Utilities Hedge on Filing CEC Data; Riverside Peaker Approved

The California Energy Commission at its December 15 meeting postponed considering whether to adopt enforcement strategies to prod reluctant load-serving entities to turn over forecast data for its proposed 2005 Integrated Energy Policy Report. Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas & Electric have failed to submit all information requested by the agency. Enforcement strategies that include subpoenas, fines, and court actions will be revisited at the January 19 meeting. In an assertion that drew skeptical response from regulators, Manuel Alvarez, Edison regulatory policy and affairs manager, said the utility did not disclose certain demand forecast information beyond 2008 because it doesn?t track such data. ?We need numbers past 2008,? asserted commission member John Geesman. ?It?s hard to imagine a company like Edison doesn?t have numbers post-2008.? Les Guliasi, PG&E director of state agency relations, said the utility submitted enough public information for the commission to produce forecasts but did not supply certain confidential information. Seemingly treading lightly on the dispute, Guliasi added that PG&E will supply the withheld data, along with a request that it be kept under wraps. Energy supply information sent to the CEC that includes a request for confidential treatment but is deemed public won?t be returned to utilities, the commission stated in a memo last month. In related action, the commission issued a second subpoena directing the California Independent System Operator to submit resource-adequacy information for next summer. The grid operator has not expressed objections to the subpoena, according to Caryn Holmes, commission counsel. The first subpoena was sent in October. Also at the meeting, regulators approved Riverside Public Utilities? 96 MW peaker. The city?s facility was allowed to bypass a full permitting process because environmental impacts are expected to be minimal. The decision relies on the agency?s small power plant exemption, which applies to units that are less than 100 MW and relatively clean. The new plant is expected to be operational next summer. Grants worth a total of $5 million were awarded for three ?low-speed wind? demo projects. The commission finds this technology promising in part because low-speed wind projects can be located closer to demand centers than other wind facilities. The projects will test techniques to control the intermittence of the green resource. The CEC estimates that the potential for slow wind is about 43,000 GWh/year ( Circuit , Oct. 1, 2004). Clipper Windpower, Inc., was awarded $1.75 million; GE Global Research and Development got $1.7 million; and Windpower Composites LLC was awarded $1.5 million. Also adopted were amended regulations for appliance efficiency. The commission expects the new rules to save 100 MW of peak demand annually. Standards will cover a range of devices, including electronics, swimming pool pumps, and commercial refrigerators. Regulators postponed adoption of stringent standards for certain lighting appliances, citing the need for more review. A short-term increase in air emissions from the 750 MW Pastoria facility was also granted. The reason for this allowance, according to commission staff, is that start-up emissions are higher than anticipated during the licensing process. Staff expect no unmitigated environmental impacts from this move for the facility. In related actions, the assignment of emission-reduction credits for the Pastoria plant and the 1,087 MW San Joaquin Valley Energy Center were clarified. As the Calpine-owned projects were placed on the same certificate, the move is meant to clarify that the emission-mitigation measures apply separately to the two facilities.

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Utilities Hedge on Filing CEC Data; Riverside Peaker Approved

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