Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
FERC Seeks Stronger Protections for Electric and Pipeline Systems
During its first meeting of 2022, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission addressed only one issue: cybersecurity. It began work proposing that the North American Electric Reliability Corp., a standards and enforcement body, write rules to help thwart insider cybersecurity attacks against generators and transmission owners. Taken together, these connected networks are often referred to […]
Federal Agency Pushes Grid Operators on Increasing Distributed Energy into Markets
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has directed the California grid operator and five others to prove they are lowering market barriers for loads of combined resources from large and small energy users. The agency wants the regions to put aggregated distributed energy resources on an equal footing with traditional generation.
Much of the distributed energy […]
Booming Clean Energy Highlights Transmission Needs
Record growth through the end of last September brought the combined installed wind, solar, and battery storage capacity in the United States to 186.7 GW, according to the just-released Q3 Clean Power Quarterly by America Clean Power. California had over 22 GW of that capacity.
With clean energy resources becoming a significant portion of […]
FERC Won’t Allow PG&E to Bill Ratepayers $6M for Transmission Planning
Federal energy regulators rejected Pacific Gas & Electric’s request to swiftly recoup $6 million it spent downscaling three transmission projects as directed by the California grid operator. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission voted 4-0 to deny PG&E permission to collect the money from ratepayers under its transmission tariff because the projects are still alive […]
FERC Okays Stronger Dam Safety Rules
A blowout in 2017 of the spillway below the highest dam in the U.S., the Oroville Dam on the Feather River, that forced the evacuation of 180,000 people led the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to adopt rules this week to increase dam safety across the country. Independent consultants are to perform in-depth inspections at […]
SCE Seeks Increased Income from Vegetation Work at Tehachapi High Voltage Project
The California Public Utilities Commission is urging federal regulators to reject a request by Southern California Edison to recategorize its costs of weed cutting, vegetation cultivation, and other operational and maintenance activities around its large Tehachapi Renewable Transmission project so it may earn a multi-year return.
Allowing the utility to turn expenses for operations and […]