U.S. grid operators are under broad new federal orders to improve their response to growing threats of extreme weather and greater electrification required to heat and cool buildings and operate vehicles.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission earlier this month addressed long-term transmission planning for the first time as the grid faces what Chairman Willie Phillips said will be an “unprecedented surge in demand for affordable electricity” at the same time more storms threaten the reliability of electricity.
“Our nation needs a new foundation to get badly needed new transmission planned, paid for and built,” he said. “With this new rule, that starts today.”
The rule change followed comments over three years from hundreds of stakeholders across the industry, “advocacy groups of all stripes,” and local, state and tribal governments, said Karin Herzfeld, senior transmission counsel at FERC.
It has been over 10 years since the commission last implemented a regional transmission policy.
Rob Gramlich, president of Grid Strategies LLC, a Washington, D.C., consultancy focused on transmission and power markets, said “huge drivers” of increased demand for electricity are happening at the same time: greater use of electric heat pumps and electric vehicles, manufacturers returning to the U.S. from overseas, and severe storms “coming faster and fiercer.”
New England has begun looking at how the regional grid can adapt to change; the region’s grid operator had filed a proposal with FERC before the federal agency issued its order. Gramlich praised New England states for already submitting a plan to FERC, but the region has a “way to go” before it can expand transmission lines and rights of way, he said.
In a statement, ISO-New England, the region’s grid operator, said FERC’s policy “aligns with work underway” in the region. In early May, ISO filed with FERC a proposal for new planning processes to “ensure future transmission upgrades address state clean energy policies.” It would enable the ISO to provide technical assistance for potential transmission projects.
The New England states have set aggressive goals to reduce carbon emissions. Upgrades will help avoid overloading transmission lines and transformers as electricity use increases and as offshore wind and other renewable power sources that are distant from population centers produce more of the region’s power, the ISO said.
ISO has requested a response from FERC by July 9.
Philip L. Bartlett II, chairman of the Maine Public Utilities Commission, said FERC’s rule will help utilities, regulators and others find efficient ways for rebuilding transmission and “breaking traditional logjams” to achieve climate goals at a reasonable cost in what’s known as the energy transition.
“Our chief focus is how to make the transition most affordable,” Bartlett said. “There’s no question the transition will be expensive.”
For example, instead of installing in-kind replacements when fixing a transmission line, utilities can upgrade the work in anticipation of greater electricity loads, he said. “It could save ratepayers a ton of money over time,” Bartlett said.
And utilities can save money by building out a transmission line before installing a new one, he said.
Gramlich said utilities can look at the FERC-directed changes as an opportunity to expand and upgrade their system when replacing aging equipment. “It’s not one for one. Maybe this is an opportunity to expand capacity,” he said.
Herzfeld said in a recent panel discussion organized by Advanced Energy United, a business association, that U.S. ratepayers face rising transmission costs. Grid operators are failing to conduct long-term assessments, with “piecemeal transmission expansion,” she said. As a result, customers are “paying more than necessary or foregoing long-term investments,” Herzfeld said.
Spending to upgrade transmission systems “will happen no matter what,” she said. FERC ruled that grid operators must engage in “proactive, forward-looking transmission planning” that considers rising demands on the grid before the impacts are felt, Herzfeld said.
Specifically, federal regulators ordered grid operators to produce a regional transmission plan of at least 20 years to identify long-term needs and how to meet them; conduct long-term planning at least once every five years that includes specific factors and best available data; and apply specific benefits to determine whether regional proposals will efficiently and cost-effectively address long-term transmission needs.
To allocate costs, FERC’s rule requires a six-month period for grid operators to work with relevant state entities and propose a default method of cost allocation to pay for selected long-term regional transmission projects.
Transmission operators will have 10 months to file plans to meet most of its requirements. If approved, those plans would then take effect within a year.
While transmission upgrades are expected to be costly, those costs could be spread across more users as electricity loads grow, Gramlich said. “It won’t necessarily increase the rate,” he said.
In addition, upgraded transmission systems should provide access to less expensive generation such as solar and wind and help keep down ratepayer costs, Gramlich and Bartlett said.
Building transmission lines and winning approvals needed for construction is difficult. A report identifies 36 high-capacity transmission projects that could be ready to break ground in the near term and, if completed, deliver 187 gigawatts of renewable power. But because of many challenges that hinder transmission, fewer than half of the projects will proceed to construction without policy reforms that improve how transmission is permitted and paid for, the report said.
In Maine, construction of a 145-mile transmission line to deliver hydropower from Canada to Massachusetts that stalled for nearly two years over legal battles is underway. A spokesman for Avangrid, the project’s developer, would not comment on its progress.
A transmission line up to 160 miles long to bring power generated by a wind farm in northern Maine was rejected by state regulators in December over cost differences. The PUC has initiated a process to reopen its procurement for transmission and generation. Regulators are asking developers to submit information by June 21.
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