Energy In-depth: MISO Operations ‘Go Live’ On June 1

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MISO OPERATIONS ‘GO LIVE’ ON JUNE 1
The Midcontinent Independent System Operator’s (MISO) new $22 million state-of-the art command center in West Little Rock will be fully operational on June 1, company officials said Thursday.

After several weeks of testing and training following its late March grand opening, the Carmel, Ind.-based will officially transition the grid operator’s oversight responsibility for the South region to the MISO staff in Little Rock, led by Todd Hillman, regional vice president, MISO South.

The MISO South region includes Entergy’s operating subsidiaries in Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Gulf States and New Orleans, and several other utilities and power companies across a four-state footprint. It also covers 18,000 miles of transmission, more than 50,000 megawatts (MW) of generation capacity, and 30,000 MW of load capacity.

Former Gov. Mike Beebe will join current Gov. Asa Hutchinson and MISO executives at the “hand-off” ceremony, officials said.

EIA: RENEWABLE ENERGY ACCOUNTS FOR NEARLY 10% OF TOTAL U.S. ENERGY CONSUMPTION
Renewable energy accounted for 9.8% of total domestic energy consumption in 2014, the highest renewable energy share since the 1930s when wood was a much larger contributor to the domestic energy supply, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Renewable energy use grew an average of 5% per year over 2001-2014 from its most recent low in 2001. The increase over the past 14 years was in part because of growing use of wind, solar and biofuels. Wind energy grew from 70 trillion Btu in 2001 to more than 1,700 trillion Btu in 2014, solar energy (solar thermal and photovoltaic) grew from 64 trillion Btu to 427 trillion Btu, and the use of biomass for the production of biofuels grew from 253 trillion Btu to 2,068 trillion Btu.

Hydroelectricity was the largest source of renewable energy in 2014, but hydro consumption has decreased from higher levels in the mid-to-late 1990s. Wood remained the second-largest renewable energy source, with recent growth driven in part by demand for wood pellets.

To see the EIA report, click here.

RESEARCH GROUPS RAMPING UP IMPACT REPORTS ON EPA’S CLEAN POWER PLAN
As the deadline nears for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to finalize the controversial Clean Power Plan, partisan and nonpartisan groups on both sides of the issue are ramping up white papers, impact studies and policy reports on the how the proposed rule for greenhouse gas emissions from existing power plants will play out.

One report by by Phillip Wallach and Curtlyn Kramer at the Brookings Institution examines state environmental agencies’ comments on the proposed rule which reveal an uncertain future concerning the success of the plan. See that report here.

The U.S. Department of Energy also released an analysis of the impact of the Clean Power Plan on May 22, 2015, at the behest of Rep. Lamar Smith, Chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. That report can be found here.

In June 2014, EPA issued its proposed Clean Power Plan to regulate carbon emissions from existing power plants under section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act. The EPA has signaled that it expects to release the final rules in August, backing off its earlier plan to lay out the new regulations in early June.

ENTERGY NEW ORLEANS TO BUILD NEW SOLAR POWER PLANT
Just over a month after Entergy Arkansas announced the largest solar project in Arkansas, its sister subsidiary in New Orleans announced plans to launch the city’s first utility-scale solar project.

Entergy New Orleans’ new solar project will consist of more than 4,000 solar panels and is slated to be complete in 2016, officials said. “The fact that our state’s electrical utility leader is investing in solar power signifies the importance of our solar industry—and the impact it has on the lives and well-being of Louisiana ratepayers,” said Jeff Cantin, president of the Gulf States Renewable Energy Industries Association.

Entergy Arkansas announced plans on April 15 to build a solar power plant in Arkansas County’s Grand Prairie. That 81-megawatt photovoltaic solar energy generating facility is expected to be connected to Entergy Arkansas’ transmission grid no later than mid-2019.