RUS to Conduct New Report on Transmission Project
Posted on Aug 15, 2013 in Environmental, Grid & Infrastructure, Project Development, Regulation & Policy | Comments Off on RUS to Conduct New Report on Transmission Project
The Rural Utilities Service (RUS) has announced that it will conduct a supplemental environmental impact report for Basin Electric Power Cooperative’s proposed North Dakota transmission line. This decision came from a need to consider new aspects of the plan. Read more here.
Vermont Coop Limits Future Solar Installations
Posted on Aug 15, 2013 in Energy Savings Programs, Environmental, Grid & Infrastructure, Innovation/Efficiency, Rates, Renewable Energy | Comments Off on Vermont Coop Limits Future Solar Installations
Washington Electric Co-op (WEC) has announced that, as of October, it will limit the use of net metering for future solar installations on its system to the size of 5 kilowatts. In Vermont, the practice of net metering allows a utility’s members to make solar installations on a utility’s system and sell such power to the utility. WEC’s decision to limit the size of future...
White House Calls for Additional Spending on Nation’s Power Grid
Posted on Aug 13, 2013 in Grid & Infrastructure, Reliability, Technology | Comments Off on White House Calls for Additional Spending on Nation’s Power Grid
The Obama Administration has released a report on the costs of power outages, which calls for increased spending on the nation’s electric power system. According to the report, power outages cost the economy $18 billion to $33 billion per year. Seven of the ten most costly storms in U.S. history occurred between 2004 and 2012, during a time when the U.S. electric grid was...
Wisconsin Bill to Protect Coops From Civil Suits
Posted on Aug 2, 2013 in Grid & Infrastructure, Legislative & Politics, Regulation & Policy | Comments Off on Wisconsin Bill to Protect Coops From Civil Suits
Wisconsin State Assembly representatives have proposed Assembly Bill 257 to protect coops and other electricity providers from civil liability for damage to persons and property resulting from power service. The bill does not intend to modify existing standards related to permissible stray voltage levels, but critics say the bill will take utilities off the hook for related harm and...
Alaska Coop Seeking to Partner with State on Developing LNG Plant
Posted on Jul 30, 2013 in Financing, Grid & Infrastructure, Permitting | Comments Off on Alaska Coop Seeking to Partner with State on Developing LNG Plant
Alaska’s Golden Valley Electric Association is one of four entities seeking to partner with the state in developing a small LNG plant at Prudhoe Bay, a spokesman for the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority said. The proposed LNG plant would process 9 billion cubic feet of gas per year and ship 300,000 gallons of LNG per day by truck to Fairbanks in Interior Alaska. For...
Oregon Utilities Consider Territory Transfer
Posted on Jul 25, 2013 in Corporate Governance, Grid & Infrastructure | Comments Off on Oregon Utilities Consider Territory Transfer
The Eugene Water & Electric Board (EWEB), an Oregon municipal utility, is considering transferring a portion of its McKenzie River Valley service territory to Lane Electric Cooperative (Lane Electric). The transfer will only occur if EWEB and Lane Electric determine that such a transfer would make “technical, operational, business and customer sense.” Both EWEB and Lane Electric...
Appeals Court Upholds Award in Dairy Farmer’s Suit Over Stray Voltage
Posted on Jul 23, 2013 in Grid & Infrastructure, Litigation | Comments Off on Appeals Court Upholds Award in Dairy Farmer’s Suit Over Stray Voltage
An appeals court decided that a Waverly, Minnesota, dairy farmer can be awarded damages from a local coop because of the effects of stray electrical currents from the coop’s transmission lines on his dairy cows. Stray electrical currents, which were conducted through the ground rather than a neutral wire connected through the farm, were found to have killed and stressed a number of...
“NIMBY” Case Heads to Court
Posted on Jul 23, 2013 in Grid & Infrastructure, Land Use, Litigation | Comments Off on “NIMBY” Case Heads to Court
A case between a wealthy North Carolina video game developer, Tim Sweeney, and the Rutherford Electric Membership Corporation (Rutherford) is headed to court on August 12. Sweeney claims that his land will lose $10.6 million in value if the coop runs a power line through it as planned. The trial will focus on whether Rutherford needs to build the 12-mile line and whether there are...
FERC Rolls Back Electric Reliability Obligations for Small Coops
Posted on Jul 23, 2013 in Grid & Infrastructure, Regulation & Policy, Reliability | Comments Off on FERC Rolls Back Electric Reliability Obligations for Small Coops
In what is being heralded as a large first step in the small coop community, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has rejected the North American Electric Reliability Corporation’s (NERC) finding that a small, rural electric cooperative should be subject to mandatory electric reliability regulations. The order, involving the South Louisiana Electric Cooperative Association...
South Canal Hydro Project Goes Online in Colorado
Posted on Jul 23, 2013 in Environmental, Grid & Infrastructure, Innovation/Efficiency, Renewable Energy, Technology | Comments Off on South Canal Hydro Project Goes Online in Colorado
Colorado-based Delta-Montrose Electric Association (DMEA) brought its South Canal Hydro project online in late June. The project was funded by the National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation with $22 million in New Clean Renewable Energy Bonds (CREBs), and it will divert flow to generate an estimated 27 million kWh annually. Click here for more details on this...
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