ACSF has established a biannual workshop for industry professionals and environmental advocates to develop new regulatory options for promoting a cleaner, low carbon electricity sector. The 4th workshop in this series was held on November 8-9, 2012, near the headquarters of the PJM Interconnection in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.

Presentations

M. Gary Helm, PJM Interconnection, Coal Plant Retirements: Potential Impacts of Reduced Energy Demand, Low Natural Gas Prices and the Mercury & Air Toxics Standards Rule

Susan Covino, PJM Interconnection, Resource Adequacy Planning

Paul McGlynn, PJM Interconnection, PJM’s Compliance With FERC Order 1000

Allison Clements, The Sustainable FERC Project, Natural Resources Defense Council, FERC Priorities

Michael Goggin, American Wind Energy Association, Wind Integration and FERC

Ken Schuyler, PJM Interconnection, Paying for System Flexibility: Status of New Ancillary Services

Shucheng Liu, California ISO, System Flexibility for Integrating 33% Renewable Generation in California ISO

Nivad Navid, Midwest ISO, Managing Flexibility in MISO Markets

James T. Gallagher, New York ISO, Integrating Renewable and Variable Energy Resources in the New York Electricity Market

Jonathan Lowell, ISO New England, Paying for System Flexibility

Paul McGlynn, PJM Interconnection, Incorporating State Energy Policy Goals into Regional Electricity Market

Synopsis of Workshop Agenda

November 8, 2012:

1:00 – 2:00pm – Tour of PJM Facilities

2:15 – 5:00pm – Presentations from PJM Staff

• Coal Retirements – Gary Helm
• Resource Adequacy Planning – Susan Covino
• FERC Order 1000 – Paul McGlynn

6:00pm – Welcome Reception and Dinner

November 9, 2012:

8:30am – Welcome and Opening Remarks – Greg Staple, American Clean Skies Foundation

8:45am – Review of FERC Variable Energy Resources (VER) Rules and Update on FERC Proceedings. Panelists include:

• Glen Boshart, Industry Editor/Analyst, SNL Energy (moderator)
• Allison Clements, Director, The Sustainable FERC Project, NRDC
• Michael Goggin, Manager of Transmission Policy, American Wind Energy Association

10:15am – Networking break

10:30am – Paying for System Flexibility: Status of New Ancillary Services to Accommodate Intermittent Resources. Panelists include:

• Rich Sedano, Principal and Director of US Programs, Regulatory Assistance Project (moderator)
• Ken Schuyler, Manager, Renewable Services, PJM
• Shucheng Liu, Principal, Market Development, CAISO
• Nivad Navid, Market Development and Analysis, MISO
• James Gallagher, Senior Manager for Strategic and Business Planning, NYISO
• Jonathan Lowell, Principal Analyst, ISO-NE

12:30pm – Lunch

1:15pm – Incorporating State Energy Policy Goals Into Regional Electricity Markets. Panelists include:

• Greg Staple, CEO, American Clean Skies Foundation (moderator)
• Paul McGlynn, Director, System Planning, PJM
• Malcolm Woolf, Vice President, Government and Regulatory Affairs, Advanced Energy Economy (AEE), and former Director, Maryland Energy Administration
• Robert Powelson, Chairman, Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission

3:30pm – Networking break

3:45pm – Group discussion about potential federal, state, and ISO mechanisms and policies for improving system flexibility.

5:00pm – Adjourn

By Gregory C. Staple Esq. and Joel L. Swerdlow, Ph.D., 2009.

Working Paper

During the recent Republican and Democratic presidential nominating conventions, ACSF distributed more than 60,000 copies of a special eight-page newspaper supplement about America’s shale gas story and the Foundation’s policy work. This unique advertising supplement was prepared by ACSF in conjunction with the Washington D.C.-based Politico newspaper and was inserted in the local Tampa Bay Times and Charlotte Observer newspapers provided to all convention participants. More than 30,000 copies of the supplement were also distributed in Washington D.C. as part of a post-convention issue of Politico.

This map was originally published in Politico’s presidential nominating convention newspapers.

Data Sources

• Shale Gas Basins: Energy Information Administration, May 9, 2011, http://www.eia.gov/oil_gas/rpd/shale_gas.pdf
• Frac Sand Production: ICF International.
• New Major Gas-Fired Power Plants: SNL Financial, accessed June 12, 2012.
  • Included are all planned natural gas-fired power plants with construction costs estimated to exceed $100,000,000.
• New Gas Processing and Fractionation Plants: Oil and Gas Journal, May 7, 2012.
• New Petrochemical and Other Plants: ICF International
• Existing and Planned Public LNG/CNG Filing Stations: Department of Energy, Alternative Fuels and Advanced Vehicles Data Center, accessed June 1, 2012, http://www.afdc.energy.gov/afdc/fuels/stations.html
  • Included are all existing and planned public CNG and LNG fueling stations (no private/fleet only fueling stations).
• Planned LNG Export Terminals: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, July 17, 2012, http://ferc.gov/industries/gas/indus-act/lng/LNG-proposed-potential.pdf and http://www.ferc.gov/industries/gas/indus-act/lng/LNG-approved.pdf
  • Included are all export terminals that are either approved and under construction or proposed to the FERC.

ACSF has established a biannual workshop for industry professionals and environmental advocates to develop new regulatory options for promoting a cleaner, low carbon electricity sector. The 3rd workshop in this series, held on April 19-20, 2012, was co-hosted at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado with the Joint Institute for Strategic Energy Analysis.

Presentations

Paul Denholm, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, How PV and CSP with Thermal Storage Can Work Together

Craig Turchi, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, CSP and Natural Gas Hybrids

Easan Drury, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, U.S. PV Market Landscape

Russell Young, GE Energy, Concentrated Solar Power

Cara Libby, Electric Power Research Institute, Utility Perspective: Solar Thermal Hybrid Projects

Greg Brinkman, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Impacts of Renewable Generation on Fossil Fuel Unit Cycling: Costs and Emissions

Paul Hibbard, Analysis Group, Variable Resources in Capacity Markets, Market Rule Adjustments and Balancing Resource Options

Christopher Carr, C2E2 Strategies, EPA Power Plant Regulations and Clean Energy: A New Paradigm?

Ron Binz, Public Policy Consulting, Progress Under the Clean Air Clean Jobs Act

Austin Whitman, M.J. Bradley & Associates, Energy Sector Modeling and Fuel Price Assumptions

Patrick Bean, American Clean Skies Foundation, Locking In the Benefits to Fuel Switching

David Hart, Center for Science and Technology Policy at George Mason University, Unlocking Energy Innovation

Synopsis of Workshop Agenda

April 19^th: Updates, new analysis and background presentations

8:00 – 8:30am – Workshop introduction – Greg Staple, Chief Executive Officer, American Clean Skies Foundation; and Doug Arent, Executive Director, Joint Institute for Strategic Energy Analysis

8:30 – 12:15pm – Moving Towards a Cleaner Power Paradigm

• Utility Scale Solar and Gas: Options for Thermal Solar and PV(120 minutes)
• Solar, Storage, and Natural Gas Hybrids: Paul Denholm, Craig Turchi, and Easan Drury, NREL
• Facilitated Discussion on Developer and Utility Perspectives: Udi Helman (BrightSource), Russell Young (GE Energy), Cara Libby (EPRI), and Mark Marion (juwi solar, Inc.)
• Impacts of Renewable Generation on Fossil Fuel Unit Cycling: Costs and Emissions (Greg Brinkman, NREL) (45 minutes)
• Variable Resources in Capacity Markets, Market Rule Adjustments and Balancing Resource Options (Paul Hibbard, Analysis Group) (45 minutes)

12:15 – 1:45pm – Lunch

• Survey of Ongoing Projects: Update from NREL/JISEA
• Renewable Energy Futures Study, Trieu Mai
• The Energy Systems Integration Facility (ESIF), Ben Kroposki
• Energy Data Visualization, Dan Getman

2:00 – 3:00pm – Coal Retirements and Action at the State Level

• EPA’s Clean Air Regulations: State of Litigation on CSAPR and MATS (Chris Carr, C2E2 Strategies)
• Implementing Colorado’s Clean Air-Clean Jobs Act: Reviewing Two Years of Progress (Ron Binz, former CO PUC Commissioner and Frank Prager, Xcel Energy)

3:15 – 5:00pm – Coal Retirements and Action at the State Level (cont.)

• Overview of Fuel Price Trajectories for Natural Gas and Coal
• Energy Sector Modeling and Fuel Price Assumptions (Austin Whitman, M.J. Bradley & Associates)
• ACSF Report: Locking in the Benefits of Fuel Switching (Patrick Bean, ACSF)
• Oklahoma’s New Competitive Procurement Process for Electric Utilities to Secure Long-Term Fuel Supply (Jim Roth, Phillips Murrah P.C.)

6:30 – 9:00pm – Reception and Dinner

Keynote – David Hart, co-author of ‘Unlocking Energy Innovation’

April 20^th: Where do we go from here? Refining our Priorities and Next Steps

8:30 – 9:45am – Morning Panel – Clean Energy Policy Landscape in the West, Led by Gov. Bill Ritter, Center for the New Energy Economy, Colorado State University with Kate Fay, Energy Advisor, EPA Region 8; Maryanne Kurtinaitis, Colorado Renewable Energy Lead, Bureau of Land Management; Matt Baker, Commissioner, Colorado Public Utility Commission, and Bob Randall, Deputy Director, Colorado Department of Natural Resources.

10:00 – 12:00 – Synthesis and Next Steps

The Foundation, together with the Worldwatch Institute and the UN Foundation, brought natural gas to the center of climate policy discussions in Copenhagen during the landmark UN negotiations for a new global climate change treaty in December 2009. These negotiations are formally known as the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP-15) to the UN Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC). The initiative will highlight the potential of natural gas to contribute to near- and medium-term emission reductions.

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Because natural gas can generate electricity with 50% less CO₂ than coal, the expanded use of natural gas could be a “game changer” for U.S. climate action.

However, the cap-and-trade bills now before the Congress do not give priority to increasing the power sector’s use of natural gas. We think that is a mistake and have developed a natgas incentive program that would address this shortcoming.

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