Transmission TL;DR Grid Happenings: History in the Making

• Act 164 will make it more difficult for an entity from outside Louisiana to expropriate land for proposed transmission infrastructure that would move electrical power across Louisiana unless the proposed transmission infrastructure drops most of the electricity or steam power it transmits into Louisiana. This bill came to be because of a disgruntled landowner on the route of the proposed Southern Spirit transmission line from Mississippi to Texas.
• Local Impact: Act 164 will empower incumbent utilities to block similar competing future projects from being approved and could create barriers to our ability to unlock affordable renewable energy. Read more about Act 164 here.

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Issues Two Historic Transmission Orders including Order 1920 Cost Allocation and Transmission Planning Rulemaking. Order 1920 passed (2-1)

• After several years in the making Order 1920 was signed into the Federal Registry, and includes one of the largest records FERC has ever considered, with over 30,000 pages of stakeholder input, and over 1,300 pages in the record. Order 1920 is dense and it will take transmission operators and planning experts more time to fully understand the Order’s implications. At a high level Order 1920: 
  • Requires transmission operators (includes RTO and non-RTO regions) to conduct a 20 year forward-looking regional transmission planning process, to take place at least every 5 years.
  • Requires a minimum of 7 economic and reliability benefits metrics to evaluate and select long-term regional transmission facilities
  • Provides a ‘Beneficiary pays’ backstop transmission cost allocation if planning entities can not reach a cost allocation agreement. ‘Beneficiary pays’ cost allocation is a long-standing economic cost allocation methodology used across utility sectors.
• Local Impact: The majority of Louisiana is a member of a regional transmission operator, the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), which has already begun the type of 20-year long-range transmission planningrequired in Order 1920. While MISO continues to process Order 1920, regulators and stakeholders in MISO South should begin to process how Order 1920 will impact the Entergy Regional State Committee Long Range Transmission Planning Tranche 3 Cost Allocation Principles & Proposal. MISO must digest the implications of Order 1920 and Order 1977 to develop compliance filings for the new rulemakings.
• Learn more: If you’re interested in learning more about how Order 1920 will impact the Southeast, join the Southern Renewable Energy Association’s Webinar “FERC’s Big Grid Rule Order 1920 and Planning in the Southeast” on 06/18. More Webinar information here.

FERC Order 1977 Address Permitting and Sitting Processes. Order 1977 passed unanimously.

• One of the many barriers to transmission planning is the lengthy, slow-moving siting and permitting process. Order 1977 Applications for Permits to Site Interstate Electric Transmission Facilities aims to provide a backstop solution to transmission siting and permitting inefficiencies and roadblocks. Order 1977 grants FERC the authority to grant permits for electric transmission lines in instances where states do not act first. This order attempts to increase transparency and efficiency and reduce opportunities for market manipulation. Some specific measures include adhering to a Landowner’s Bill of Rights, developing Tribal Resources Reports, and requiring Environmental Justice Public Engagement Plans.
• Local impact: While this is a backstop solution, Order 1977 will help to promote efficiency in energy markets, ultimately benefiting consumers and ensuring the reliability of energy supply.
  • Orders 1920 & 1977 are necessary to push grid operators and utility companies to plan the grid ratepayers need for the 21st century. Neither order goes as far as to remove transmission planning barriers entirely. Overall, The Alliance is glad to see attempts at addressing lagging transmission planning and are glad to see 20-year long-range transmission planning will take place throughout the continental U.S. The full implication of the Orders are being assessed, and are subject to change. We will continue to monitor the progression of Order 1920 & 1977. Both Orders are subject to change if Requests for Rehearings are granted.

PJM and the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) will conduct an informational Interregional Transfer Capability Study.

• The study conducted by two neighboring RTOs, MISO and PJM, is intended to be purely informational, meaning it will not lead to planned transmission lines. Beginning in 2024, the informational study will identify potential opportunities for near-term transmission enhancements to incrementally increase the ability to transfer large amounts of power across the seam shared by PJM and MISO. Increasing interregional transfer capability increases grid resilience, especially during extreme weather, like recent Winter Storms (Uri, Elliott), by ensuring the grid can move electrons from an area not impacted by sub-freezing temperatures to impacted areas.
• Local impact: This kind of study is much needed. It will hopefully lead to more capacity studies, and ultimately increase interregional transfer ability at an affordable rate for consumers.

*TL,DR: too long, didn’t read