March 2021's Power Generation & Supply Market Recap is a snapshot of the data and information we curate. We share industry drivers, notable projects, recent mergers and acquisitions, interesting reads, and updates on upcoming meetings and conferences.
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Our data team tracks new and updated industry drivers. Here are some recent drivers we have been following this month:
Status: Proposed
Organization: Ohio Legislature
Summary: On March 3, 2021, the Ohio Senate passed a bill to remove a $1 billion bailout for nuclear plants, which will stop subsidies for two nuclear plants in northern Ohio tacked into Ohioans' electric bills.
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Status: Proposed
Organization: Wyoming Legislature
Summary: On March 3, 2021, the Wyoming Senate passed a law that would lower the amount of help provided to counties and municipalities impacted by industrial projects. The law proposes cutting the maximum amount of impact assistance of up to 2.25% from the current 2.76%.
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Status: Proposed
Organization: Georgia House of Representatives
Summary: On March 10, 2021, the Georgia House of Representatives passed a House Bill 647, a bill that will reinforce monitoring demands for ash generated by coal-burning power plants. The bill would demand that the groundwater monitoring at the closed ash ponds carry on for 50 years after closure completion.
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Status: Proposed
Organization: West Virginia Legislature
Summary: On March 10, 2021, the bipartisan legislation, Carbon Capture Modernization Act, an Act to support clean coal, was reintroduced. The Act will advance carbon capture technologies at coal plants and modernize the 48A tax credit's conditions to ease up receiving tax credits businesses based on the capabilities of existing technology. This will assist in promoting the adoption of carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology and decrease emissions.
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Status: Effective
Organization: Wisconsin Public Service Commission
Summary: On March 11, 2021, the Wisconsin Public Service Commission voted to begin an investigation called "Roadmap to Zero Carbon" with the goal to examine the economic and environmental factors related to the deployment of more clean energy technologies. The investigation will also examine plans by each of the state’s biggest utilities to eradicate carbon emissions by 2050.
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Status: Proposed
Organization: Indiana State Legislature
Summary: On March 16, 2021, Indiana's legislature adopted a bill that would allow property owners to claim industrial waste control facility property tax exemptions with a written and filed statement certifying that the property meets the requirements for the exemption. The bill would also modify the law in terms of posting of IDEM’s list of impaired waters by making the list available on the department’s website instead of being published in the Indiana Register. The bill would also require that the list be made available for public comment for at least 45 days instead of at least 90 days.
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Status: Effective
Organization: New York State Public Service Commission
Summary: On March 18, 2021, the The New York State Public Service Commission approved an increase in the amount of electricity kept in reserve during the summer peak in New York to ensure that adequate levels of electricity capacity are available to serve peak load and system emergency conditions. According to the analysis, peak summer load in New York this year is expected to be 32,243 MWs, only slightly higher than the comparable prediction for the summer of 2020.
Status: Effective
Organization: Department of Energy's (DOE)
Summary: On March 18, 2021, the Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER) issued a statement on three new research programs to protect the U.S. energy system from growing cyber and physical hazards. CESER's new portfolio will build up defense by addressing potential global supply chain security vulnerabilities, protecting critical infrastructure from electromagnetic and geomagnetic interference, and building a research and talent pipeline for next-generation cybersecurity.
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Status: Effective
Summary: On March 22, 2021, the Governor of Pennsylvania set forth a major clean energy plan that will generate close to 50% of the all Pennsylvania state government’s electricity through seven new solar energy arrays to be built around the state, totaling 191MW.
Status: Effective
Organization: U.S. Department of Commerce/White House
Summary: On March 29, 2021, the U.S. Department of Commerce revealed a plan that will elevate new energy goals by utilizing the economic potential of offshore wind power generation to fight the climate crisis. The plan is to generate 30 gigawatts of offshore wind power by 2030, thus creating more than $12 billion per year in capital investment in projects on both U.S. coasts and enough power for more than 10 million American homes and cutting 78 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions.
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Type: Generation - Solar
Status: Proposed
Organization: Cavalier Solar, LLC
Scale: 240 megawatts (AC)
Summary: On October 5, 2020, Cavalier Solar A, LLC filed an application before the Virginia State Corporation Commission for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity for a solar generating facility totaling up to 240 MWac and associated interconnection facilities to be located in Surry County and Isle of Wight County, Virginia. The additional interconnection facilities include a 34.5 kV medium voltage feeder line to interconnect the Solar Generating Facilities with the collector substation; and a 500 kV generation-tie line to interconnect the collector substation to the transmission grid at the Septa Substation. The estimated cost for this project is $247.9 million.
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Type: Transmission line
Status: Proposed
Organization: Public Service of Colorado
Scale: 345 kilovolts (kV)
Summary: On March 2, 2021, the Public Service Company of Colorado filed an application with the PUC of Colorado for a CPCN for Colorado's power pathway 345kV transmission project. The Pathway Project is a proposed 560-mile, 345 kV double circuit network transmission system between four existing substations and three new substations. Each segment of transmission line will be constructed using single pole, double circuit tangent structures (see typical structure diagram at left) and two-pole dead-end structures. The Project involves expansion of three existing substations (Fort St. Vrain, Pawnee, and Harvest Mile), expansion of a planned switching station (Tundra), and construction of three new substations which will be 345 kV switching stations (Canal Crossing [near and interconnected to existing Pawnee Substation], Goose Creek [near and interconnected to Cheyenne Ridge Wind Project], and May Valley [near but not interconnected to existing Lamar Substation]). The estimated cost of this project is $1.7 billion.
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Type: Solar generation
Status: Proposed
Organization: Rosemary Solar, LLC
Scale: 74 megawatts (AC)
Summary: On March 4, 2021, the Rosemary Solar, LLC submitted its application for a CPCN before the North Carolina Utilities Commission to construct a 74-MWAc solar facility in Scotland County, North Carolina. The facility's equipment is expected to include around 171,210 Canadian Solar 445 W Bifacial modules and around 27 Sungrow inverters. The facility owner plans to sell all the electricity to Duke Energy Progress LLC with the projected 145,383,000 kWh in annual sales. The estimated date on which the facility will start operating is June 1, 2024, and the estimated cost for this project is $70.3 million.
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Type: Solar Generation
Status: Proposed
Organization: Juliet Energy Project, LLC
Scale: 101 megawatts (MW)
Summary: On March 12, 2021, the Juliet Energy Project, LLC filed an application before the Ohio Power Siting Board for a Certificate of Environmental Compatibility and Public Need to develop, construct, and operate a 101MW solar-powered electric facility in Weston and Milton townships, Wood County, Ohio. The Facility will consist of photovoltaic (PV) panels, access roads, electric collection lines, a collection substation, a short generation interconnection (gen-tie) line (approximately 50 ft), a laydown area for construction staging, an operation and maintenance (O&M) building, and pyranometers. The energy generated at the Facility will be delivered to American Transmission System Inc.’s (ATSI) Weston 69 kV substation, located immediately to the north of the planned Facility substation location in Weston. The estimated cost of this project is $106.2 million.
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Type: Solar Generation
Status: Proposed
Organization: Powell Creek Solar, LLC
Scale: 138 kilovolts (kV)
Summary: On March 16, 2021, the authority of Ohio Siting Board issued a Staff Report of Investigation in the matter of the application of Powell Creek Solar, LLC for a Certificate of Environmental Compatibility and Public Need. The Company proposed to construct the Seaman-Adams 138 kV Transmission Line Rebuild Project in Adams County, Ohio. The Project involves the rebuild of two existing single circuit transmission lines as a double circuit line. Specifically, the Company plans to rebuild the existing Adams – Seaman 138 kV circuit from the Seaman Substation to the Adams Substation and the existing Adams – Seaman 69 kV circuit (built to 138kV standards but operated at 69 kV) into one double circuit transmission line. Although the majority of the transmission line rebuild work for this Project will occur within the Company’s existing transmission line right-of-way (ROW), about 0.7 mile will be located outside of existing ROW. The estimated cost for this project is $154.6 million.
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