AG: SCANA should not charge customers for failed Summer nuke

A lawsuit in Colorado asks for personhood status for the Colorado River Ecosystem.

A river can have person legal person status? The lawsuit aligns the personhood status to the same afforded to ships, an ecclesiastic corporations or a standard commercial corporations.

Is this legallay weird?

•  Personhood was also used in the majority opinion for Citizens United for campaign finance
• Recent rulings in Ecuador, Colombia, India and some U.S. municipalities which have recognized that rivers, glaciers and other ecosystems may be treated as legal persons

Courthouse News | Environmentalists Seek Personhood for Colorado River Ecosystem

• Texas natural gas has a market
• Texas based operators can help Mexico access its resources more efficiently
• Demand for oil, gas and refined products is growing quickly in Mexico

Tyler Morning Telegraph | Editorial: Texas benefits from Mexico’s energy sector reforms

Carlos Rubenstein et. al. write that  water markets have been suppressed in 3 manners:

• Conflicting interests by Groundwater Conservation Districts
• Regulations by Groundwater Conservation Districts
• Legislative requirements that devalue water such as the “junior water rights provision” when it comes to interbasin transfers

​The solution: new omnibus water bill to reform state regulations
 

​The Gilmer Mirror |  Carlos Rubinstein of RSAH2O, Herman Settemeyer  of RSAH2O, &  Megan Ingram of Armstrong Center for Energy & the Enviro |  Texas Water Past Present and FutureTexas Water Past Present and Future

San Francisco and Oakland are suing Bay Area-based Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Shell and BP.

What do the cities want? Billions in compensation for the public nuisance created by past and future flooding, coastal erosion and property damage resulting from climate change.

Are there more local governments involved? Yes, the California counties of Marin and San Mateo & the San Diego County city of Imperial Beach

Have similar lawsuits happened before? Yes, in 2008 the Alaskan village of Kivalina filed a similar suit & the federal court found federal clean air rules trumped the nuisance claims raised by the local governments.

How are these California lawsuits different from the Alaska lawsuit that failed? The California suits are filed in state court and not federal court.

San Francisco Chronicle | San Francisco, Oakland sue major oil companies over rising seas

Driving a EV in Wyoming? Need a charge? Wyoming Department of Transportation is making it easier by including charging stations on its publicly available & accessible 511 map.

Equipment World | Wyoming maps out sites for alternative vehicle fueling

Duke Energy is spoending $30 Million to install 2 install battery storage in North Carolina.

The battery storage projects in the company’s regulated market are said to be “the first large-scale energy storage projects built by its regulated utility business.”

The 2 projects:

• 9 MW lithium-ion battery system at a Duke substation in the Rock Hill community
  • will be used to provide energy support to the grid by supplying frequency regulation
• 4 MW li-ion battery system and is considering a solar facility in Hot Springs, NC

Utility Dive | Duke to build its first utility-scale regulated battery storage projects

California’s Governor Jerry Brown has proposed water tunnels to move water from the wet areas of the state to Los Angeles, where the populations resides. There have been obstacles, lots of obstacles. Let’s look at 3 of the obstacles:

• Federal Government. Part of the tunnel system will be built by a federal water project, the federal Central Valley Project. The feds have different ideas and requirements for fudning and buiulding.
• Taxpayer support to pay for the tunnels is nonexistent.
• Local Water Districts are not on board. Its said the Westlands Water District, a major farm irrigator in the San Joaquin Valley, stunned California’s water community by being opposed to paying for the benefits the tunnel may bring its farmers.

Sacramento Bee | What’s next for Brown’s Delta tunnels now that a big chunk of funding has disappeared?

Arizona Public Service Co.

•  Demand-Side Management Implementation Plan includes:
  • incentives for smart thermostats, electric school buses, electric vehicle (and bus) charging infrastructure, energy storage and water heater timers
  • handful of EV pilot programs
    • EV charging network for non-residential customers that would allow APS to own and operate the equipment while establishing a demand response structure
    • provide electric buses and charging infrastructure free for selected schools
  • a “reverse” demand response pilot project for customers with loads of 30 kW or more
    • to mitigate for negative pricing events caused by solar generation and the steep ramping that occurs as solar power declines

Southern California Edison

• electric vehicle pilot programs
  • combining mid-range commercial and heavy duty electric vehicles and testing rate designs

Utility Dive | How utility pilot programs are driving renewable energy integration

Texas Lt. Governor Patrick appointed Larry Taylor and Lois Kolkhorst to the Joint Interim Committee to Study a Coastal Barrier System.

Co-chair designation was given to Larry Taylor.

LT. GOVERNOR PATRICK ANNOUNCES APPOINTMENTS TO JOINT INTERIM COMMITTEE TO STUDY A COASTAL BARRIER SYSTEM

The Department of Energy announced this week $50M to “support early stage research and development of next-generation tools and technologies to further improve the resilience of the Nation’s critical energy infrastructure, including the electric grid and oil and natural gas infrastructure”

That’s a lot of words, where is the money going?

• 7 Resilient Distribution Systems projects via DOE’s Grid Modernization Laboratory Consortium
  • includes microgrids
  • includes scalable regional grid technology
• 20 cybersecurity projects that will enhance the reliability and resilience of the Nation’s electric grid and oil and natural gas infrastructure
  • includes identifying energy delivery system equipment inadvertently exposed to the public internet to reduce the cybersecurity risk 
  • includes adaptability to survive cybersecurity incidents

If desalination sounds new and fancy, the Department of Energy has funding for you for newer and fancier- solar desalination.

Department of Energy announced a funding oipportunity announcement to fund:

• Low cost solar thermal heat;
• Innovative thermal desalination techniques;
• Solar thermal integrated desalination; and
• Solar thermal desalination analysis.

Department Of Energy | Notice of Intent to Issue Solar Desalination

Tennessee created the Tennessee Renewable Energy and Economic Development Council in 2008 with the goal of being neutral on renewable technologies.

So, how is the Switzerland of renewable programs working?

• It has membership of more than 100 city and county mayors and businesses
• Holds free forums throughout the state to educate members on grants and other opportunities available
• If a city swipes right on a renewable presentation, then University of Tennessee provides technical assistance
•  Presenttions are fast tracked with businesses given  15-minute presentation slots
• Its been successful program for small and rural commubnities who do not have the infrastructure to roll out renewable projects

Governing | How Tennessee’s Taken the Politics Out of Renewable Energy

Bill Peacock of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, in The Hill, offers 3 reasons to eliminate renewable energy subsidies:

• Renewables increase costs & decrease reliability.” U.S. Department of Energy report on electricity markets and reliability makes it clear that renewable energy subsidies are contributing significantly to the increasing cost—and the decreasing reliability—of the national electric grid.”
• Energy Poverty. Unless we eliminate renewable energy subsidies we’re living in energy poverty.
  • energy poverty is defined as “a sharply reduced standard of living caused by high energy costs”
• Renewable Subsidies Cost Too Much. 
  • In Texas from 2006-2015 renewable subsidies were $13 Billion.
  • Federal extension of Production Tax Credit in 2014 was $13 billion too.
  • There’s a 3rd cost to traditional sources of energy

Bonus feature: The piece adds in Texas being the only state that has a energy-only market

The Hill | Bill Peacock | Eliminating renewable energy subsidies is key to increasing prosperity

If generation is Lex Luther of  the DOE Grid Study, then transmission is Superman.

• Investments in transmission keep increasing
• There’s a working understanding that a ‘“robust and flexible” system is needed “to accommodate drastic changes in flows and dispatch” from variable renewables and to integrate plug-in electric vehicle and battery technologies.”
• We can learn from regional transmission successes to address interoperability

Utility Dive | Transmission: The unsung hero of the DOE grid reliability study

A review of grid security by Symatec reveals that since 2015 hackers have been trying to gain access to the energy sector.

What new technology targets are hackers after?  the hackers are looking for expanded access to operational systems & are taking screenshots of all systems in use to outline their function

How did hackers gained access through malware and phishing?  employees of 

• power generation
• transmission and
• distribution companies 

were all targeted with phishing attacks and malware from false Adobe updates.

The Hill | Sophisticated hacking campaign has targeted energy sector since 2015

SC Media  | Dragonfly APT group may be prepping to sabotage U.S. power facilities, report warns

The state: Idaho

The energy company: Franklin Energy

What did Frankin Energy want from Idaho’s Utility Regulator? 20 year contracts for 4 energy storage facilities charged by solar power with the capacity of 2.5 MW.

What did Idaho’s energy regulator decide? Contracts, yes, but only for 2 year terms.

Utility Dive | Idaho PUC says storage projects only eligible for 2-year PURPA contract

Hurricane Harvey exposed the need for energy security legislation by:

• highlighting that we must ensure our energy resources are safe, secure and plentiful
• allowing states to leverage federal resources, knowledge, and expertise to build stronger partnerships with public and private stakeholders to guarantee a better energy future

The Hill | Opinion by Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI) | In Harvey’s wake, energy security legislation needed now more than ever

How did retailers open and remain open during Hurricane Harvey? Microgrids.

 How does the microgrid work when normal utility operations are unavailable?

• Natural gas powered
• Provide electrical reliability to supply the energy needs of an entire store when the usual utility power is not available

Business Wire | Enchanted Rock / Texas Microgrid Powers H-E-B Retailer takes steps to ensure stores remain open when utility grid goes down

San Antonio Business Journal | H-E-B considers adding microgrid technology to San Antonio-area stores

The 5 states adding carbon costs to utility planning guidelines in various formats. Here’swaht we know:

• California is working to include carbon costs in its comprehensive energy and climate programs
• Colorado imposed a regulatory requirement that utilities use carbon costs in resource planning
• Minnesota raised its cost of carbon standards
• New York affirmed the carbon costs through its zero-emission credits
• Illinois incorporated carbon costs in a ZEC calculation & it is withstanding court challenge

Utility Dive | Carbon calculus: More states are adding carbon costs to utility planning guidelines

What happened at the Jersey Shore? New Jersey Board of Public Utilities last week launched a stakeholder process to study what happens to electric distribution in the state if the sales of EVs skyrocket

New Jersey Board of Public Utilties President believes policies should be adaptive and flexible.

What we need to know about the report from this stakeholder group?

• 180days and we’ll see a draft report
• the report will specifically include  stakeholder input
• the report will offer recommendations on:
  • potential EV infrastructure policies
  • any tariff revisions
  •  policy updates needed to address EV charging infrastructure

Utility Dive | New Jersey regulators to study impacts of widespread EV adoption

“U.S Energy Dominance Starts in Texas” a report by Texas Oil & Gas Association says that the Port of Corpus Christi is the largest exporter of crude in the U.S. due to:

• Proximity to Eagle Ford and Permian Basin
• New pipelines that feed the Port from infrastructure investments

The levels of sweet crude exports at the Port of Corpus Christi in 2017, 1st Quarter:

• 22 million barrels of crude oil for export
• that’s 30%of crude oil exports in the United States

San Antonio Business Journal | Port Corpus Christi top crude oil exporter in United States

Here’s what TPPF identified in the DOE Grid Security Report:

•  “renewable energy subsidies are contributing significantly to the increasing costs”
• renewable energy is “decreasing reliability of the national electric grid”
• If we want to improve reliability we have to eliminate subsidies

TPPF | TPPF STATEMENT ON THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY’S REPORT ON ELECTRICITY MARKETS AND RELIABILITY

3 Takeaways from DOE Report on Grid Security.

The Department of Energy released its much awaited grid security report.

Highlights from the report:

• renewables do not weaken grid security
• natural gas to be the greatest driver of baseload power plant retirements
• State energy policies are to be respected according to Secretary Perry

DOE | Staff Report to the Secretary on Electricity Markets and Reliability

• The supporters: Rural interests & environmentalists joined forces like the wonder twins 
• Tax Impact: The tax would be approximately $10 per year for the average home or 95 cents per month
• The opposition: water districts
• The bill’s goals: generate $2 billion over the next 15 years to clean up contaminated groundwater and improve faulty water systems and wells

KVCR | Calif. Legislature Considers New Tax To Help Get Rural Communities Safe Drinking Water

Mercury News | First-ever water tax proposed to tackle unsafe drinking water in California

California Senate Bill 623 (2017)

Chesco Township in Pennsylvania is proposing new ordinances that concern the operation pipelines, including:

• Limiting that can travel in the pipe- bn snything heavier than air- no compressed gas within 2500 feet of homes.schools and churches
• Requiring fencing around pipelines
• Requiring comapnies to pay cities any lot tax revenue from poroperty declines due to the pipeline
• City would have input on minimizing the impact on aquifers, private water wells, and building foundations
• Required monitoring systems

Pennsylvania State Impact | Chesco township plan would give municipalities more control over pipelines

Mexico is experimenting with biogas generation from the plentiful cacti.

Why cacti?

• Mexico is the 1st emerging nation to set renewable goals of 50% with the UN
• Mexico renewables are currently at 15.4% of its energy mix
• Producation at one cacti facility will produce 170 cubic meters (45,000 gallons) of biogas plus a little more than one tonne of compost, processing 3 to 5 tonnes of waste a day; and generating  175 kilowatt hours

The Sun Daily | Mexico’s prickly pear cactus: Energy source of the future?

A group of nuns in Pennsylvania own land that the Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline would like to occupy.

The nuns have taken the unusual step of suing the federal government claiming that the interstate natural gas pipeline violates their rights under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

Its a show down between the 5th Amendment (private property rights home) and the 1st amendment (protection of freedom of religious exercise).

Judge Awards Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline Builder Rights to Seize Last 5 Holdout Properties, Including Nun’s Land

DOE | Staff Report to the Secretary on Electricity Markets and Reliability 

The Department of Energy released its much awaited grid security report.

Highlights from the report:

• renewables do not weaken grid security
• natural gas to be the greatest driver of baseload power plant retirements
• State energy policies are to be respected according to Secretary Perry

DOE | Staff Report to the Secretary on Electricity Markets and Reliability

• Mexico has 343 trillion cu ft plus about 6.3 billion barrels of oil in the Bugos Basin, connected to Eagle Ford
• Energy Information Administration estimates Mexico’s total recoverable shale gas resources of 545.2 trillion cu ft
• In July 2017 Mexico announced it is opening the onshore part of the basin to private foreign investments in natural gas exploration
• Burgos Basin currently produces 15% of Mexico’s natural gas production
• Burgos basin production is highly capital intensive and thereby complicated in a high gas glut

Oil Price.com | Can Mexico Replicate The U.S. Shale Boom?

Commissioner Sitton statements concenring Mexico de-regulation:

• Mexico’s demand for US oil and natural gas “has gone up substantially and continues to climb”
• “From a regulator perspective, my job is not to drive business. My job is to make it easy for people to do business. So I say to a guy who wants to build a pipeline, we want to make sure that pipeline is safe.”
• Following up Secetary of State Pablos comments on more afforable electric trade into Mexico spurring manufacturing growth, Sitton commented that he’d like to see work on agreeable standards.

Rivard Report | Texas and Mexico Energy Sectors Strengthening Trade Alliances

The Company utilizing fuel cells: Equinix data centers

The capacity of the fuel cells:  37 MW of capacity under 15-year power purchase agreements

The benefits to businesses of fuel cells:  energy efficiency and financial  

Utility Dive | Bloom claims largest fuel cell data center deployment with Equinix

Kauai Island Utility Cooperative has 2 proposals for rooftop solar that it presented to the Hawaii Public Utility Commission:

• Customer Self-Supply

  • Residents would agree not to export any amount of energy except for “inadvertent” volumes

  • No compensation for any amount of energy export

  • Sets a minimum electric bill

•  Smart Export option

  • compensated only at times when “exported energy has value to the utility

  • compensates customers at a fixed rate between  $0.15/kWh to $0.28/kWh, which is lower than the retail rate, and set a cap for both. 

Background: IN 2015, Hawaii eliminated its net metering system with the goal of replacing the system

Utility Dive | Hawaii electric cooperative proposes new pair of rooftop solar compensation options

Missouri’s Western District Court of Appeals held that all counties along the Grain Belt Express, wind transmission line, must approve the project. Appeal of this ruling has been declined by the state supreme court.

Missouri’s Public Service Commission relied on this ruling  to deny approval until all counties sign off on the plan.

Missouri is the oinly state to withhold approval, and thereby deny the project the power of eminent domain.

St. Louis Post Dispatch | Despite giving vocal support, state regulators again deny Grain Belt Express transmission line, citing court ruling

The automanufacturer: Nissan

How it would work: charging stations will pay EV owners for selling juice back to the power grid

What jargon do I need to know: vehicle-to-grid (V2G) mobile energy storage

The goal of vehicle to grid energy storage: improve grid stability by collecting excess energy from V2G stations and redistributing it to cars or homes 

Autoweek | Will vehicle-to-grid energy storage become a moneymaker for EV owners?NISSAN AND ENEL EXPERIMENT WITH ELECTRIC CARS FOR GRID STORAGE, AHEAD OF MASS EV ADOPTION

Aaron Velasco, the new Texas Railroad Commission seismologist:

• He will share his time between the RRC and TexNet Seismic Monitoring program run by UT Austin’s Bureau of Economic Geology
• He will retain his post as a professor of geological sciences at the University of Texas in El Paso
• B.A. from UCLA and his PhD from University of California at Santa Cruz 
• He has more than 64 peer reviewed publications

Orlando is the 40th city to pledge a shift to 100% renewables.

The target date? 2050. 2030, for city operations.

What’s the hubub? In June 2017, the U.S. Conference of Mayors passed a resolution supporting 100% renewables by 2035

Did the U.S. Conference of Mayors offer local campaign matrials? Yes, yes, they did. Ready for 100 campaign

Utility Dive | Orlando becomes 40th US city to pledge 100% renewable energy

Oklahoma’s recently enacted HB 1449 imposes a $100 fee on an electric vehicle and a $30 fee on a hybrid.

After the bill was signed by the OK Governor, a lawsuit has been filed by the Sierra Club & a Republican candidate for Governor caliming the fee runs afoul with state legal requirements for legislation that raises revenue.

The revenue issue: OK has a $900 M shortfall, a big deal for OK. The EV and hybrid fee is estimated to bring in $1M annually to fund highway construction and maintenance

The energy issue: Is a fee on EV and hybrid vehicles effectively a tax on energy storage?

Bloomberg | Oklahoma’s $100 Electric Car Fee Challenged by Sierra Club

The U.S. Supreme Court this term may decide a case involving the extent to which states can regulate groundwater rights.

The Attorneys General of Nevada, Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, Wisconsin and Wyoming are asking the Supremes to calrify whether the implied federal reserved water rights doctrine preepts state groundwater regulation.

What is this legal mumbo jumbo? Native Americans in California obtained a 9th Circuit ruling that they have priority right to groundwater in the Cochella Valley because federal law preempts. 

las Vegas Review Journal | Nevada attorney general joins coalition to defend water rights

• California Legislature granted cities the ability to shut down polluters quickly
• The power to shut down the worst pollution outputs was given to local air districts
• A local air enforcement officer can issue a temporary abatement while the administrative courts determine the issue when there is “imminent and substantial endangerment to the public health or welfare”
  ​

AB1132 California (2017)

Governing | California Gives Local Officials Power to Quickly Shut Down Polluters

California is experiencing a new EV market- blockchain enabled EV charging. Distributive peer to peer charging.

The system allows for owners of personal EV charges to receive payment from others for their use.

How and when do you regulate the peer to peer sale of EV charging on private property? Is there a tax tied to the transaction? How does the shared EV charger work in a city with parking permit requirements?

Green Tech Media | Blockchain-Enabled Electric Car Charging Comes to California

The Coin Telegraph | California to Offer Blockchain-Linked EV Charging Stations

Fitch Ratings found that Texas utility water facility related debt will continue to rise due to:

• utilities need to invest in diversification of their water supplies
• utilities have aging infrastructure to replace
• Texas population and economy continues to expand

Bond Buyer | Aging Texas water facilities may require more debt 

Fidelity Investments | Aging Texas water facilities may require more debt

A bill that required an industry study on solar distributed energy has triggered study stnadards by the Montana Public Service Commission.

The study will include data that:

• factors that have a direct impact on the utility system and service to customers
• But, will NOT include data associated with the economic impact of jobs from solar installation

Montana House Bill 219 (2017)

Montana Public Service Press Release

Utility Dive | Montana regulators set criteria for NorthWestern’s net metering study

Maine Public Utility Regulators are working to phase out solar incetives for homeowners.

How did Maine get to the point of phasing out solar incentives? The legislature did not pass a bill to continue the solar incentives.

What is the current incentive for residential rooftop solar? excess power is compensated with a credit at the full retail rate of that electricity. Yes, Maine is a net metering state.

What is the Maine PUC proposed rollback? 

•  Grandfather all existing net-meter customers
• Extend grandfathering to any who install solar before Jan. 1, 2018
• Allow the current incentives for grandfathered customers for 15 years
• New customers who install solar over the next 10 years receive a credit on the transmission and distribution portion of the electric bill, which is decreased at a rate of 10% each year
  • That’s confusing what does it means? Rooftop solar installed on 1/2/18 would have a 90% net metering credit for 15 years.

Portland Press Herald | With incentives bill killed, PUC solar rules ready for enactment

Idaho Power is asking state regulators to step away from net metering and to put residences with rooftop solar into a separate rate paying category.

Utility Dive | Idaho Power wants to put rooftop solar customers in separate rate class

Idaho Power’s request for a separate rate structure for rooftop solar

The rapid retirement of power plants contributes to power grid security vulnerabilities for the following reasons:

• rapid retirement of power plants relies on lowest short-term costs & ignores long-term considerations such as the security issues relatef to an overreliance on natural gas;
• when a power plant closes, there are an additional 4 indirect jobs lost, which creates economic insecurity; and
• baseload power plants have the highest forms of power plant security and resilliency.

Jim Hunter, the former director of the IBEW Utility Department | Charleston Gazette Mail | Jim Hunter: Rapid retirement of power plants endangers grid security

CA, MA, OR and NY are the 4 states that have energy storage procurement targets.

Establishing as energy storage procurement targets on the state level will:

• Generate more procurement as seen in California which saw procurements exceed target levels
• Lead to time-varying electricity rates that can demonstrate the value of storage
•  energy storage is realized through acurate market signals such as locational pricing and crafting rates that signal the best time to leverage storage capabilities

Utility Dive | Energy storage group outlines ways for states to promote the technology

The world’s first floating wind famr is being deployed off the coast of Scotland. 

How do floating wind turbines differ from current water based wind turbines?

• Current water based wind turbines operate in depths up to 40m
• Floating wind turbines can operate in depts of 100 m to 700m, perhaps more
• The five floating turbines will power 20,000 homes

The Guardian | World’s first floating windfarm to take shape off coast of Scotland

California floods have come and gone, but the clean up and prevention has not. To expedite flood control projects, a California legislator is proposing an expedited permitting process in 4 insgtances:

•  Reducing Down Stream Risk. Oroville Dam and work to reduce the downstream flood risk. Workers already are racing to rebuild the dam’s gutted spillway.
•  Where Tragic & Costly Events Have Occurred. Projects in flood-risk watersheds that have experienced flooding within the last 10 years that caused more than $50 million in damage.
• Near earthquakes. Dams at risk from earthquakes. Some of those dams are near major population centers.
• The Worst of the Worst. Dams that are in serious disrepair and slated to be replaced.
• Locations of national economic importance. High-risk tidal flood zones of “national economic importance.” A combination of high tides and major storms threatens Silicon Valley.

These expeidted permit criteria aren’t limited in use to floods when drafting.

Sacramento Bee | Oroville, other flood-safety projects would be fast-tracked under new bill

Do you support “elected officials work[ing] to prevent and limit the use of eminent domain to take property rights from private landowners for use in oil and gas pipelines?”

That’s the question Whatcom County Council in Washington State wants to ask its residents in November.

KAFE 104.1 | Private property won’t get extra protection from eminent domain