More than 30 organizations urge FERC to create strong transmission network planning rule

More than 30 organizations wrote in support of a strong new planning rule ahead of this week’s deadline for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Regional Transmission Planning and Cost Allocation and Generator Interconnection.

The organizations that signed the letter include utilities; consumers; NGOs; think tanks; labor groups; national trade associations; equipment providers; clean energy buyers; transmission developers, builders, and operators; independent power producers; and environmental organizations.

“We believe that expanding and upgrading the nation’s transmission network will deliver jobs and economic development, a cleaner environment, and lower costs for consumers,” the letter stated. “The diversity of the signatories reflects the fast-growing and widespread recognition of the importance of a strong planning rule to ensure that the nation’s transmission system can support future needs and that the Commission must lead its establishment.”

FERC had proposed reforming both its Open Access Transmission Tariff and Large Generator Interconnection Agreement to fix what it saw as deficiencies in existing regional transmission planning and cost allocation requirements. As proposed, changes would require public utility transmission providers to undertake long-term regional transmission planning, pay more consideration to dynamic line ratings and advanced power flow control devices, and more.

“Better transmission planning will help deliver the low-cost, clean and reliable energy American businesses and consumers are demanding,” said Barbara Tyran, director of the Macro Grid Initiative, one of the letter’s signatories. “The Macro Grid Initiative applauds FERC for its leadership in this rulemaking process.”

Macro Grid and its fellow signatories, which included diverse groups from the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) to Americans for a Clean Energy Grid (ACEG), American Clean Power Association, AES Corporation, Advanced Power Alliance, the Center for Rural Affairs, Exelon Corporation, Google, Invenergy, and on to groups such as the Sierra Club, Solar Energy Industries of America (SEIA) and Southern Renewable Energy Association (SREA), emphasized that a better planned and integrated power system would help both in terms of consumer savings and reliability of service. Further, greater national rulemaking could trickle down into helpful regionalization.

“The ability to move power across large areas helps deliver low-cost renewable energy, which is what consumers, utilities, and states are procuring,” the letter stated.