In a short meeting today, postponed from the morning to the afternoon due to snow and some ice Wednesday in Washington, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued rules making some utility mergers easier and streamlining hydropower regulations. FERC also clarified in a draft order its rules on how new generators and technologies can connect to the transmission grid.
All three actions represent what former FERC Commission Robert Powelson in 2017 called “the boring good.”
The interconnection clarification of FERC’s May 2018 Order No. 845 may be the most significant. As a staff presentation to the commission noted, “The draft order grants in part and denies in part the requests for rehearing and clarification” of Order No. 845. The original order produced 12 requests for rehearing or clarification, mostly on detailed technical issues of interest only to players in the dance between new generators, including the rising technology of energy storage, and the providers of transmission services, seeking a balance between the interests.
As Chairman Neil Chatterjee observed, the draft order is “not reversing any major aspect of Order 845.” He added that the draft order “officially starts the clock” for compliance filings on interconnection policy.
Commissioner Cheryl Lafleur noted that the draft order “is the culmination of many years of work,” starting with a 2015 petition to the commission by the American Wind Energy Association. FERC held a technical conference in 2016. LaFleur is the only commissioner among the four now serving (there is still a vacancy) who was around from the beginning of the process. She commented that today draft rule “balanced both sides,” by improving and streamlining the interconnection process.
The merger-related final rule (RM19-4-000) amends FERC regs to implement changes to the Federal Power Act for utilities subject to FERC’s jurisdiction seeking to “merge or consolidate jurisdictional facilities so that such authorization is required only when those facilities are valued at more than $10 million. The revisions also require a public utility to notify FERC of mergers or consolidations if the facilities are valued at more than $1 million but less than $10 million. Today’s rule will reduce the regulatory burden on utilities for lower-value transactions, and the final action comes within the 180-day period set by Congress,” according to a FERC press release.
The hydro rule (RM-19-13-000) implements the 2018 “America’s Water Infrastructure Act,” which amended the FPA, extending periods for preliminary permits and increasing raising the “installed capacity for qualifying conduit exemptions” from 5-MW to 40-MW.
— Kennedy Maize