National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors (NIETCs)
FERC acted on rehearing requests for Order 1977, finalizing the rules it will follow under limited backstop siting authority for transmission lines.
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee advanced all three of President Joe Biden’s nominees to FERC with broad margins in a business meeting.
FERC issued Order 1920, its long-awaited final rule on long-term regional transmission planning and cost allocation, but it could not fulfill hopes for a unanimous vote.
DOE is looking to boost interregional transmission with its announcement of 10 proposed National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors, where projects could be eligible for a share of $2 billion in federal loans and special permitting under FERC’s backstop siting authority.
The ongoing turnover of the generation fleet to cleaner resources, the recent return of demand growth and the need to stitch all that together with transmission expansion all came up at the Energy Bar Association’s Annual Meeting.
The surest way to ensure that transmission is not expanded is to usurp states’ authority, FERC Commissioner Mark Christie said at WIRES’ Spring Member Meeting in Chicago.
State utility regulators reiterated their concerns about FERC’s efforts to promote transmission development at a meeting of the task force established for that purpose.
FERC Chair Willie Phillips expressed confidence that the commission will approve its NOPR on transmission planning and cost allocation this year.
DOE laid out its plans to release draft National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors this spring, which will then start a process of refinement before they are finalized over several years.
DOE is focused on reshaping the U.S. energy landscape, but officials may have only another year to build the momentum needed to make any potential Republican rollbacks unpopular and unlikely.
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