Slide 1

Item No: 

September 19, 2013

Gas-Electric Coordination 

Quarterly Update

Docket No. AD12-12

Good morning Mr. Chairman and Commissioners. This presentation is the staff’s third Quarterly 

Update on Gas-Electric Coordination Activities. It covers the period June 2013 through August 

2013 and focuses on regional initiatives and docketed matters before FERC. This presentation 

focuses on regional initiatives since our last report, and briefly summarizes Commission 

initiatives as well as recent industry applications filed with the Commission. The full staff report 

will be publicly posted on the Commission’s website. 
Slide 2

Regional Initiatives 

Northeast & Mid-Atlantic

 Northeast

• NESCOE

• ISO-NE

 Mid-Atlantic

• EIPC 

• PJM

• EISPC

• NYISO

Broadly speaking, each region continued some level of engagement and focus on issues of gaselectric coordination. The following slides provide an update on substantive developments since 

our last report, and are based on staff outreach and monitoring of the regional gas-electric 

coordination task force meetings.

We start with New England. According to recent discussions of the New England States 

Committee on Electricity (NESCOE) Gas-Electric Focus Group, the group has largely 

accomplished its initial objectives of information exchange and discussion of potential shortterm supply reliability solutions. The Group plans to convene in October to discuss additional 

results from the New England pipeline capacity study being conducted by Black & Veatch. The 

recently finalized Study recommends a short-term strategy that includes immediate deployment 

of dual-fuel generation, demand response measures, and the seasonal purchase of LNG. In the 

long-term, a cross-regional natural gas pipeline solution is recommended, which will provide 

twice the net benefits to New England consumers than would be contributed by the firm-based 

Canadian energy imports solution. 

ISO-NE continues to consider and file with the Commission market rule changes and other 

proposed solutions to address gas-electric issues. 

Turning to the Mid-Atlantic, many members of INGAA, NGSA, and AGA continue to be 

involved in the Eastern Interconnection Planning Collaborative (EIPC) in which PJM is leading 

the study as the principal investigator. A detailed scope of work for the study along with the final 

request for proposals was issued on August 2 with bids due August 30. Final work is scheduled 

to be completed by May 2015. A meeting of the stakeholder steering committee is scheduled for 

October 29-30 in Washington, D.C.
The Eastern Interconnection States’ Planning Council (EISPC) conducted roundtable discussions 

in August with Commissioner Moeller, national electric and natural gas industry associations as 

well as end-user associations participating. Panelists were asked to share concerns and potential 

solutions for consideration by the collaborative and study consultants as they begin work on the 

long-term Electric and Natural Gas Infrastructure Requirements Study and Whitepaper. The 

Study and the Whitepaper are expected to cover infrastructure requirements under different 

scenarios and address such issues as planning and confidentiality procedures. The anticipated 

completion date is June 2014.

Levitan & Associates presented NYISO with its Fuel Assurance Study findings in June. This 

study examined the relative cost and benefit of providing fuel assurance through dual-fuel 

capability against incremental cost of obtaining firm transportation entitlement from a liquid 

sourcing point to the delivery points of a gas-fired generator; and grid security.
Slide 3

Regional Initiatives 

Central

 MISO

 SPP

 ERCOT

At its August meeting, MISO’s Electric-Natural Gas Coordination Task Force presented the 

preliminary results of Phase III of the MISO Gas-Electric Interdependency Analysis. The 

preliminary results showed that recent pipeline capacity additions have contributed to a decrease 

in the number of days in which capacity would have been unavailable for the majority of the 

MISO-region pipelines; and suggested natural gas supply diversity is expected to increase in the 

region supporting incremental demand growth. Final results are expected to be presented at the 

September 15, 2013 Task Force meeting. MISO is also working on a number of whitepapers 

such as: the potential misalignment of gas and electric schedules; communication enhancements 

and operational awareness improvements; and adjustments to the energy and capacity markets.

Turning to SPP, the Gas-Electric Coordination Task Force conducted a natural gas-fired 

generator survey, held training sessions with gas pipeline and marketer personnel, and 

implemented a visual pipeline mapping tool. The Task Force is in discussions regarding a 

potential study for its region similar to the EIPC study. 

ERCOT continued regional coordination efforts during third quarter. ERCOT participated in a 

Texas Energy Reliability Council (TERC) conference call on July 10 examining gas storage 

status, summer electric generation needs affecting gas demand, and any planned pipeline 

maintenance that might affect delivery; no issues were noted. ERCOT is also working to finalize 

a Non-Disclosure Agreement that is reported to allow the cross industry sharing of protected or 

confidential gas infrastructure information from gas pipelines and suppliers and detailed electric 

infrastructure information from ERCOT, transmission and distribution companies, and black start 

resources.
Slide 4

Regional Initiatives

West

 PNUCC

 WIEB – SPSC

 CAISO

 Desert Southwest Task Force

The West has a number of subregional natural gas-electric coordination initiatives. 

The Western Gas-Electric Regional Assessment Task Force issued an RFP for its Western Natural 

Gas – Electric and System Flexibility Assessment introduced last quarter. The two-phase study 

will be led by the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) with representation from industry, 

regulators, and others. The selection of contractors was made on September 6. The initial study 

results are expected to be completed in a 9-month period, three months dedicated to Phase I and 

six to Phase II, with final results due at the end of 2014. 

The Pacific Northwest Utilities Conference Committee’s (PNUCC) Power & Natural Gas 

Planning Taskforce is exploring a second phase I-5 Corridor study based on the initial 

ColumbiaGrid Gas-Electric Interdependencies Study. The second phase of the study will explore 

how the system would respond to increased natural gas generation sited in the I-5 corridor, and if 

the system is able to handle large swings driven by gas demand from power plants and direct 

service companies. The Task Force hopes to begin the analysis by its October Task Force 

meeting.

Both the California ISO and the Desert Southwest Task Force continue with similar work as 

reported in prior quarters.
Slide 5

Commission Matters

 July 18 Communications NOPR 

 Natural Gas Filings

 Electric Filings

We now turn to matters before the Commission. On July 18, the Commission issued notice of 

proposed rulemaking to address information sharing and communications issues between the 

natural gas and electric industries. These proposed rules built on the discussions and information 

learned from conferences and comments filed with the Commission following the February 13 

technical conference. 

In brief, the proposed rule would revise regulations to authorize expressly the sharing of nonpublic operational information between the interstate natural gas pipelines and electric 

transmission operators – not just during emergencies but also for day-to-day operations, planned 

outages, and scheduled maintenance. It would also adopt a No-Conduit Rule to prohibit 

recipients of non-public operational information from subsequently disclosing, or using anyone 

as a conduit for the subsequent disclosure of that information to a third party.

The Commission received 33 comments in response to the proposed rule.
Slide 6

Relevant 

Natural Gas Filings

Region Pipeline Capacity/Initiative Docket No.

MidAtlanticEastern Shore Natural 

Gas Company

Capacity expansion ~55,200 

Dth/d

CP13-498

Southeast Transcontinental Gas 

Pipe Line Company

Capacity expansion ~225,000 

Dth/d

CP13-523

Southeast Gulf South Pipeline 

Company & Petal Gas 

Storage

Alternative No-Notice Service RP13-1245-

000 & CP13-

532-000

A few individual filings relevant to gas-electric coordination have been filed with the 

Commission. The Commission received two applications to expand pipeline capacity serving 

electric generation and one application to increase operational flexibility. 

The two pipeline capacity expansions were: (1) Eastern Shore’s White Oak Lateral Project in 

Kent County, DE proposing to add 55.2 MMcfd of transportation capacity for Calpine Energy 

Services, LP for use in the Garrison Energy Center, a proposed 309-MW combined cycle power 

plant under development; and (2) Transco’s Mobile Bay South III Expansion Project, proposing 

to add 225 MMcfd of firm transportation capacity to serve two anchor shippers - Southern 

Company Services, Inc. and PowerSouth Energy Cooperative - both operate a substantial portion 

of gas-fired generation in the Southeast and Florida. Gulf South pipeline filed tariff records 

proposing a new Alternative No-Notice Service designed to meet the requirements of local 

distribution companies, electric generation markets, and other customers that desire a flexible nonotice service.
Slide 7

Relevant Electric Filings

Entity Filing Initiative Docket No.

Dominion Energy 

Marketing & ISO-NE

Recover over $336,095 in fuel costs as well as 

regulatory costs, and new cost recovery trigger

ER13-1291 & 

EL13-72

ISO-NE and New 

England Power Pool

Forward reserve market incentives changes ER13-1733

ISO-NE and New 

England Power Pool

Reserve market revisions to more accurately 

reflect ISO-NE initiated reliability actions in 

market prices

ER13-1736

ISO-NE and New 

England Power Pool

A reliability project for winter 2013-14 ER13-1851

ISO-NE and New 

England Power Pool

Offer flexibility changes ER13-1877

ISO-NE Results of bidding in its Winter 2013-2014 

Reliability Program

ER13-2266

Recent filings made by the electric industry to address increasing reliance on natural gas-fired 

generators as well as previously-reported filings that have been the subject of recent Commission 

action are highlighted on this slide. A majority are from the Northeast region and include a 

compliance filing addressing a proposal by a generator to recover fuel costs incurred to support 

reliability during a cold weather event; and proposed rule changes filed by ISO-NE and 

NEPOOL to incent better resource performance, more accurately reflect reliability actions taken 

by ISO-NE in market prices, develop a reliability project for winter 2013/14, and provide market 

participants with flexibility to change their energy market offers in real-time. Additional 

information about these filings is included in the full staff report.

Staff’s next quarterly report is due in December. Staff will continue regular outreach with 

national and regional entities and with regulated entities regarding their efforts on gas-electric 

coordination. This concludes today’s presentation of the third Quarterly Update on Gas-Electric 

Coordination Activities. We are available to answer any questions you may have.
Slide 8

Item No: 

September 19, 2013

Gas-Electric Coordination 

Quarterly Update

Docket No. AD12-12