Last month, in a move aimed at bringing storage resources into wholesale markets, FERC directed regional grid operators to devise new tariffs for storage market participation that allow the resources to provide multiple electricity market services.
On Monday, a handful of market participants, including one regional grid operator, filed for rehearing on the proposal.
MISO noted that while the commission approved an order for storage resources above 100 kW, it deferred issues about aggregations of smaller distributed energy resources to a technical conference on April 9-10. FERC, it argued, should give stakeholders more time to devise how the outcomes of that conference will affect its compliance filing on the FERC order.
Other stakeholders argued FERC’s order goes too far, stepping into state jurisdiction over energy resources connected to the distribution grid.
TAPS argues FERC should require distributed storage resources to “make a binding choice” to participate exclusively either in the wholesale markets or at the retail level.
TAPS says it is seeking rehearing because regulators did not acknowledge or provide a reason for rejecting recommendations for an opt-out provision to storage rules. There is an opt-out provision in the commission’s demand response rules, and TAPS argues a similar mechanism should be put in place.
Xcel makes a similar argument, writing that allowing distribution-connected storage to provide both retail and wholesale services “oversteps the limits on the Commission’s jurisdiction under the Federal Power Act by interfering in state jurisdiction over retail sales and affecting the ability to preserve distribution system reliability.”
Ari Peskoe, director of the Electricity Law Initiative at Harvard Law noted in a series of tweets the TAPS and Xcel filings could potentially set up a challenge at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Court if FERC rejects rehearing requests.
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