ISO New England proposes new planning processes for transmission upgrades
ISO New England has proposed new processes to ensure that plans for future transmission upgrades address state clean energy policies.
Earlier this month, ISO New England filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Phase 2 of the Longer-Term Transmission Planning (LTTP) tariff changes. This would create a new process to give the New England states greater control in achieving their environmental policies and goals. The new process would operate in addition to current transmission planning protocols and would enable the ISO to provide technical assistance for potential projects.
This comes as the New England states have set aggressive goals for reducing carbon emissions over the next several decades. Thus, the region will need significant transmission upgrades to ensure a reliable grid through this clean energy transition. Upgrades are needed to avoid overloading transmission lines and transformers as residents increasingly rely on electricity to heat buildings and power vehicles, and as offshore wind facilities and other renewable resources produce a greater share of the region’s power.
The approach outlined in LTTP Phase 2 provides a way for the states to evaluate and finance these upgrades. New steps in the evaluation process will grant the states greater insight overall. They also include additional opportunities for them to provide input and request feedback as proposed projects move through the ISO’s evaluation process.
As part of the planning process, the ISO will issue and evaluate requests for proposals (RFPs) to address needs that have been identified by the states. Depending on the relative costs and benefits of the selected proposal, either the ISO or New England States Committee on Electricity’s (NESCOE), will select a transmission project for construction.
Phase 2’s cost allocation guidelines also include additional metrics for evaluating a potential transmission project. Since they help power flow from more remote locations to more densely populated areas, large transmission projects may offset the need to build new generating resources in those densely populated areas. The new filing allows the ISO to include these cost-saving regional benefits in its evaluation process. Other new metrics encompass project costs, urgency of need, environmental impact, siting, and other factors.
LTTP Phase 2 is the culmination of a process that began in 2020 with NESCOE’s New England States’ Vision for a Clean, Affordance, and Reliable 21st Century Regional Electric Grid, which called on the ISO to incorporate a longer-term transmission planning process in its system planning efforts. The first phase of the LTTP changes, accepted by FERC in February 2022, created the longer-term transmission study process, which helped initiate ISO’s landmark 2050 Transmission Study. This study outlined potential roadmaps and associated costs needed to support reliability through the clean energy transition.
ISO New England has requested a response from FERC by July 9, and NESCOE has indicated a strong interest in requesting proposals related to the 2050 Transmission Study as soon as the filing is accepted.
