PSC grants TradePoint Atlantic waiver of BGE Schedule X provision, with caveat on jurisdiction

The Public Service Commission on June 11 granted TradePoint Atlantic a waiver of special provision 3 of Baltimore Gas and Electric Co.’s Schedule X tariff, allowing a planned 9‑megawatt rooftop solar project at Sparrows Point to take service under Schedule X without undergoing the PJM small resource interconnection process.

Commission staff recommended approval, saying the waiver would allow TradePoint’s five separate 1.8 MW generating units to receive billing credits based on the BGE aggregate node locational marginal price and that all interconnection upgrade costs would be borne by TradePoint. “Staff supports TradePoint’s request for a waiver of special provision 3 of BGE Schedule X,” Deandre Wilson, commission staff, told commissioners.

TradePoint’s representatives said the project would inject energy onto BGE’s 13.2 kV distribution feeder and that the developer would retain renewable energy credits and sell them to a commercial customer under a virtual power purchase agreement (VPPA). Charles Schaller of Baker Donelson, representing TradePoint Atlantic, said the company had filed the required information and that staff had closely reviewed the proposal. Don Pagliaro, TradePoint’s project lead, said the VPPA “is a financial hedge agreement. The RECs are also being sold, but it’s a hedge for energy purchase.”

Commissioners asked detailed legal and operational questions about jurisdiction. Commissioner Richard said he wanted to be sure the arrangement would remain under state jurisdiction and not be converted into a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission matter by virtue of relying on locational marginal pricing. David Hockett, commission staff, explained that under the proposed “in schedule” contract, PJM would provide credits to BGE as negative load based on the BGE aggregate node LMP and BGE would pass those credits on to the solar developer.

BGE told the commission it supports the waiver and that other utilities in Maryland do not include the PJM interconnection requirement in their equivalent tariffs. A BGE representative (Beverly) said the company had worked with TradePoint and staff to design a settlement mechanism that treats the generation as distribution‑connected negative load. “We actually do question now whether or not we need this requirement,” the BGE representative said, referring to the PJM interconnection provision in Schedule X.

At the meeting the commission moved to grant TradePoint’s request “subject to the caveat that nothing in this approval should be construed as constituting authority or providing support or confirmation to obligate BGE to purchase energy from TradePoint at avoided cost pursuant to the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act or PURPA” and an amendment to clarify that the interconnection is at distribution and does not confer FERC jurisdiction. The motion passed with recorded affirmative votes from Commissioner Barbay, Commissioner Richard and the chair.