PUC August 2023 Newsletter

Minnesota Public Utilities Commission sent this bulletin at 08/01/2023 02:00 PM CDT

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NEWSLETTER - AUGUST 2023

We’d like your input on our priorities

We are developing our 2024-2028 strategic plan and would like your input. We have created a survey to help direct the priorities of the Commission for the next four years. The survey is anonymous and should take about five minutes. It is open until August 27. If you have issues with the survey, please contact kristina.krull@state.mn.us.

Commission intern Gaonou Yang shares her experience with Right Track

Gaonou Yang, a Right Track intern at the Commission, spoke at an event alongside other interns and Lt. Governor Flanagan, on the benefits of the Right Track program. The program helps young people develop job skills and get an insider's look at how decisions are made. Yang is a Washington Technology Magnet School graduate and plans to attend Stanford University this fall, majoring in Political Science.

We are hiring!

The Commission is hiring for a new position - Distributed Energy Resources and Grid Modernization Regulatory Engineer. This person will work on DER interconnection, hosting capacity, grid modernization, and as a technical advisor and in collaboration with industry engineers and technical specialists. Applications due August 11. Visit our careers page for more information.

Commissioner Tuma accepts new role with Southwest Power Pool Regional State Committee

The Southwest Power Pool (SPP) Regional State Committee recently voted to approve Commissioner Tuma as the Treasurer. He will serve through the end of the year. SPP is a regional transmission organization that manages the electric grid across 17 states in the central and western U.S., including utilities in three Minnesota counties. SPP also provides energy services on a contract basis to customers in both the Eastern and Western Interconnections.

Commission Calendar and Upcoming Events

The information below is subject to change. Current information available online at PUC calendar.

DATE	TIME	DETAILS
Aug 1	6 PM	Public meeting: Cedar Lake Transmission Line Reroute Project (New Prague)
Aug 2	6 PM	Public meeting: Cedar Lake Transmission Line Reroute Project (Virtual)
Aug 3	10 AM	Agenda meeting: Withdrawal request for Xcel’s Clean Transportation Portfolio; Withdrawal request for Xcel’s Resilient Minneapolis Project cost cap increase petition
Aug 10	10 AM	Agenda meeting: Rochester Public Utilities and People’s Energy Cooperative service territory update; City of Bigelow and Nobles Cooperative service territory update; Distributed Generation Rate Guidance (Att. 6) to Minnesota Distributed Energy Resource Interconnection Process (MN DIP)
Aug 17	10 AM	Agenda meeting: OTP AMI OMS Tariff; CUB & ECC Intervenor Compensation Requests; Elk Creek Solar Site Permit
Aug 22	10 AM	Planning meeting: Update on transmission projects and permitting
Aug 24	10 AM	Agenda meeting: Monticello nuclear expansion; 3rd party DR aggregation; Minnkota Integrated Resource Plan
Aug 31	10 AM	Agenda meeting: Summit Carbon Solutions CN; 2021 Gas Annual Automatic Adjustment True-Ups; Minnesota Power Rate Case Interim Refund

Noteworthy Commission Decisions

Filings can be accessed using the docket number at: MN PUC eFiling Search

July 6, 2023

Xcel Energy’s petition for a long-duration energy storage system pilot project at Sherco (23-119) The Commission approved the 10MW, 100-hour energy storage pilot at Xcel Energy’s Sherco facility site in Becker, Minn. The pilot project will feature Form Energy’s iron-air storage technology, which is a multi-day battery that can operate between -40 degrees and 122 degrees. The project will be transmission-connected near the new Sherco solar project. Construction will begin mid-2024 and anticipated to be operational later in 2025. News release.

July 13, 2023

Natural Gas Utilities’ 2022 Gas Affordability Program (GAP) annual reports (23-82,83,84,85,86) The Commission accepted the natural gas utilities’ 2022 annual Gas Affordability Program reports, approved increases to Great Plains’ and CenterPoint’s GAP funds and surcharges, and ordered CenterPoint to propose a new recertification date between March 1 and May 1 (adjusted from the current January 1 date).
Application of Dodge County Wind, LLC for a Certificate of Need, a Site Permit, and a Route Permit (20-867) The Commission recommended that the Dodge County Wind Project transmission line routes be analyzed in the environmental assessment. The Department of Commerce will begin developing the environmental review process. Once an assessment is complete, there will be an opportunity for the public to learn more and provide comment.

July 20, 2023

Greater Minnesota Gas, Inc.’s petition for change in Contract Demand Entitlement for 2021-2022 heating season (21-424) The Commission approved Greater Minnesota Gas’ (GMG) petition to increase its Contract Demand Entitlement capacity by 2,000 dekatherms, along with its Design Day and Reserve Margin requirements for the 2021-22 heating season. Also approved GMG’s recovery of the associated demand costs through the monthly Purchased Gas Adjustment effective November 1, 2021, and February 1, 2022.
Xcel Energy 2022 Hosting Capacity Report (22-574) The Commission accepted Xcel’s 2022 Hosting Capacity Analysis reports and ordered Xcel to pursue the monthly updates future use case. Xcel must also work with external stakeholders to provide a more robust cost-benefit analysis on the Fast Track Supplement Review Screen future use case and conduct expanded cost recovery reporting in future reports.

July 27, 2023

Application of Minnesota Power for a Certificate of Need for the HVDC Modernization Project in Hermantown (22-607) The Commission accepted Minnesota Power’s joint application for a certificate of need and High-Voltage Transmission Line (HVTL) route permit application for the High-Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) Project near Hermantown in Saint Louis County. The project would modernize and upgrade the Minnesota terminal of its 465-mile Square Butte HVDC transmission line which runs between Hermantown, MN and Center, North Dakota. A public information and environmental report scoping meeting will be held in the project area in the late August-early September timeframe.
Joint Investigation into the Impacts of the Federal Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) (22-624) The Commission required utilities to maximize the benefits of the IRA, and to discuss in relevant filings how the IRA impacted the Utilities’ decision-making process. Additionally, the Commission required utilities to report on an annual basis, how the implementation of the Energy Conservation and Optimization (ECO) Act and Natural Gas Innovation Act (NGIA) plans are supporting the IRA, and for the Department to track and file monthly updates on all Department of Energy funding opportunity announcements for energy projects.

Other decisions

DOCKET	FILING OR DOCKET SUMMARY
21-222	The Commission denied reconsideration of its decision in the May 18, 2023, Order approving Xcel Energy’s Renewable*Connect Program Modifications.
23-135,145,150	The Commission approved Conservation Improvement Program tracker accounts for Xcel, Minnesota Power, and Otter Tail Power.
23-172	The Commission approved the service area request of Moorhead Public Service Commission and Red River Valley Cooperative Power Association.
19-505	The Commission modified the Open Data Access Standards to ensure that customers exempt from Conservation Improvement Program are not included in any datasets released under the Standards pursuant to H.F.2310.

Public meetings and hearings

Magellan Pipeline Reroute Project: The PUC and the Department of Commerce held public information and comparative environmental analysis (CEA) scoping meetings on July 11-12 on Magellan Pipeline Company’s proposed pipeline routing permit to relocate approximately 0.74-mile of existing pipeline from federal lands managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service within Pipestone County. Public comments accepted through September 6 on the scope of the Comparative Environmental Analysis. View the full docket here.

CenturyLink service quality standards public hearings: The PUC and the Office of Administrative Hearings held six hearings (virtual and in-person) between July 18-27 on the Communication Workers of America’s allegations that CenturyLink had failed to meet telephone service quality standards. Public comments accepted through August 31.

Notable New Dockets or Filings

You can search for a docket as well as subscribe to receive email notifications when new documents are added to a docket. Learn more on our eDockets webpage.

DOCKET	FILING OR DOCKET SUMMARY
21-335	Large Power Intervenors and Department filed comments recommending changes to MP’s proposed interim refund. While different, both parties recommend over $7 million in additional refund to non-residential customer class.
21-668	Xcel and Department filed exceptions to the Administrative Law Judge report on the Certificate of Need for Additional Dry Cask Storage at the Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation in Wright County.
23-338	Otter Tail Power filed its small-scale solar plan to meet the Solar Energy Standard, focusing on community-owned solar, a guaranteed energy production program, and up to 15 projects owned by the Company
23-12	The Department filed comments that all utilities are in compliance with the Renewable Energy Standard (RES) for 2022 and “in total, utilities retired RECs representing 24.6 percent of their Minnesota retail sales.” RES statute requires 20 percent by 2020 and 25 percent by 2025.
23-215	CenterPoint filed the state’s first utility innovation plan under the NGIA legislation passed in 2021. 18 pilot projects totaling about $106 million over 5 years.
22-403	Xcel filed supplemental information with the asset purchase agreement for the 619 acres to be used for the Sherco Solar 3 project (property rights from National Grid Renewables).
23-26	Xcel filed an event report for Prairie Island Unit 2 which went offline on May 27 due to the Main Transformer lockout due to failure of the A-phase lightning arrester. The cause of the failure was that transformer maintenance procedures did not effectively implement the maintenance strategy for the transformer lightning arresters. All three arresters were replaced on June 1 and Unit 2 went online on June 2. The failed arrester has been sent to 3^rd party lab for testing (June 22) and the maintenance procedures were changed with enhanced testing and review. Staff note: According to NRC’s reactor status website, Unit 2 began to ramp back up to 50 MW between June 2 – 5 and then was held at 50 MW for maintenance June 6 followed by a Maintenance Outage (0 MW) from June 8 – 16. Unit 2 began increasing power on June 17 and achieved full 100 MW on June 21.
23-222	MERC Revenue Decoupling Mechanism and Adjustment - Department recommends approval.
23-151	PUC issued a Notice of Docket Process and Timeline to work through legislative implementation regarding the Renewable Energy Standard and Carbon Free Standard.

Get involved in the PUC process

The Commission encourages Minnesotans to get involved in our processes, stay informed on utility-related issues, and provide input on topics of interest. Visit our website to see what is currently open for public comment. Also, check out the series of short videos that explains who we are, how we work and how to get involved.

Minnesota Public Utilities Commission
121 7th Place E, Suite 350 Saint Paul, MN 55101-2147

(651) 296-0406 | (800) 657-3782
consumer.puc@state.mn.us

Will Seuffert, Executive Secretary Will.seuffert@state.mn.us