Posts from — October 2010

On October 13, 2010, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (“NERC”) issued an industry AURORA alert making recommendations to entities and requiring entities to report on progress made by December 13, 2010.  The entities will then have to make updates to NERC every six months until the mitigation is completed to address any vulnerabilities.  The new alert divided recommended mitigation elements into two categories: 1) Protection and Control Engineering, and 2) Electronic and Physical Security Mitigation Measures. [Read more →]

On October 9, 2010, Constellation Energy Group (“Constellation”) issued a press release regarding the status of their loan guarantee application in connection with their UniStar Nuclear Energy Calvert Cliffs 3 project.  Constellation stated they wrote to the Department of Energy (“DOE”) and informed DOE that Constellation would not move forward due to “unworkable” proposed terms and conditions of the loan guarantee. [Read more →]

After over a decade of litigation, EPA’s original NSR enforcement attack on Cinergy for various projects completed in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s is finally over.  On October 12, 2010, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit threw out EPA’s only  victory in that original action – a jury verdict finding Cinergy in violation of the Clean Air Act’s preconstruction permit requirements for several pulverizer projects performed at its Wabash plant in Indiana.  While the decision represents a significant win for Cinergy and other utilities facing similar claims, it could have a ripple effect for other Clean Air Act programs, including EPA’s new greenhouse gas regulations. [Read more →]

On October 7, 2010, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (“NERC”) issued an industry alert asking for transmission facility owners to create a plan to review their facility ratings and report that plan back to NERC by December 15, 2010. NERC identified possible discrepancies between actual field conditions and the design of those conditions, and since there are over 450,000 miles of transmission lines greater than 100 kv, the situation requires immediate actions to mitigate any potential risks. [Read more →]

On October 6, 2010, Secretary Salazar and Cape Wind Associates, LLC signed the first lease for commercial wind energy development on the Outer Continental Shelf (“OCS”), the Cape Wind Project.  The Cape Wind Project has 130 planned wind turbines which could then create up to 468 megawatts, with an average output of 182 megawatts.  The Cape Wind Project could power over 200,000 homes in Massachusetts, roughly 75 percent of electricity demand in Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, and Nantucket Island.  The lease for the Cape Wind Project is for 28 years and will cost Cape Wind Associates a 2 to 7 percent operating fee while in production which equals $88,278 a year. [Read more →]