Henrik Patel’s Post

On May 13, 2024, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued the final rule of highly anticipated reforms to regional transmission planning processes. Order No. 1920 implements a number of key provisions to facilitate the buildout of new interstate transmission facilities. https://ow.ly/tRYJ50RL1RL

On May 13, 2024, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued the final rule of highly anticipated reforms to regional transmission planning processes. Order No. 1920 implements a number of key provisions to facilitate the buildout of new interstate transmission facilities. https://ow.ly/6N6V50RIMze

On May 13, 2024, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued the final rule of highly anticipated reforms to regional transmission planning processes. Order No. 1920 implements a number of key provisions to facilitate the buildout of new interstate transmission facilities. https://ow.ly/vXLU50RGLyS

Via Utility Dive: " FERC rejects CPower’s challenge to PJM demand response rules, plus 4 other open meeting takeaways: The agency may revise how it reviews gas infrastructure proposals and will hold talks with tribes on crafting grid interconnection rules for them. " #Energy #Utility #Utilities

Handy Law's comments were included in eight citations in a recent FERC decision, which, in an effort to secure reliability for the U.S. electrical grid, requires consideration of forward-looking factors 20 years out, including the changing resource mix and customer demand, and secures equal footing for renewable energy generators at a time when the nation looks to transition off natural gas and build our clean electricity infrastructure. Our comments added context on the crisis of added “affected system operator” delays and costs piled on renewable energy projects here in the northeast. 

Good summary of the pretty hefty new changes by FERC to grid expansion and transmission planning.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued Order No. 1920 last week, directing reforms intended to improve the nation’s transmission planning processes by requiring planning on a longer-term and more comprehensive basis to, among other things, better support the nation’s changing resource mix, reliability needs and demand. Order No. 1920 is an important step toward more forward-looking transmission planning, but it leaves for further action some potentially significant issues, such as methods for allocating associated costs. Read more below and connect with members of our Energy & Infrastructure team for additional insight: Ron Erlichman, Marius Griskonis and Diana Jeschke.

Utilities and regulators have a lot of work ahead to enact new federal grid planning reforms — and to overcome political and financial interests. “Utilities are always going to want to do these local reliability projects that are in their control, but this plan is certainly trying to get us away from that.” Learn more: https://bit.ly/3yzxgIe #FERC #utilities #transmission #renewables #FERCorder1920

⚡️ A week ago, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission passed Orders 1920 and 1977, aimed at addressing long-term energy transmission planning, cost allocation, and regulations for permitting + siting decisions for transmission projects. "The queue of projects waiting to connect to the US grid reached 2.6 TW last year, double the size of the existing grid." - Sightline Climate (CTVC) So what was/is holding things up, and how do these new orders aim to help? ⏳ The sheer amount of projects in the pipeline. Per Energy Markets & Policy Group, Berkeley Lab's Queued Up: 2024 Edition noted there are "nearly 11,600 projects ... actively seeking interconnection," and that "solar and battery storage are – by far – the fastest growing resources in the queues. Combined, they account for over 80% of new capacity entering the queues in 2023." ⏳ Rising energy demand continues to grow due to large needs from data centers, manufacturing, EVs, AI, etc. ✅ "One reason the transmission buildout has been so slow to date is that it’s hard to accurately assess and apportion the costs and benefits of a given project." - Canary Media Inc. Order 1920 creates a required list of specific benefits for projects to be evaluated against, which is meant to help with standardization in assessment. ✅ 1920 also requires transmission to update their regional transmission plans (that cover the next 20 years) every 5 years instead of the previously required updates every 10 years. It will be interesting to see how these orders are actioned, what obstacles we still face, and what progress can be made vs the potential pushback from utilities, regional projects, etc. What are your thoughts?

https://lnkd.in/edn7M4mZ Many factors contribute to the policies and the reforms that intertwine the energy sector. Next week the New Jersey Energy Coalition will host an online forum to discuss the Northeast Collaboration for transmission and 9/11.