18 CFR - Conservation of Power and Water Resources

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approves Emergency Preparedness and Operations (EOP) Reliability Standards EOP-004-4 (Event Reporting), EOP-005-3 (System Restoration from Blackstart Resources), EOP-006-3 (System Restoration Coordination), and EOP-008-2 (Loss of Control Center Functionality).

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is proposing to amend its regulations that govern floating cabins located on the Tennessee River and its tributaries. The mooring of floating cabins on the TVA reservoir system has increased, and TVA has determined that this poses an unacceptable risk to navigation, safety, and the environment. Left unaddressed, floating cabins convert the public waters under TVA's management to private use. The proposed amendments would re-define nonnavigable houseboats and floating cabins using one term—“floating cabins”—and prohibit new floating cabins on TVA-managed reservoirs after December 16, 2016. The proposed amendments also include limited mooring standards, limitations on expansions of floating cabins, and requirements for owners to register their floating cabins. Additional health, safety, and environmental standards for floating cabins will be addressed in a later rulemaking once TVA has had the opportunity to discuss such standards with various stakeholders. In addition, and separate from the updated rule amendments for floating cabins, these proposed amendments contain a minor changes to clarify when TVA will allow some water-use facilities ( e.g., docks) to be as large as 1,800 square feet.

In accordance with the Commission regulations, the Commission issues this update of its filing fees. This notice provides the yearly update using data in the Commission's Financial System to calculate the new fees. The purpose of updating is to adjust the fees on the basis of the Commission's costs for Fiscal Year 2017.

The Federal Power Act requires hydropower licensees to recompense the United States for the use, occupancy, and enjoyment of federal lands. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) assesses annual charges for the use of federal lands through its regulations concerning charges for the use of government lands. In this Final Rule, the Commission revises the per-acre land value component of its methodology for calculating these annual charges for hydropower projects located in Alaska. Pursuant to the Final Rule, the Commission will calculate a statewide per-acre land value for hydropower lands in Alaska. The Commission will use this statewide per-acre land value, rather than a regional per-acre land value, to calculate annual charges for use of federal lands for all hydropower projects in Alaska, except those located in the Aleutian Islands Area.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is withdrawing its proposal to amend its regulations to require that each regional transmission organization and independent system operator incorporate market rules that meet certain requirements when pricing fast-start resources.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) proposes to direct the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), the Commission-certified Electric Reliability Organization, to develop and submit modifications to the NERC Reliability Standards to improve mandatory reporting of Cyber Security Incidents, including incidents that might facilitate subsequent efforts to harm the reliable operation of the bulk electric system.

On October 10, 2017, the Department of Energy (the Department or DOE) published a proposed Grid Resiliency Pricing Rule for final action by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission or FERC). Secretary of Energy Rick Perry (the Secretary) directed FERC either to publish an immediately-effective interim rule or to take final action on the proposed rule within 60 days of publication, thereby establishing a deadline of December 11, 2017. By letter dated December 7, 2017, the Commission requested an extension of the proposed rule's deadline. By letter dated December 8, 2017, the Secretary granted the Commission's request. The Secretary's letter is set forth in full below.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) proposes to approve Reliability Standards PRC-027-1 (Coordination of Protection Systems for Performance During Faults) and PER-006-1 (Specific Training for Personnel) submitted by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC). The purpose of proposed Reliability Standard PRC-027-1 is to maintain the coordination of protection systems installed to detect and isolate faults on bulk electric system elements, such that those protection systems operate in the intended sequence during faults. The purpose of proposed Reliability Standard PER-006-1 is to ensure that personnel are trained on specific topics essential to reliability to perform or support real-time operations of the bulk electric system. In addition, the Commission proposes to direct NERC to develop certain modifications to proposed Reliability Standard PRC-027-1.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) proposes to approve Reliability Standards PRC-027-1 (Coordination of Protection Systems for Performance During Faults) and PER-006-1 (Specific Training for Personnel) submitted by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC). The purpose of proposed Reliability Standard PRC-027-1 is to maintain the coordination of protection systems installed to detect and isolate faults on bulk electric system elements, such that those protection systems operate in the intended sequence during faults. The purpose of proposed Reliability Standard PER-006-1 is to ensure that personnel are trained on specific topics essential to reliability to perform or support real-time operations of the bulk electric system. In addition, the Commission proposes to direct NERC to develop certain modifications to proposed Reliability Standard PRC-027-1.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is granting in part and denying in part requests for rehearing and clarification of its determinations in Order No. 831, which amended its regulations to address incremental energy offer caps in markets operated by regional transmission organizations and independent system operators.

The Tennessee Valley Authority issues this final rule amending its Privacy Act (PA) regulation to redesignate section numbering.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) is inviting comments on the proposed rule published on October 10, 2017 in the Federal Register by the Commission at the direction of the Department of Energy.

This document contains proposed rules that would codify in the regulations and strengthen the Susquehanna River Basin Commission's (Commission) Access to Records Policy providing rules and procedures for the public to request and receive the Commission's public records.

Pursuant to the Department of Energy Organization Act (DOE Act), the Secretary of Energy (Secretary) is proposing a rule for final action by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission or FERC). The Secretary is proposing the Commission exercise its authority under the Federal Power Act (FPA) to establish just and reasonable rates for wholesale electricity sales. Under the proposal, the Commission will impose rules on Commission-approved independent system operators (ISOs) and regional transmission organizations (RTOs) to ensure that certain reliability and resilience attributes of electric generation resources are fully valued. The Secretary is directing the Commission to take final action on this proposal within 60 days of publication of this proposed rule in the Federal Register or, in the alternative, to issue the rule as an interim final rule immediately, with provision for later modifications after consideration of public comments. The Secretary further directs that any final rule adopting this proposal take effect within 30 days of publication of such final rule in the Federal Register and proposes that each ISO and RTO subject to the rule shall submit a compliance filing within 15 days of the effective date of such final rule.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approves Reliability Standard PRC-012-2 (Remedial Action Schemes) submitted by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation. The purpose of Reliability Standard PRC-012-2 is to ensure that remedial action schemes do not introduce unintentional or unacceptable reliability risks to the bulk electric system.

The Tennessee Valley Authority issues this final rule amending its Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) regulations to incorporate the statutory changes made to the FOIA by the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016 (Act). The TVA's FOIA regulations provide the procedures by which the public may request records from TVA, and the policies and procedures by which TVA provides such records to the public upon written request. TVA is updating its regulations to incorporate the procedural requirements of the Act.

The Federal Power Act requires hydropower licensees to recompense the United States for the use, occupancy, and enjoyment of federal lands. The Commission assesses annual charges for the use of federal lands through Part 11 of its regulations. The Commission proposes to revise the per-acre land value component of its methodology for calculating these annual charges for hydropower projects located in Alaska. Under the proposed rule, the Commission would calculate a statewide average per-acre land value for hydropower lands in Alaska. The Commission would use the statewide average per-acre land value, rather than a regional per-acre land value, to calculate annual charges for use of federal lands for all hydropower projects in Alaska, except those located in the Aleutian Islands Area.

On November 17, 2016, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) that, among other things, proposed to revise the Commission's regulations to require all newly interconnecting large and small generating facilities, both synchronous and non-synchronous, to install and enable primary frequency response capability as a condition of interconnection. In this document, the Commission seeks supplemental comments related to whether and when electric storage resources should be required to provide primary frequency response, and the costs associated with primary frequency response capabilities for small generating facilities.

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is announcing an extension of the public comment period on its proposed amendments to procedures implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The amendments also address implementation of the Executive Order 13690, Establishing a Federal Flood Risk Management Standard and a Process for Considering Stakeholder Input. A notice of Proposed Rulemaking was published in the Federal Register on June 8, 2017, announcing a 60-day comment period closing on August 7, 2017. This document serves to extend the comment period by 30 days until September 6, 2017. TVA is extending the comment period because of the timely requests we received to do so.

This document contains rules that would amend the regulations of the Susquehanna River Basin Commission (Commission) to clarify application requirements and standards for review of projects, add a subpart to provide for registration of grandfathered projects, and revise requirements dealing with hearings and enforcement actions. These rules are designed to enhance the Commission's existing authorities to manage the water resources of the basin and add regulatory clarity.

Notice is provided of the Commission's regulatory program fees and schedule of water charges for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2017. The Commission is also correcting two footnotes in the regulations which cite incorrectly to the applicable CPI data series.

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is proposing to amend its procedures implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to make these implementing procedures better align with its decision making processes, and to incorporate into these procedures guidance issued by the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) since the procedures were last amended. TVA also proposes to move its NEPA implementing procedures from TVA Instruction IX (Environmental Review) to Chapter XIII (Tennessee Valley Authority) in the Code of Federal Regulations as Part 1318. In addition, implementation of the Executive Order (E.O.) 13690, Establishing a Federal Flood Risk Management Standard and a Process for Further Soliciting and Considering Stakeholder Input, is addressed.

In accordance with of the Commission's regulations, the Commission, by its designee, the Executive Director, issues this annual update to the fee schedule in the appendix to the part, which lists per-acre rental fees by county (or other geographic area) for use of government lands by hydropower licensees.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission proposes to approve Reliability Standard PRC-012-2 (Remedial Action Schemes) submitted by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation. The purpose of proposed Reliability Standard PRC-012-2 is to ensure that remedial action schemes do not introduce unintentional or unacceptable reliability risks to the bulk electric system.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) is proposing to revise its regulations to require that each regional transmission organization (RTO) and independent system operator (ISO) that currently allocates the costs of real-time uplift due to deviations should allocate such real-time uplift costs only to those market participants whose transactions are reasonably expected to have caused the real-time uplift costs. The Commission also proposes to revise its regulations to enhance transparency by requiring that each RTO/ISO post uplift costs paid (dollars) and operator-initiated commitments (megawatts) on its Web site; and define in its tariff its transmission constraint penalty factors, as well as the circumstances under which those penalty factors can set locational marginal prices, and any procedure for changing those factors.

The Commission issues this policy statement to clarify its precedent and provide guidance on the ability of electric storage resources to provide services at and seek to recover their costs through both cost-based and market-based rates concurrently. We are mindful that, by providing electric storage resources the opportunity to receive cost-based rate recovery concurrently with other revenue from market-based services ( e.g., through organized wholesale electric markets), there can be implementation details that may need to be addressed, including protections against the potential for double-recovery of costs from cost-based ratepayers, adverse market impacts, and regional transmission organization (RTO)/independent system operator (ISO) independence from market participants. The Commission provides guidance in this policy statement as to how electric storage resources seeking to receive cost-based rate recovery for certain services (such as transmission or grid support services or to address other needs identified by an RTO/ISO) while also receiving market-based revenues for providing separate market-based rate services could address these concerns and also clarifies some past precedent on these issues.