From E&E News: “A coalition of power industry groups yesterday launched a legal fight over a federal regulation opening wholesale electricity markets to energy storage technologies like batteries.
“In their petition for review, attorneys for the American Public Power Association and other groups told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that they would soon sue but did not lay out the details of their challenge.
“The lawsuit will likely focus on an element of Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Order No. 841 that requires regional transmission organizations (RTOs) to allow full participation from energy storage resources, said Ari Peskoe, director of Harvard Law School's Electricity Law Initiative. FERC commissioners approved Order No. 841 last year to allow energy storage to compete with other electricity sources like natural gas and coal in regional wholesale power markets overseen by RTOs or independent system operators.
"‘Without the option of selling through an RTO or ISO, [distributed energy resource] owners are captive to local utility programs,’ Peskoe said.”