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HomeMy WebLinkAbout20181026Exhibit 12-14 39-8.pdf EXHIBIT 12 Case 1:18-cv-00236-REB Document 39-8 Filed 10/26/18 Page 1 of 18 Office of the Secretary Service Date August 29,2017 BEFORE THE IDAHO PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION IN THE MATTER OF THE PETITION OF ) IDAHO POWER COMPANY FOR A )CASE NO.IPC-E-17-O1 DECLARATORY ORDER REGARDING ) PROPER CONTRACT TERMS,) CONDITIONS,AND AVOIDED COST ) PRICING FOR BATTERY STORAGE )ORDER NO.33858 FACILITIES ) On February 27,2017,Idaho Power Company asked the Commission for a declaratory order regarding proper contract terms,conditions,and avoided cost pricing for five battery storage facilities requesting contracts under the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA).See Order No.33729.The Commission issued Final Order No.33785 that granted Idaho Power’s request.Franklin Energy Storage Projects (Franklin)timely petitioned the Commission to reconsider the Final Order,and Idaho Power timely answered Franklin’s Petition.With this Order,we find that Franklin has failed to meet its burden of showing reconsideration is warranted,and deny Franklin’s Petition. PETITIONS FOR RECONSIDERATION Reconsideration provides an opportunity for a party to bring to the Commission’s attention any issue previously determined,and thereby affords the Commission an opportunity to correct any mistake or omission.Washington Water Power Co.v.Kootenai Environmental Alliance,99 Idaho 875,591 P.2d 122 (1979).Under Commission Rule 331.01,“Petitions for reconsideration must set forth specifically the ground or grounds why the petitioner contends that the order or any issue decided in the order is unreasonable,unlawful,erroneous or not in conformity with the law....”IDAPA 31.01.01.331.01. FRANKLIN’S PETITION FOR RECONSIDERATION Franklin’s Petition asked the Commission to reverse the Final Order and deny Idaho Power’s request for declaratory relief because parts of the Final Order are “mistaken, unreasonable,unlawful,erroneous,and not in conformity with the law.”Franklin Petition at 1, 10.Franklin argued that,while the Commission conceded that battery storage facilities’ qualifying facility (QF)status is a matter within the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC’s)jurisdiction,the Commission nevertheless determined that “energy storage QF ORDER NO.33858 1 Case 1:18-cv-00236-REB Document 39-8 Filed 10/26/18 Page 2 of 18 facilities that use solar power as a primary energy input are,in fact,[s]olar QFs and not energy storage QFs,”intruding on FERC’s jurisdiction.Id.at 3,6. According to Franklin,the Commission erred,in part due to its misreading of FERC’s Luz decision.Id.at 8 (referring to Luz Development and Finance Corp.,51 FERC ¶61,078 (1990)).Franklin asserted that in Luz,FERC ruled that energy storage facilities are QFs,so long as they meet the fuel-use criteria and other requirements for QF status.Id.at 9.Franklin further asserted that in Luz,FERC looked to the primary energy source behind the storage system to confirm that the storage system is a QF but did not consider the primary energy source to be the QF.Id.Franklin claimed this Commission found that “an energy storage facility’s primary source of energy is the QF and not the storage facility itself.”Id.at 6. Franklin therefore argued that the Commission exceeded its jurisdiction under PURPA by granting Idaho Power’s request for relief and “illegally finding that energy storage facilities that use solar power to charge the underlying storage devices are not energy storage QFs,but are instead solar QFs.”Id.at 10 (quoting Jndep.Energy Producers Ass ‘n v.California Pub.Util.Comm ‘n,36 F.3d 848,856 (9th Cir.1994)). IDAHO POWER’S ANSWER Idaho Power asserted that Franklin’s “sole basis of error”was “that the Commission improperly made a determination as to the [QFJ status of the Franklin”projects.Idaho Power Answer to Petition for Reconsideration (Idaho Power Answer)at 2.Idaho Power contended Franklin’s argument is incorrect.According to Idaho Power,the Commission (in Final Order No.33785)determined the proposed battery storage facilities’proper avoided cost rate and contract term,not their QF status,which the Commission expressly accepted as undisputed for purposes of the case.Id.at 2-4.The Company also noted that the Commission has the exclusive jurisdiction to determine proper avoided cost rates and contractual terms as applied to the battery storage facilities,which is what the Commission did in the Final Order.Id.at 3-4.Because the Final Order was based upon substantial and competent evidence in the record,and the Commission regularly pursued its authority and acted within its discretion,Idaho Power asked that the Commission deny Franklin’s Petition.Id.at 5. COMMISSION DISCUSSION AND FINDINGS Franklin argues that the Final Order is “unreasonable,unlawful,erroneous or not in conformity with the law”and should be reconsidered because it infringed on FERC’s jurisdiction ORDER NO,33858 2 Case 1:18-cv-00236-REB Document 39-8 Filed 10/26/18 Page 3 of 18 to determine QF status.Franklin’s only legal authority for its argument is Indep.Energy Producers.36 F.3d at 856.in which the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals opined that the authority to make QF status determinations belongs to FERC,not the states.Franklin asserts that,contrary to Indep.Energy Producers,we determined the QF status of battery storage facilities in the Final Order.We did not.Franklin’s mischaracterization of our Final Order is a frivolous effort to contrive a legal basis for reconsideration. Franklin contends we determined that the primary energy source behind a battery storage QF is the QF,based on a misreading of FERC’s decision in Luz Development and Finance Corporation,51 FERC 61,078.Franklin Petition at 9.This Commission did not find that the primary energy source behind a battery is the QF,nor did we assert that Luz stands for such a proposition.In the Final Order,we explicitly recognized that “battery storage facilities’ QF status is a matter within FERC’s jurisdiction”and we acknowledged the self-certifications of Franklin’s QFs.Final Order No.33785 at 3,10-11.Consistent with FERC’s analysis in Luz,we looked to the primary energy source of Franklin’s battery storage QFs to determine the projects’ eligibility to particular avoided cost rates and contract terms. It is well-established that state commissions such as this Commission have broad discretion and authority to establish and approve the terms and conditions of PURPA contracts, in implementing FERC rules.16 U.S.C.§824a-3(f)(l)(“each State regulatory authority shall implement such rule (or revised rule)for each electric utility for which it has ratemaking authority”);Indep.Energy Producers,36 F.3d at 856 (noting state commissions’broad authority to implement PURPA);see also Portland General Electric Co.v.FERC,854 F.3d 692,(D.C. Cir.2017);Idaho Power Company v.Idaho Pub.Util.Comm.,155 Idaho 780,782,316 P.3d 1278,1280 (2013):FERC v.Mississippi,456 U.S.742,751 (1982).Pursuant to such authority, and consistent with FERC’s reasoning in Luz,we concluded that Franklin was eligible for two- year contracts at negotiated avoided cost rates.Final Order No.33785 at 12.Franklin failed to show that Final Order No.33785,or any issue in it,is unreasonable,unlawful,erroneous or not in conformity with the law.We thus deny Franklin’s Petition. ORDER IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that Franklin’s Petition for Reconsideration is denied. THIS IS A FLNAL ORDER DENYfNG RECONSIDERATION.Any party aggrieved by this Order or other final or interlocutory Orders previously issued in this Case No. ORDER NO.33858 Case 1:18-cv-00236-REB Document 39-8 Filed 10/26/18 Page 4 of 18 IPC-E-17-01 may appeal to the Supreme Court of Idaho pursuant to the Public Utilities Law and the Idaho Appellate Rules.See Idaho Code §6 1-627. /‘ DONE by Order of the Idaho Public Utilities Commission at Boise,Idaho this day of August 2017. ATTEST: Diane M.Hanian Commission Secretary 0:IPC-E-17-01 dh4 Reconsideration ;IONER ERIC ANDERSON,COMMISSIONER ORDER NO.33858 4 Case 1:18-cv-00236-REB Document 39-8 Filed 10/26/18 Page 5 of 18 EXHIBIT 13 Case 1:18-cv-00236-REB Document 39-8 Filed 10/26/18 Page 6 of 18 Case 1:18-cv-00236-REB Document 4-1 Filed 06/25/18 Page 1 of 10Case 1:18-cv-00236-REB Document 39-8 Filed 10/26/18 Page 7 of 18 Case 1:18-cv-00236-REB Document 4-1 Filed 06/25/18 Page 2 of 10Case 1:18-cv-00236-REB Document 39-8 Filed 10/26/18 Page 8 of 18 Case 1:18-cv-00236-REB Document 4-1 Filed 06/25/18 Page 3 of 10Case 1:18-cv-00236-REB Document 39-8 Filed 10/26/18 Page 9 of 18 Case 1:18-cv-00236-REB Document 4-1 Filed 06/25/18 Page 4 of 10Case 1:18-cv-00236-REB Document 39-8 Filed 10/26/18 Page 10 of 18 Case 1:18-cv-00236-REB Document 4-1 Filed 06/25/18 Page 5 of 10Case 1:18-cv-00236-REB Document 39-8 Filed 10/26/18 Page 11 of 18 Case 1:18-cv-00236-REB Document 4-1 Filed 06/25/18 Page 6 of 10Case 1:18-cv-00236-REB Document 39-8 Filed 10/26/18 Page 12 of 18 Case 1:18-cv-00236-REB Document 4-1 Filed 06/25/18 Page 7 of 10Case 1:18-cv-00236-REB Document 39-8 Filed 10/26/18 Page 13 of 18 Case 1:18-cv-00236-REB Document 4-1 Filed 06/25/18 Page 8 of 10Case 1:18-cv-00236-REB Document 39-8 Filed 10/26/18 Page 14 of 18 Case 1:18-cv-00236-REB Document 4-1 Filed 06/25/18 Page 9 of 10Case 1:18-cv-00236-REB Document 39-8 Filed 10/26/18 Page 15 of 18 Case 1:18-cv-00236-REB Document 4-1 Filed 06/25/18 Page 10 of 10Case 1:18-cv-00236-REB Document 39-8 Filed 10/26/18 Page 16 of 18 EXHIBIT 14 Case 1:18-cv-00236-REB Document 39-8 Filed 10/26/18 Page 17 of 18 162 FERC ¶ 61,110 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION NOTICE OF INTENT NOT TO ACT (February 15, 2018) 1. On December 14, 2017, Franklin Energy Storage One, LLC, Franklin Energy Storage Two, LLC, Franklin Energy Storage Three, LLC, and Franklin Energy Storage Four, LLC (Petitioners) filed a petition for enforcement against the Idaho Public Utilities Commission (Idaho Commission) pursuant to section 210(h)(2)(B) of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA).1 Petitioners claim that the Idaho Commission violated Commission regulations in classifying their energy storage qualifying facilities (QFs) as solar QFs, and that this classification prevents them from being eligible for the Idaho Commission’s published rate, available to non-wind and non-solar QFs of 10 MWs average capacity or less. 2. Notice is hereby given that the Commission declines to initiate an enforcement action pursuant to section 210(h)(2)(A) of PURPA.2 Our decision not to initiate an enforcement action means that Petitioners may themselves bring an enforcement action against the Idaho Commission in the appropriate court.3 By direction of the Commission. Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary. 1 16 U.S.C. § 824a-3(h)(2)(B) (2012). 2 16 U.S.C. § 824a-3(h)(2)(A) (2012). 3 16 U.S.C. § 824a-3(h)(2)(B) (2012). Case 1:18-cv-00236-REB Document 4-2 Filed 06/25/18 Page 1 of 1Case 1:18-cv-00236-REB Document 39-8 Filed 10/26/18 Page 18 of 18