Department of Energy December 2018 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) seeks information to help inform its research priorities, as part of its annual planning process. The purpose of this Request for Information (RFI) is to solicit feedback from industry, academia, research laboratories, government agencies, and other stakeholders to identify areas of interest related to challenges and opportunities for the American solar industry that are appropriate for federal government funding. This is solely a request for information and not a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA).

The Department of Energy's Office of Fossil Energy (DOE/FE) is discontinuing its practice, adopted in 2016, of including an ``end use'' reporting provision in orders authorizing the export of domestically produced natural gas, including liquefied natural gas (LNG), issued under section 3 of the Natural Gas Act (NGA). Under this practice, many authorization holders are currently required to track and report the country (or countries) of destination into which their exported LNG or natural gas was ``received for end use.'' Due to practical concerns about this reporting requirement and a reconsideration of the need for the requirement given those concerns, DOE/FE has determined that it is prudent to discontinue this requirement in export authorizations going forward. DOE/FE will revert to its prior practice of requiring authorization holders to report, in relevant part, the country (or countries) into which the exported LNG or natural gas ``was actually delivered.'' DOE/FE believes this action will enhance the accuracy of information provided by authorization holders and will reduce administrative burdens for the U.S. LNG export market. This policy statement affects only future export authorizations issued by DOE/FE. However, concurrently with the issuance of this policy statement, DOE/FE is issuing a blanket order removing the end use provision from applicable existing export authorizations issued from February 2016 to present.

The Deputy Secretary of Energy extends the existing Parker- Davis Project (P-DP) formula rates and will submit them to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for confirmation and approval on a final basis. The existing formula rates were scheduled to expire on September 30, 2018, for firm electric and transmission service under Rate Schedules PD-F7, PD-FT7, PD-FCT7, and PD-NFT7. The Administrator of the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) approved the use of the existing P-DP rates beyond September 30, 2018, under his authority to set rates for short-term sales. The short-term rates cover the period between October 1, 2018, and the date this rate extension goes into effect.

In compliance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission or FERC) is soliciting public comment on the currently approved information collection, FERC-538 (Gas Pipelines Certificates: Sections 7(a) Mandatory Initial Service).

EIA submitted an information collection request for extension with changes as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. The information collection requests a three-year extension of its Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS), OMB Control Number 1905-0145. The first part of the collection gathers detailed information about buildings that are used for commercial purposes (such as building size, age, structural characteristics, operating hours, ownership, energy sources and uses, and the types of energy-related equipment used) from building owners, managers, and tenants. The second part of the collection assembles monthly energy consumption and expenditures from the energy suppliers of the sampled buildings.