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NewsData's "People in Power" is an exciting new biweekly podcast that explores issues in the energy industry, featuring expert guests from a wide range of backgrounds. Hosted by veteran energy journalists Jason Fordney and Abigail Sawyer of California Energy Markets and including appearances by writers from sister publication Clearing Up, People in Power will explore trends such as development of a Western wholesale electricity trading market, the transition to a more electrified world of new infrastructure and transportation, renewables integration and reliability, wildfire response and mitigation, and many other topics. "People in Power" draws from an unprecedented pool of expertise and insight in a way never seen before! It's available on all major podcast platforms as well as at www.newsdata.com.
Intro:
Welcome to NewsData's Energy West, a podcast about the energy
industry today and where it's going tomorrow.
Dan Catchpole:
Hello, I'm Dan Catchpole, reporter with NewsData's Clearing Up,
joined by my co-host and editor of NewsData's California Energy
Markets, Jason Fordney.
NewsData covers the energy sector in California, the Northwest
and beyond like no one else.
Here are some of the top stories we've worked on.
First, Jason, how are you doing?
Jason Fordney:
Great Dan, good morning.
How are you doing?
Dan Catchpole:
I'm doing well, thanks.
If you guys are already getting off to – I don't know – is it an
early start?
You guys have already had a wildfire, significant wildfire, down
there in California?
Jason Fordney:
Yeah, starting to see it creep in a little bit.
We're under a red flag warning for some of the Sierra foothills
and Central Valley right now.
Hot, dry does feel a little bit early.
And then we had a couple fires over the weekend, so starting to
see the first signs of wildfire season.
But so far, you know, nothing extensive so far.
I haven't smelled any smoke or anything.
But to keep a close eye on YubaNet Fire News on Twitter is a
great resource for that.
But other than that, it's a great weekend.
More river time, and that's always good.
Dan Catchpole:
Yeah, that is good.
Were you out kayaking, just playing in the river yourself or?
Jason Fordney:
Yeah, I just took my daughter.
She's almost eight, and she splashes around and.
Yeah, it's really gorgeous right now, so enjoying that.
So, yeah, I'll get into our news items here.
Dan Catchpole:
Let's kick us off here.
Jason Fordney:
All right. Well, last week, a news report from the North American
Electric Reliability Corporation, or NAERC,
got a great deal of attention.
It's the 2022 summer reliability assessment from NAERC.
What it said was drought supply chain holdups, fuel shortages,
cybersecurity, wildfires and extreme weather are
challenges facing the US electricity grid this summer.
And in the West, it's drought and energy scarcity during heat
wave events that are the biggest reliability concern
. There's an elevated risk of energy emergencies across the US
western interconnection this summer
with dry hydrological conditions which will threaten the
availability of hydro for transfer periods of high
demand over a wide area will result in reduced supplies of
energy for transfer, causing operators to rely primarily on
alternative resources for system balancing, including natural
gas fired generators and battery.
Interesting to hear NEARC refer to natural gas as alternative.
So yeah, there's more.
There's a reliability workshop this week, so it's becoming
apparent that summer is looking pretty tricky
here in California and across the West.
Yep. So that's news from NEARC on that.
And I will note there was a webinar where the NAERC CEO, John
Morris said, quote, "The nation's grid
reliability is deteriorating because utilities are switching too
rapidly from base load power plants to intermittent renewables."
Unquote. So Mr.
Moore here is able to say what a lot of people in the energy
industry are not.
This is, as we know, a touchy issue whenever you get into
blaming renewables.
But here's a reliability official, not anti-renewables, just
saying the transition is happening a little bit quickly.
Dan Catchpole:
It's interesting that your take on that comment, because that's
one that you hear more around the northwest.
I say it's less controversial up here, depending on where you
are for somebody to make that statement that we're moving too
fast.
Jason Fordney:
Yeah.
Dan Catchpole:
But it was interesting before we hit record, you were saying, oh,
that might get you strung up in some towns.
And there certainly are people who would not like to hear that
up here.
But sometimes I feel like it can also be kind of people run to
it for cover to justify
other other things and to say, well, we need to spend on this
because of renewables.
You know, they're intermittent, so we need to do X.
It's interesting.
Different cultural kind of context for these industrial culture
context for these
conversations between California and the Northwest.
Jason Fordney:
It's something I've noticed for a few years now.
You know, I am active on Twitter and get into this topic.
You know, there's a lot of defensiveness about this issue.
But, you know, it's pretty clear that, you know.
Also you have the CPUC, Public Utilities Commission, we've had
some back and forth with them, and they're blaming
all these blackouts – or the 2020 blackouts – on climate change
and all this risk on climate change, where it's one factor.
But you'll never hear the CPUC or any politician in California
saying we're moving too quickly towards renewables
. You know it's our job to take a little bit more sober
assessment, and I just want to be balanced on that
coverage.
Dan Catchpole:
Yeah. No, I mean, what do you do when the wind's not blowing?
It's a very serious question.
Jason Fordney:
So what's going on in the Northwest?
Dan Catchpole:
Well, after the last formal Columbia River treaty negotiations
ended in January, US and Canadian officials have
been holding small group sessions starting in late March and
continuing at least through the end of May, reports by
colleague K.C. Mahaffey.
And they're having these conversations in an effort to make some
progress on some of the more contentious issues of the Columbia
River Treaty, which that needs to be renewed before September
2024 when flood
control provisions in the current treaty expire.
And despite some folks have expressed frustration about the
apparent lack of progress, but
officials from speaking Canadian officials assured reporters at
a recent press conference that they, despite the
look that it might be slow, progress is being made.
And CRT, the Columbia River Treaty, affects hydroelectric
generation, irrigation, flood control,
environmental controls, and many other issues.
And it's a major, major issue for the Northwest power sector.
So that's our top story for the week.
Jason, you've got something going on with CPUC down there,
right?
I should ask, is it CPUC or CPUC?
Which one do you guys, what do you call it down there?
Jason Fordney:
We always say CPUC.
But I mean, whatever, you know, whatever works for you.
But yeah, the CPUC approved more utility energy storage
contracts.
It's about 498 megawatts of capacity for Southern California
Edison to fulfill its midterm reliability
procurement obligations.
These are five fast track contracts approved by the CPUC at its
May 19th meeting.
These address the 2023 and 2024 midterm reliability needs.
They're expected to be online by either August 1st, 2023, or
June 1st, 2024.
These are for resource adequacy only contracts, and another
contract that also provides the seller with the option to put the
dispatch rates to SCE.
This is covered by Linda Dailey Paulson.
Just a little bit of comment.
This is a massive amount of procurement the CPUC has embarked on
in the past year or two, and it's
just more of that.
But we are seeing quite a bit of supply chain issues affecting
new projects coming online, hopefully not in this case,
but yep, that's from Linda Dailey Paulson.
Dan Catchpole:
I always look forward to Linda's reporting.
Well, up in Washington, a Canadian developer has proposed what
would be the largest solar project in the state
. Interjects Renewable Development USA wants to build a 470
megawatt solar voltaic project
in Benton County, Washington, which is in central Washington.
It would also feature a four hour battery storage system.
This is almost 200 megawatts more than all of the existing
installed solar generation at the
end of 2021, according to the Solar Energy Industries
Association.
Which at that time it said there's 297 megawatts of installed
solar capacity in the state.
So Energex is hoping to start construction in the second quarter
of 2024, with commercial operations planned for the first quarter
of 2026.
The company tells us that it is actively engaged with potential
off-takers for the project, but has nothing they're
willing to say publicly yet.
They filed an application with the Washington Energy Facility
Site Evaluation Council, and you can read more about
that from my colleague Steve Ernst at NewsData.com.
Jason Fordney:
Wow. That's a large project.
Dan Catchpole:
Yeah, it is.
Jason Fordney:
It's quite a footprint.
Dan Catchpole:
We're starting to see some more expanding interest in solar in
the Northwest.
I mean, it'll never be what the desert southwest or California,
parts of California have, but it's becoming more viable.
Jason Fordney:
Right. All right.
Well, back to California.
We have a rare case again at the CPUC from San Diego Gas and
Electric.
They're requesting to recover more than 3 billion for
investments that range from reducing methane leaks in its
pipelines to implementing new smart meters.
If approved, the retail rate hike would increase utility bills
by 11% on average over current rates beginning in
2024. SDG&E in May 16, filings to the CPUC said it expects the
commission to authorize
its 2023 revenue requirement later this year.
Rates will start increasing January 1st.
Other reasons for this increase is expanding electric vehicle
charging infrastructure and adopting
to load growth.
This electricity rates in California are becoming more and more
of an issue.
Big hikes from PG&E and now proposed by SDG&E.
Mark Toni from Utility Reform Network said it's absolutely the
wrong time for SDG&E to be asking
for such a higher rate increase.
He has an issue with ratepayer money going to EV chargers.
Those funds should instead come from the transportation sector
or state and federal governments, he said.
And he's also extremely concerned about the proposal for new
smart meters.
He says he'll be paying for them for 20 years.
So good old fashioned rate battle shaping up at CPUC.
Dan Catchpole:
I do love a good old fashioned rate battle.
Jason Fordney:
And that's from Abigail Sawyer.
Excellent reporting from Abigail.
Dan Catchpole:
Oh, yeah. Yeah. No, Abby.
Abby is a star for sure.
That's why in a crowded, in a room, I don't like to stand next
to her because you know that she just makes everybody around her
look bad.
I actually I don't think, we've ever met in person.
Jason Fordney:
No.
Dan Catchpole:
For all the hours that you and I have spent talking, I don't
think we have ever met in person.
Jason Fordney:
That's true.
Hopefully at some point we will.
Dan Catchpole:
Yeah.
Jason Fordney:
I've met Abigail a few times.
She's not too far from me in San Francisco.
Dan Catchpole:
What a weird world we live in.
Well, we're all just in the matrix anyways, right?
So moving right along.
Just going to blow past that one.
Electric cooperative representatives from Montana are stepping
up to the plate on the question of
the fate of the lower Snake River dams.
They made a plea before the Northwest Power Conservation Council
saying that they depend on the generation from these
dams for cheap, reliable electricity, and they should not be
torn down.
Now, the fate of them obviously does not rest with the Northwest
Power and Conservation Council at all.
But the Council is considering doing a comprehensive long term
study of what it would take to replace
the generation assets and other attributes of the Snake River
dams if they were
were removed from the power system.
The representatives implored the council that – and whoever else
was listening – it was really a message to the broader industry
that their members are financially struggling and that they
depend on a lot of their cooperative members
are financially struggling, and they depend on the dams for
everything they provide from in terms of keeping power costs
low to keeping lights on.
And they also urged the industry to focus more on new
transmission rather than just tearing down dams.
One of the council members, Jenny Burdick, noted that many of
the concerns raised have not gotten the attention they deserve.
So it'll be interesting to see what, the council still has not
made up its mind as to whether or not they're going to undertake
that study, which will certainly be controversial, whatever it
comes out as saying.
Even though the council is making it clear that whatever they
decide that they will be very neutral, and it will be strictly
a quantitative study of what it will take to replace the
generation assets.
This lower Snake River dam, which also, I should add, provide
other values such as irrigation,
recreation, etc., transportation.
So it's a multifaceted issue.
Jason Fordney:
Yeah. And a long running debate that I'm sure will continue for
some time.
Dan Catchpole:
Years to come.
Jason Fordney:
Yeah. Well, interesting stuff.
I do want to mention my column, "Bottom Lines." In Friday's
issue, I took note
of CEM's 33rd anniversary.
The first issue of CEM came out May 5th, 1989, and I was able to
interview the
founder and first editor of CEM, Arthur O'Donnell, which is
always interesting.
We had a good time sort of comparing the way things used to be
done.
CEM just began making a digital PDF available in 2000.
So yeah, our office in San Francisco when we closed it up, I got
a binder of old issues and I was looking through some
of the old headlines.
Cal ISO plans for possible summer disruptions in San Francisco.
That's April 21st, 2000.
That's a story about CAISO approving small scale pickers to be
in place by July 1st.
Of course, CAISO did the same thing last year, so nothing new
under the sun there.
Another interesting headline.
CEC, California Energy Commission, staff would reject Metcalf
Power Plant Preliminary CEC
assessment that the plant should not be built in South San
Jose's North Coyote Valley.
Sorry about that. That is, of course, where the plant sits
today.
And lastly, an ominous indication of the California energy
crisis beginning to take
shape. May 26, 2000 issue headline "California Power Exchange
Prices Take to the Skies."
So yeah, we had a nice little retro look back.
Always interesting to do these things.
And you know, I look back through these issues.
I feel real responsibility to keep this publication at the
cutting edge of California Energy News.
And, yeah, it's a fast moving job with a lot of spinning
plates, but I do really enjoy it.
So I encourage people to check out my column.
It'll be posted on Twitter.
Dan Catchpole:
So it is interesting how the roles of these, how our roles have
somewhat changed and
haven't. Like with Clearing Up started that of the whoops crisis
debacle
and really with a major focus on litigation, and now I mean just
the pace of change,
the scope of change.
I feel like I'm saying this all the time, that things are
changing more and faster than we can even
realize.
Like a broken record sometimes.
But as we're just, you know, yeah, it's a big responsibility to
keep our readers informed, and hope we're living up to it.
Which speaking of that, I'm going to use this as a segue to plug
our conference coming up June 23rd to 24th.
If you want to be a little bit more informed about regional
wholesale power markets in the northwest,
go to NewsData.com/conf.
That's C-O-N-F, short for conference, where you can find more
information and register for the sixth annual Pacific
Northwest Wholesale Power Markets Conference, which will be put
on presented by NewsData and CJB
Energy Economics.
I've covered this.
It's June 23rd and 24th virtual event.
I've covered this conference several times in the past.
The folks who organize this conference always have an amazing
lineup of speakers, great conversation.
I always, as a reporter, really enjoy covering it and I'm just
happy to be a fly on the wall, the virtual wall,
listening to really smart, really informed people talk about
where power markets are and where they're going.
So check it out.
That's newsdata.com/conf.
Jason Fordney:
Awesome. I really enjoy our conferences.
They are really high quality.
I do work here maybe a little biased, but I found them to be
really good.
Dan Catchpole:
Yes, absolutely.
Jason Fordney:
Mm hmm. That's about it for us from California.
Want to take us out?
Dan Catchpole:
That's all for for me.
Thanks for listening, as always.
Please rate and review this podcast in Apple Podcasts, Spotify
or wherever you listen, and let other people know about it.
You can find me on Twitter.
I'm @DCatchpole and my cohost Jason Fordney is on Twitter at
@FordneyEnergy.
Jason Fordney:
Yep. And then of course, you can read more of our coverage at
NewsData.com.
Nobody covers energy in the West like we do.
On twitter, CEM is at @CEMnewsdata.
That's the letters C-E-M NewsData.
Clearing Up is @CUnewsdata.
Again, that's the letter C-U and NewsData.
Thanks for listening. We'll see you back here next week.
Intro:
You've been listening to NewsData's Energy West, a podcast about
the energy industry today and where it's going
tomorrow.