by Jbs062410 d3 — June 30, 2010—The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) took several actions June 17 to boost effective planning and cost sharing for new transmission lines and released a report promoting demand response, according to news from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE).
The regulatory agency approved a new “Highway/Byway” method of sharing costs for new electric transmission in the Southwest Power Pool (SPP) region, which includes all or parts of Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. This approach, which assigns costs of high-voltage transmission regionally and lower-voltage locally, is designed to help members build a stronger transmission grid that will benefit the entire region and facilitate the continued development of renewable energy in the region.
FERC also issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) for open access transmission reforms by establishing a closer link between regional electric transmission planning and cost allocation to help ensure that needed transmission facilities are actually built. The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) applauded the action, saying that building these much-needed transmission lines will allow tens of thousands of megawatts of wind power development that is currently on hold.
FERC also released the National Action Plan on Demand Response, saying public institutions and private sector organizations nationwide should form a coalition to help states, localities, and regions develop and deploy successful and cost-effective electric demand response programs. Demand response refers to the ability of customers to adjust their electricity use by responding to price signals, reliability concerns, or other signals from the grid operator, and it can help avoid the need for new power plants and power lines that are intended primarily to meet peak power demands, explains EERE.
