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FERC Order No. 1920 will improve transmission planning and make it easier for states to improve their transmission grid

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) voted to approve new rules aimed at improving long-term regional planning for high-voltage interstate electric transmission lines. 

“Families and businesses are paying the price for utilities’ and grid operators’ failure to address our critical electricity infrastructure needs,” said Heather O’Neill, President and CEO at national business association Advanced Energy United. "Building more multi-state transmission lines unclogs the traffic jams on America’s electricity superhighways and unlocks our ability to keep up with our growing energy needs. This FERC Order sends the message that transmission planning needs to change, and recognizes that states deserve a central role in ensuring a reliable electric grid built for the future.” 

Among the critical changes FERC says it is addressing in the rule are:

• Requires long-term (i.e., 20 year) transmission planning to identify the most cost-effective transmission solutions and account for extreme weather 
• Establishes requirements for grid operators and states to work together on planning and cost allocation 
• Requires that transmission planning leverages the benefits of grid-enhancing technologies  

“The current piecemeal approach to building transmission is causing us to miss out on affordable energy that could be improving reliability and lowering electricity bills,” said O’Neill. “The fix is for states to forge regional and interregional solutions so we can get steel in the ground and build the transmission grid we need. These new regulatory tools require a more robust planning process and reflect the need for states to have a bigger voice in that process.”   

Transmission lines are large wires that move electricity from where it’s created to where it’s used, often over long distances. The DOE National Transmission Needs Study estimates that in order to meet growing demand by 2035 the U.S. must more than double the existing regional transmission capacity and expand existing interregional transmission capacity by more than fivefold. In 2022, grid congestioncost consumers roughly $20 billion. 

“States, utilities, grid operators, and the advanced energy industry all have a stake in making the grid more reliable, and it’s critical they come together to ensure that compliance with this Order results in a transmission system that delivers affordable electricity and supports economic growth,” said Caitlin Marquis, Managing Director at Advanced Energy United overseeing engagement with wholesale markets and FERC. 

The FERC Order is one important tool to address one challenge to transmission, and Advanced Energy United looks forward to engaging with stakeholders to continue advocating for a more robust, reliable, and affordable grid. 

Advanced Energy United leads a coalition called Transmission Possible, which provides nonpartisan resources to educate the public about how transmission works and why it’s so critical to keeping the lights on.

Click here to learn more about Advanced Energy United's work engaging with FERC and advocating for the expansion of wholesale markets.

WASHINGTON, DC – National business association Advanced Energy United released the following statement of support prior to the commencement of Confirmation Hearings for nominees David Rosner, Judy Chang, and Lindsay See to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) before the Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee.

"FERC plays an essential role ensuring that the U.S. has an affordable and reliable energy system, which is especially critical as we swiftly transition toward a 100 percent advanced energy economy,” said Caitlin Marquis, Managing Director at Advanced Energy United. "FERC is most capable of deliberating on the vital and complex issues before it when it has a full contingent of Commissioners. As such, we welcome the work of this committee and the Senate as a whole to swiftly consider these nominations from President Biden."

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, national business association Advanced Energy United applauded President Biden’s nomination of three new Commissioners to fill vacant and soon-to-be vacant seats at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).  

“A full complement of Commissioners is critical to ensure robust debate and efficient progress on the important issues that FERC will be asked to weigh in on in the coming months and years, from interconnection reform to transmission planning to market rule changes in light of the energy transition,” said Caitlin Marquis, Managing Director at Advanced Energy United. “We encourage the Senate to move forward quickly with the appointment process and look forward to working with a fully staffed Commission under the leadership of Chair Willie Phillips.”

 Background resources:  

• Blog: Building for the Future Through Improved Transmission Planning & Cost Allocation (December 2023) 
• Blog: Unpacking FERC Order No. 2023’s Implications for Interconnection Reform (September 2023) 

Click here to learn more about Advanced Energy United’s work expanding wholesale markets for advanced energy, and engaging with FERC.

RTO Insider reports on United's recently released Generation Interconnection Scorecard, authored by Grid Strategies and the Brattle Group, that evaluates and grades the seven regional transmission organizations. United's Caitlin Marquis spoke to the challenges presented by flawed interconnection systems and the importance of urgent improvements.

 

Advanced Energy United has released a scorecard that ranks the seven domestic ISO/RTOs on their generator interconnection processes, finding room for improvement in every one. 

Brattle Group and Grid Strategies prepared the Generator Interconnection Scorecard for United, as they did for a similar project on transmission planning last year. (See Transmission Report Card Grades MISO “B,” Southeast “F”.) 

The scorecard, released Feb. 26, comes after FERC issued Order 2023 and is meant to help track how those and other reforms are implemented, Grid Strategies President and report co-author Rob Gramlich said in an interview. (See FERC Updates Interconnection Queue Process with Order 2023.) 

“We’re hopeful that those reforms happen and further reforms get done,” Gramlich said. “And we’re hopeful that in a year or two, if and when we do this again, all of the grades will improve. But the idea was just to kind of take a snapshot at this time.” 

The flawed interconnection processes have more than 2 million MW of renewable power and storage waiting to connect to the grid, said Advanced Energy United Managing Director Caitlin Marquis. 

“This scorecard confirms what we know about the interconnection process, that grid managers have moved too slowly to adapt to changing market conditions, allowing the process of connecting new electricity to the transmission grid to become dysfunctional,” Marquis said. “Without urgent improvement, the U.S. grid may struggle to keep up with growing energy demands, threatening our ability to keep the lights on and reach our climate goals. Strong implementation of FERC’s recent reforms will be an important first step toward improving the interconnection process, and it’s also clear that additional reforms will be needed.”  

None of the ISO/RTOs managed to get an A, but both CAISO and ERCOT got Bs, with Gramlich saying one reason they did better was that they’ve proactively planned their transmission systems to add new resources. 

“That has been a little bit less of a case recently in ERCOT,” Gramlich said. “And so ERCOT used to be great from a developer perspective, but they got marked down a little bit because of a lack of transmission. Because you can connect, but there’s a lot of congestion once you connect. California has always done proactive transmission planning pretty consistently … so the grid has been prepared in advance to accommodate more generation.” 

Both also scored highly on giving developers a sense of certainty, with ERCOT assigning limited costs to interconnection customers and CAISO being credited with good transparency. 

No other market scored above a C- on United's scorecard, which highlights the need for changes to meet rising demand from new large loads, electrification, and state policies and customer demand driving more renewables onto the grid. 

“Currently, most of the regions are undergoing significant efforts to reform their interconnection practices and policies in response to stakeholder concerns and FERC Order No. 2023,” the report said. “The scorecard is not an assessment of those ongoing or recently adopted reforms that have not yet impacted the generator interconnection processes.”  

The growth of wind, utility-scale solar and storage has resulted in interconnection projects popping up everywhere, Gramlich said.

The scorecard measures six categories, the first of which is interconnection process and results, which measures an interconnection’s success rate, cost reasonableness and uncertainty. It also grades prequeue information, queue design, assumptions and criteria, availability of interconnection alternatives, and whether transmission planning takes future generation needs into account. 

That final category is the only one where the graders looked at rules now in place, which have not impacted the queues yet.  

Read the full article here. 

This first-ever comparative evaluation of generator interconnection shows electricity system operators are struggling to connect generating resources to the U.S. grid, threatening power reliability and clean energy goals

WASHINGTON, DC – A new, first-of-its-kind scorecard from national business association Advanced Energy United evaluates and grades the seven U.S. regional transmission organizations on their generator interconnection processes. The scorecard, authored by Grid Strategies and The Brattle Group, shows that interconnection is not going smoothly in any region of the country, with some regions facing serious deficiencies.

RTO Insider  reports on the official naming of Willie Phillips as FERC Chair.  The article quotes United's Caitlin Marquis, who welcomed the news and stated that Advanced Energy United hopes to see the nomination of new FERC commissioners who share interest in tackling the challenges faced by the energy sector.

 

United calls on Biden Administration to nominate additional candidates to fill out commissioners 

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, national business group Advanced Energy United congratulated Willie Phillips on his elevation to Chair of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), andurged expedient nomination of additional Commissioners to restore a full complement to FERC.