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On July 15, 2010, Ray Palmer from the Office of Electric Reliability presented an update the Commission’s Smart Grid Policy Statement (the “Policy Statement”) at the Commission’s monthly meeting.  The Commission originally issued the Policy Statement last July (see March 20, 2010 edition of the WER).  [Read more →]

 On June 10, 2010, the Murkowski Resolution to disapprove EPA’s endangerment finding on greenhouse gases (“GHG”) was defeated in the Senate by a vote of 47-53.  All Senate Republicans and six Senate Democrats voted in favor of the resolution. [Read more →]

On March 26, 2010, the Western Electricity Coordinating Council (“WECC”) Board of Directors approved their strategic plan for 2010-2012.  The plan announced four strategies and seventeen corresponding action priorities WECC will use to achieve their objectives in the upcoming years. [Read more →]

On March 24, 2010, the House Energy and Environment Subcommittee unanimously voted to forward the Grid Reliability and Infrastructure Defense (“GRID”) Act to full committee without any amendments.  The bipartisan bill would amend the Federal Power Act to give the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or the “Commission”) authority to issue emergency orders for utilities to take protective action when the president declares a grid security “threat.” [Read more →]

On March 23, 2010, the ISO/RTO Council (“IRC”) released a study on plug-in electric vehicles (“PEVs”) entitled “Assessment of Plug-in Electric Vehicle Integration with ISO/RTO Systems.”  The report predicted that one million PEVs might be on the road in the next decade, which could increase electric load by 3,785 MW if all the PEVs are charged simultaneously.  [Read more →]