Department of Energy September 2016 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Commission previously issued a 60-day Notice in the Federal Register (81 FR 38169, 6/13/2016) requesting public comments on FERC Form Nos. 6, 580, 1, 1-F, and 3-Q. The Commission received no comments regarding FERC Form Nos. 6 and 580 and issued a separate 30- day Notice on those collections (81 FR 62112, 9/8/2016). The Commission did receive comments (responding to the 60-day Notice) regarding FERC Form Nos. 1, 1-F, and 3-Q. This Notice addresses those comments and solicits additional comments on FERC Form Nos. 1, 1- F, and 3-Q. 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 FERC Form No. 1 (Annual Report of Major Electric Utilities, Licensees, and Others), FERC Form No. 1-F (Annual Report for Nonmajor Public Utilities and Licensees), and FERC Form No. 3-Q (Quarterly Financial Report of Electric Utilities, Licensees, and Natural Gas Companies) 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.

CWP Energy (Applicant or CWP Energy) has applied for authority to transmit electric energy from the United States to Mexico pursuant to section 202(e) of the Federal Power Act.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) approves Reliability Standard TPL-007-1 (Transmission System Planned Performance for Geomagnetic Disturbance Events). The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), the Commission-certified Electric Reliability Organization, submitted Reliability Standard TPL-007-1 for Commission approval in response to a Commission directive in Order No. 779. Reliability Standard TPL-007-1 establishes requirements for certain registered entities to assess the vulnerability of their transmission systems to geomagnetic disturbance events (GMDs), which occur when the sun ejects charged particles that interact with and cause changes in the earth's magnetic fields. Applicable entities that do not meet certain performance requirements, based on the results of their vulnerability assessments, must develop a plan to achieve the performance requirements. In addition, the Commission directs NERC to develop modifications to Reliability Standard TPL-007-1: To modify the benchmark GMD event definition set forth in Attachment 1 of Reliability Standard TPL-007-1, as it pertains to the required GMD Vulnerability Assessments and transformer thermal impact assessments, so that the definition is not based solely on spatially-averaged data; to require the collection of necessary geomagnetically induced current monitoring and magnetometer data and to make such data publicly available; and to include a one-year deadline for the development of corrective action plans and two and four-year deadlines to complete mitigation actions involving non-hardware and hardware mitigation, respectively. The Commission also directs NERC to submit a work plan and, subsequently, one or more informational filings that address specific GMD-related research areas.

The Commission proposes to approve Reliability Standards BAL- 005-1 (Balancing Authority Control) and FAC-001-3 (Facility Interconnection Requirements) submitted by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation.

Morgan Stanley Capital Group Inc. (Applicant or MSCG) has applied to renew its authority to transmit electric energy from the United States to Mexico pursuant to section 202(e) of the Federal Power Act.

BioUrja Power, LLC (Applicant or BioUrja) has applied for authority to transmit electric energy from the United States to Mexico pursuant to section 202(e) of the Federal Power Act.

The Department of Energy (DOE) has submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for clearance, a proposal for collection of information under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. The proposed collection will collect data from industry members in order to identify new and improved research capabilities and tools that would be valuable to the solar industry and opportunities for, and barriers to, national laboratory and industry collaboration on technology development and transfer in those high-value areas.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is proposing to authorize the expenditure of federal funding for the design, construction, operation, maintenance, and decommissioning of ``Project Icebreaker,'' a 20-megawatt offshore wind renewable energy project that would be located in Lake Erie, approximately 8 miles off Cleveland, Ohio. The proposed project would consist of up to six wind turbine generators and the necessary electrical transmission facilities (i.e. underwater and underground cable) to connect to the Cleveland Public Power Lake Road Substation. The Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) anticipates receiving an application pursuant to Section 404 of the Clean Water Act and Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act for the proposed project. The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) is responsible for reviewing impacts related to navigation and the USCG mission. Pursuant to the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), DOE is preparing an Environmental Assessment (EA) to identify and analyze potential impacts to the human environment that may occur if DOE authorizes the expenditure of federal funding in support of Project Icebreaker. The USACE and the USCG are cooperating agencies in preparation of the EA. DOE is requesting public input on the scope of the EA for Project Icebreaker. The notice of public scoping for the EA and a description of the proposed project is available for review at: www.energy.gov/node/ 2001046.