On August 16, 2022, a day before the comment deadline on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) on Regional Transmission Planning and Cost Allocation and Generator Interconnection, more than 30 organizations wrote a letter in support of a strong new planning rule that helps strengthen the nation’s transmission network.[1] The NOPR, released in April 2022, proposed reforming both FERC’s Open Access Transmission Tariff and Large Generator Interconnection Agreement to fix what the commission saw as deficiencies in existing regional transmission planning and cost allocation requirements. As written, the NOPR would require public utility transmission providers to undertake long-term regional transmission planning and consider dynamic line ratings and advanced power flow control devices more.

Organizations that signed the letter include utilities, consumers, nongovernmental organizations, think tanks, labor groups, national trade associations, equipment providers, clean energy buyers, transmission developers, builders and operators, independent power producers, and environmental organizations. The organizations emphasized that a better planned and integrated power system would help both in terms of consumer savings and reliability of service. Additionally, 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 said.

[1] https://acore.org/macro-grid-initiative-letter-under-ferc-transmission-nopr/