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Executive Director Energy Council
217-522-5512 ext. 234
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July 13, 2020
Good morning! There have been two more Working Group meetings since our last newsletter, as well as some other general developments detailed below. If you have any questions about today's newsletter or anything else, please don't hesitate to reach out to me at
[email protected]
. On to the newsletter!
Governor's Energy Working Group
As noted in last week's newsletter, at the first meeting of the working group after the long lay-off, representatives of CEJA and the Path to 100 each presented a PowerPoint deck on the barriers to development and the highpoints of each piece of legislation. Both of those presentations are included with the newsletter today.
This week, the Administration held two virtual meetings of its Energy Working Group, the first on Tuesday, July 9, 2020, from 1:00 - 2:30, and the second on July 9, 2020, from 2:00 - 3:30. Each meeting had 85-95 participants. Both meetings continued the discussion of challenges to renewable energy deployment initiated at the meeting last week.
With an initial admonition to keep political advocacy out of the working group meetings, the first meeting focused on three topics: financing hurdles to renewable deployment, challenges with siting, and the difficulty with interconnection. The second meeting included some expanded thoughts on interconnection, DG rebates, integrated distribution planning and storage. Many of the talking points from the first working group meeting before the Covid19 pause, and the first meeting after the working group resumed meeting, gave way this last week to good discussion about policy and points of agreement. There is still, however, a lot of detail yet to be covered. All in all, these were productive meetings.
Some of the key takeaways from the meeting included:
There was a robust discussion on challenges with financing and whether the current contract structure lends itself to project development.
Through restrictive siting practices, 6-8 Illinois counties have effectively prohibited RE project development. This lead to a through discussion of whether state standards should be adopted, whether a model siting ordinance would ease the process, or whether state law could "backstop" siting standards. Renewable developers have drafted language which they have used in Indiana; I will obtain those documents and send out as soon as I obtain them.
With regards to solar, Christian Mitchell reminded the parties that we have to keep equity in mind when developing solar incentives, and cannot just focus on utility scale solar at the expense of other options.
The Illinois Commerce Commission has an ongoing interconnection workshop, and many of the stakeholders spoke approvingly of the efforts and potential agreements being identified through that process. There is hope this workshop will ultimately evolve into a rulemaking on the issue.
Senator Hastings repeatedly sought to drill down into the issue of interconnection transparency, and asked proponents to more fully explain what they meant by greater transparency. A document was provided at the second meeting, detailing these issues, and I have included it with this newsletter. There was also a robust discussion on the costs involved in interconnection and how that can be a barrier with smaller companies seeking to get involved in this sector.
There was not a great deal of time left in the second meeting to discuss storage, due to the lengthy discussion on interconnection, but there was a valuable discussion on the thought that needs to be given to battery deployment, as opposed to a perspective that "we just need to deploy a lot of batteries." One stakeholder pointed to the Clean Peak Standard in Massachusetts as an effective means of deploying storage.
We still don't have an agenda for the next meeting on Tuesday, July 14, 2020, but we do know that the group will focus on clean power and decarbonization, as well as the Fixed Resource Requirement.
Other Items of News and Note
D.C. Circuit Reject's FERC's Use of Tolling Orders
On Monday, Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ordered the pipeline's closure within 30 days and vacated its operating permit, citing a rushed environmental review predicating the permit. The judge ordered that the pipeline be emptied while its environmental impact is assessed. Dakota Access, LLC has since asked for a stay of the order's effect, pending an appeal.
FERC Commissioners Seek Congressional Help after D.C. Circuit Tolling Revamp
FERC Chairman Neil Chatterjee and Commissioner Richard Click testified before Congress last Friday, urging lawmakers to craft a solution to the-as one judge styled it-"Kafkaesque" rehearing process recently declared invalid in
Allegheny Defense Project v. FERC. Before the D.C. Circuit's decision last month, FERC was permitted to issue tolling orders extending the rehearing consideration process, thus preventing objectors' appeal rights while some projects went forward. The Commissioners urged Congress to clarify legislatively that FERC is permitted additional time for reconsideration decisions, while protecting landowners through prohibitions on construction during this reconsideration period.
Duke and Dominion Cancel Atlantic Coast Pipeline
This past weekend, developers of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline announced that "recent developments have created an unacceptable layer of uncertainty and anticipated delays" in the multi-state project. The developers won a recent permit victory before the U.S. Supreme Court, but faced sustained opposition from environmental groups and landowners since the project began in 2014.
The Governor's Energy Working Group will have two more meetings next week, and I'll provide an update on those developments, along with whatever else starts moving, next Friday! I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend
!
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