Department of Energy November 2012 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Commission issues this policy statement to provide guidance regarding its evaluation of applications for electric transmission incentives under section 219 of the Federal Power Act. In the six years since the Commission implemented section 219 by issuing Order No. 679, the Commission has acted on numerous applications for transmission incentives. The Commission has now determined it would be beneficial to provide additional guidance and clarity with respect to certain aspects of its transmission incentives policies under section 219 of the Federal Power Act and Order No. 679. In particular, the Commission: reframes its nexus test to focus more directly on the requirements of Order No. 679; expects applicants to take all reasonable steps to mitigate the risks of a project, including requesting those incentives designed to reduce the risk of a project, before seeking an incentive return on equity (ROE) based on a project's risks and challenges; provides general guidance that may inform applications for an incentive ROE based on a project's risks and challenges; and promotes additional transparency with respect to the impacts of the Commission's incentives policies. The Commission finds that the additional guidance provided through this policy statement is necessary to encourage transmission infrastructure investment while maintaining just and reasonable rates, consistent with section 219 of the Federal Power Act. The Commission will apply this policy statement on a prospective basis to incentive applications received after the date of its issuance.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) seeks comments on what changes, if any, should be made to its regulations under the natural gas market transparency provisions of section 23 of the Natural Gas Act (NGA), as adopted in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct 2005). In particular, the Commission is considering the extent to which quarterly reporting of every natural gas transaction within the Commission's NGA jurisdiction that entails physical delivery for the next day (i.e., next day gas) or for the next month (i.e., next month gas) would provide useful information for improving natural gas market transparency.

A meeting involving members of the Industry Advisory Board (IAB) to the International Energy Agency (IEA) in connection with the IEA's Emergency Disruption Simulation Exercise (ERE6) will be held on November 26-28, 2012, at the headquarters of the IEA, 9, rue de la F[eacute]d[eacute]ration 75015 Paris, France, and in the UIC Building, 16 rue Jean Rey, 75015 Paris, France. The purpose of this notice is to permit participation in ERE6 by U.S. company members of the IAB.

In compliance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C. 3507(a)(1)(D), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission or FERC) is submitting the information collection FERC-715 (Annual Transmission Planning and Evaluation Report) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review of the information collection requirements. Any interested person may file comments directly with OMB and should address a copy of those comments to the Commission as explained below. The Commission issued a Notice in the Federal Register (77 FR 53877, 9/4/2012) requesting public comments. FERC received no comments on the FERC-715 and is making this notation in its submittal to OMB.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) gives notice of the decision and order (Case No. CAC-039) that grants Fujitsu General Limited (Fujitsu) a waiver from the DOE commercial package air-source central air conditioners and heat pumps test procedures for determining the energy consumption set forth in its petition for waiver. Under today's decision and order, Fujitsu shall be required to test and rate its AIRSTAGE V-II multi-split heat pump with a capacity of 264,000 Btu/ h, and specified compatible indoor units using American National Standards Institute (ANSI)/Air-conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) Standard 1230, as adopted in DOE's final rule dated May 16, 2012.