Policy Review

Examination of recent policy and regulatory initiatives

• Alternatives to UK’s CATO: Competition for onshore projects still Ofgem's agenda [free access]

  December 8, 2017
  Electricity transmission, in general, remains a monopoly business. While governments world over have successfully introduced competition in generation, only a few countries have...

• Mexico’s New Contracting Model: A step closer to follow competitive solicitation

  November 14, 2017
  In line with its efforts to promote private investment in electricity transmission, Mexico’s Secretaría de Energía (SENER) or Ministry of Energy recently published a draft on the new contracting model it proposes to adopt for awarding transmission projects.

• Nepal’s Power Sector: Initiatives to create NERC and increase private participation

  October 10, 2017
  The lack of significant regulatory and policy reforms in Nepal’s electricity market has been a serious setback to the generation, transmission and fair distribution...

• Energy Storage in UK: Measures proposed to remove policy and regulatory barriers

  September 5, 2017
  A global transition to a low carbon economy is being witnessed. The United Kingdom (UK) has been a frontrunner in this transition with the government in 2008 establishing a legally binding target to reduce the country’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by at least 80 per cent below 1990 levels by 2050.

• India’s EV Push: White paper on increasing penetration and its impact on the grid

  August 8, 2017
  The government has announced an ambitious goal to switch to electric cars by 2030 and phase out diesel and petrol cars. To understand the challenges of the proliferation of...

• Restructuring Canada’s Energy Regulatory Board: Aims to restore public trust [free access]

  July 7, 2017
  Canada’s energy regulator – National Energy Board (NEB) – is proposed to be restructured and modernised to position the entity as a modern, efficient and effective energy regulator. The move is also aimed at restoring public trust in the country’s regulatory process.

• US 2018 Budget Proposal: Government considers sale of BPA’s assets

  June 9, 2017
  The US government’s 2018 budget proposal has caused quite a furor in the country’s energy sector. While proposing to scale back federal funding for energy research with massive cuts in the support to the Department of Energy (DoE), the new budget calls for raising revenues by selling off publicly owned energy infrastructure and resources.

• FERC’s Large Generators Interconnection Rules: Improving certainty

  May 10, 2017
  The timing of the interconnection of a generation facility to the grid is critical for any generator. Lengthy, non-transparent and discriminatory interconnection processes hinder the development of new generation as well as derail the advancement of new technologies.

• Upturning Brazil’s Economy: Private sector set to play a bigger role [free access]

  April 10, 2017
  Brazil is currently facing its longest recession since the 1930s. The economic recession, which started in 2014, and the 2016 political crisis, which resulted in the impeachment of its then President Dilma Rousseff, has led the country to an economic collapse.

• Nigeria’s New Financing Plans: Allows private contractors to build grid projects

  March 14, 2017
  Nigeria’s electricity transmission infrastructure is grossly inadequate and is one of the key factors responsible for stranded generation capacity, which has become a characteristic of the country’s electricity grid.

• New Proposal on Risk Preparedness: For a resilient single EU electricity market

  February 17, 2017
  In its aim to create a well functioning single electricity market in the European Union (EU), the European Commission (EC) published a proposal on the regulation of ‘risk-preparedness’ in the electricity sector on November 30, 2016.

• FERC's New Rule: To boost electric storage and DER participation in wholesale markets [free access]

  January 12, 2017
  Federal-level policy and regulatory support to energy storage and distributed energy resources (DER) is greater than ever before in the US. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has been making efforts to provide a level playing field for emerging technologies.

• EU-Africa Renewable Electricity Trade: Joint declaration signed for SET Roadmap

  December 9, 2016
  In November 2016, four European countries—Germany, France, Spain and Portugal—and Morocco signed a joint declaration to establish a roadmap for facilitating sustainable renewable electricity trade between Northern Africa and the European internal energy market.

• Siting Process for Transmission Lines' Modified: DOE issues new rule

  November 7, 2016
  The US Department of Energy (DOE) on September 28, 2016 issued a final rule to establish a pre-application process to simplify the siting of certain transmission projects.

• Structural Reforms in Europe: Update on unbundling of TSOs [free access]

  October 14, 2016
  Europe is among the leading regions in undertaking widespread reforms and restructuring efforts in the energy sector to promote competition and investments.

• Boosting Competition in UK: Consultations for CATO selection process underway

  September 9, 2016
  UK is considering introducing competition in onshore power transmission, a responsibility currently held by three incumbent transmission operators (TOs)—National Grid Electricity Transmission (NGET) in England and Wales, SP Transmission in the south of Scotland, and SHE Transmission in the north of Scotland.

• US-Canada Electric Grid Strategy: Working together to improve grid resilience

  August 12, 2016
  Recent years have witnessed an increase in incidents of cyber and security attacks on the US' high voltage grid. These attacks pose a significant risk to the security and proper functioning of the country's grid.

• New Zealand's Tariff Methodology: Aims to provide correct investment signals

  July 14, 2016
  In May 2016, New Zealand's Electricity Authority (EA) released a consultation paper aimed at changing the way Transpower, the country's sole electricity transmission developer and operator, charge its customers for providing transmission services.

• Expanding Role of Energy Storage in Wholesale Markets: FERC to review rules

  June 9, 2016
  Over the last five years, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has issued several rules—Orders 755, 784 and 792—that have played an important role in the expansion of the energy storage industry in the United States (US).

• US Senate Energy Bill: Aiming at broad scale modernisation

  May 9, 2016
  The landscape of the energy sector in the United States (US) has changed significantly in the past decade given the increased focus on renewable generation and energy conservation as well as the increased domestic production of oil and gas.