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On March 19, 2024, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (“NERC”) asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) to approve revisions to NERC’s Rules of Procedure (“ROP”) that would require certain small (over 20 MVA) inverter-based resources (“IBRs”) – like solar and wind power generators – to register with NERC, and eventually be subject to existing and new reliability standards applicable to larger IBRs.

On November 7, 2023, Texas voters approved a constitutional amendment creating the Texas Energy Fund (“TEF”).

John Jannarone, Editor-in-Chief of PE Edge, interviews Jeffrey Jakubiak, partner at Vinson & Elkins, at the New York Stock Exchange.

Over the past few years, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or the “Commission”) and the Department of Energy (“DOE”) have proposed many rules to support the Biden Administration’s push to build transmission infrastructure to ensure reliability and support new sources of generation.

We have recently seen an increase in audits by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (“FERC”) Office of Enforcement (“OE”) that take issue with the way electric utilities and interstate natural gas pipelines allocate overhead costs to construction projects.

On Tuesday, November 7, 2023, Texas voters approved Proposition 7, a constitutional amendment creating the Texas Energy Fund (“TEF”).

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (“FERC” or “Commission”) October 18, 2023 Open Meeting (the “October Open Meeting”) and October 27, 2023 issuance of rehearing of remand orders for the Texas LNG Brownsville LLC and joint Rio Grande, LLC and Rio Bravo Pipeline Company, LLC projects provide further evidence of the re-solidification of the Driftwood Compromise we discussed in our earlier update following the September 21, 2023 Open Meeting (the “September Open Meeting”).

At the Open Meeting held on September 21, 2023, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or “Commission”) approved four of the six Natural Gas Act (“NGA”) certificate orders for interstate natural gas pipelines and liquefied natural gas (“LNG”) terminals that were abruptly struck from the agenda at the July Open Meeting.

In a concerted effort to meet the Biden administration’s aggressive carbon-reduction goals, the Department of Energy (“DOE”) unveiled a pre-publication copy of a forthcoming proposed rule on August 10, 2023, aimed at fast-tracking the development of high-voltage electric transmission facilities.

On July 27, 2023, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued a final rule intended to revolutionize the interconnection process.

At the conclusion of a hotly contested Texas 88th Regular Legislative Session, the Texas Legislature has passed, and Governor Abbott has signed into law, two major pieces of legislation that could have substantial impacts on the Texas electric grid and energy market.

On June 3, 2023, President Biden signed into law the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 (“the Act”), which includes modest changes to the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”), among other things.