Energy Management

Energy Roundup: OMA Resists Calls for Weaker Reliability Standards

• Despite widespread power outages last summer, AEP Ohio has asked state regulators to lower reliability standards. The OMA Energy Group is fighting the proposed backslide, which would allow 180,000 additional outages a year.
• While Ohio regulators have paused their House Bill 6 investigations, reports say the PUCO can still address HB 6 subsidies for two 1950s-era coal plants — estimated to cost Ohio ratepayers millions of dollars.
• Attorney General Dave Yost has asked the Supreme Court of Ohio to pause a lower court’s decision unfreezing the assets of former PUCO Chair Sam Randazzo, who has been accused of taking a $4.3 million bribe tied to the passage of HB 6.
• The U.S. Energy Information Administration forecasts a 27% jump in retail natural gas prices this winter for the Midwest.
• With continued strong demand for renewable energy, power purchase agreement prices are now 34% higher than last year, reports say.
• An anticipated surge in solar and wind installations has increased the urgency of grid interconnection reforms, according to Reuters. (PJM, the grid operator whose service area includes Ohio, has seen the number of projects in the interconnection queue increase to 2,500.)
• Proponents of federal permitting reform are looking for common ground, according to reports — but the Nov. 8 election will determine the next steps.

Meanwhile, OMA Connections Partner William Vaughan Company has published this insight regarding the Inflation Reduction Act’s expanded deduction for energy efficient commercial buildings. 10/20/2022

New FERC Order Opens Electricity Markets to Customer-Sited Power Generation

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has moved to expand markets by allowing distributed energy resources — including power generation sited at manufacturer facilities — to compete for revenue with traditional power plants.

Under the FERC Order 2222, manufacturers and other distributed energy operators would be able to sell electricity directly into wholesale electricity markets. But Ohio’s legislature is considering legislation that could give electric utilities new powers to stifle this emerging, competitive market.

Learn more about the new FERC order and the legislative threats to competition in this memo from Runnerstone, the OMA’s energy engineering team. 10/10/2022

OMA to Regulators: Reject Latest Utility Scheme to Corner Federal Infrastructure Funds

This week the OMA gained media attention for its position in a proceeding at the PUCO that will govern how federal funds from the massive transportation and infrastructure stimulus package should be spent.

At issue is how the state should allocate federal funds for electric grid resiliency. Investor-owned utility FirstEnergy suggested the PUCO dole out the funds to only four recipients. The OMA called on PUCO regulators to reject that suggestion, noting that Ohio has precisely four investor-owned utilities and that the proposal would prevent the federal funds from being used to strengthen portions of the grid owned by cooperatives or municipal systems.

The OMA urged the PUCO to award the grants based on merit, a commonsense approach that would prevent enriching monopoly utilities at customer expense. Join the OMA Energy Group to support manufacturing competitiveness. 10/12/2022

EIA: Rising Power Consumption in 2022

The U.S. Energy Information Administration released its Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) this week, recapping its projections across the spectrum of energy feedstocks. Among its forecasts: U.S. sales of electricity to ultimate customers to rise by 2.7% in 2022, mostly because of more economic activity but also because of slightly hotter summer weather than last year. 10/13/2022

Energy Roundup: Demands for More Information on AEP Ohio Outages

• AEP Ohio is facing calls for a deeper probe into last June’s widespread power outages, according to reports. The Ohio Consumers’ Counsel has filed a motion to compel the utility to respond to its questions.
• Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost is disputing a plaintiff counsel’s notion that they should receive 33% of a FirstEnergy ratepayer class-action settlement.
• The average gasoline price in Ohio is again near $4 per gallon after a group of oil-producing nations agreed to slash oil production by 2 million barrels per day.
• Decision time is nearing for President Joe Biden regarding the next five-year offshore oil and natural gas leasing program, reports say, as the administration faces mounting pressure from both sides of the aisle.
• The chairman of LNG company Tellurian says “cheap” $4 to $5 U.S. natural gas is “a thing of the past.”
• The Inflation Reduction Act will spur clean energy manufacturing in the U.S., tax experts say.
• Ohio EPA has awarded nearly $8 million in grants for electric vehicle charging stations at 32 locations in 25 counties.

Meanwhile, Visual Capitalist has published this infographic to illustrate which countries have used the most fossil fuels, nuclear, and renewable energy during the past 40 years. (Over the last decade, China has used more coal than the rest of the world, combined.) 10/6/2022

Energy Roundup: OMA Comments on Offshore Oil and Gas Leasing

• The OMA has submitted comments to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, urging the agency to finalize the five-year program for offshore oil and gas leasing and to include the maximum number of offshore lease sales.
• The Ohio Consumers’ Counsel is urging the PUCO to revisit its recent order that temporarily halted four House Bill 6-related investigations tied to FirstEnergy.
• Gasoline prices have risen to around $4 a gallon throughout much of the upper Midwest.
• On Sept. 27, U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) pulled the plug on his energy permitting reform bill after it faced opposition from within his own party. (Senators from both parties hope to pass a permitting bill yet this year, reports say.)
• The Tax Foundation has published this summary of the Inflation Reduction Act’s energy-related tax increases — including a methane fee and reinstated Superfund tax.

Meanwhile, this infographic illustrates China’s current dominance in the solar panel supply chain. 9/29/2022

Energy Roundup: Midwest Hydrogen Coalition Announced

• Ohio and six other Midwestern states have announced a coalition designed to help develop a regional hydrogen market with the goals of creating more jobs and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Read more.
• Energy News Network has published this summary of the latest developments from Ohio’s utility corruption scandal.
• Energy News Network has also published a story examining Cuyahoga County’s efforts to establish microgrid clusters. The article utilizes information presented at the OMA’s recent energy conference.
• At the federal level, the National Association of Manufacturers is pushing for permitting reform to be passed by the end of the year, while the release of U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-W.Va.) permitting bill is getting more attention.

Meanwhile, the U.S. government’s five-year offshore leasing program is at risk of not being renewed. The NAM is urging manufacturers to contact their federal representatives. 9/20/2022

FirstEnergy CEO Steven Strah Abruptly Retires

FirstEnergy CEO Steven Strah — the company’s public face following the massive bribery scandal tied to House Bill 6 — is abruptly retiring effective Friday, Sept. 16. Strah will “receive no severance payments or severance benefits,” FirstEnergy said. He spent 38 years with the company.

As reported by Cleveland.com, while it’s unclear why Strah decided to step down, the move comes just after a company review of its management team. That review was part of an HB 6-related lawsuit settlement.

A FirstEnergy spokeswoman told The Plain Dealer she didn’t know if Strah’s decision to retire was connected to the management review, but that details of the management review “are not planned to be shared.” Read more. 9/15/2022

Energy Roundup: The Impact of High Natural Gas Prices

• In its new edition of “Manufacturing Insights,” OMA Connections Partner RSM examines the impact of high natural gas prices on manufacturers. This as the Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecasts record U.S. natural gas consumption this year.
• OMA Connections Partner CliftonLarsonAllen has published this summary of the enhanced energy efficiency incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act.
• OMA Connections Partner Schneider Downs has published this summary of the new federal electric vehicle tax credit.
• The EIA reports that in the first half of this year, 24% of U.S. utility-scale electricity generation came from renewable sources — a 21% jump compared to the same period last year.
• In the U.S. Senate, nearly the entire Republican caucus — including Ohio’s Rob Portman — has co-sponsored a GOP version of permitting reform legislation.
• Gasoline prices across the U.S. have been on a steady decline since June — except in California, where the average is approaching $5.50 a gallon.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve has dropped to a level not seen in 38 years, Reuters reports. According to the Institute of Energy Research, the reserve is expected to shrink to a 40-year low by the end of October, with an anticipated 358 million barrels compared to 621 million barrels a year ago. 9/15/2022

OMA Hosts Energy Conference

Westerville’s Quest Conference Center was the site of the first-ever Ohio Manufacturers’ Energy Conference, held Sept. 8. The in-person event drew more than 200 attendees and covered an array of energy-related topics critical to manufacturers — the state’s largest energy customers.

The OMA’s conference featured nearly 30 presentations from local and national energy experts and key representatives from member manufacturers, including Belden Brick, Campbell’s Soup, Eaton, Honda, Navistar, Plaskolite, PRO-TEC Coating, U.S. Steel, and Whirlpool.

Photos from the event have been posted on the OMA’s social media channels — LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

A special thanks to the sponsors of this timely OMA event. 9/8/2022

The opening keynote session at the Ohio Manufacturers’ Energy Conference focused on the state’s recent energy policy. Speakers included (from left) OMA Energy Committee Chair Brad Belden, president of The Belden Brick Company, Sen. Mark Romanchuk (R-Ontario), and Ohio Consumers’ Counsel Bruce Weston