Dive Brief:

• The Delaware Public Service Commission has issued a declaratory order finding that companies outside the state can construct and own transmission facilities in the state.
• The decision greenlights the final four participants in a PJM Interconnection solicitation process, aimed at boosting performance in the Artificial Island area of New Jersey.
• Previously, state law had been unclear as to whether out-of-state companies could construct the facilities; an attempt to clarify the issue in the state's legislature failed to move out of committee.

Dive Insight:

Delaware's decision is an important one for PJM's Artificial Island solicitation, which was issued last year. It was the first time the transmission operator used FERC's Order 1000 solicitation process, but ambiguities in state law meant the four finalists could have been precluded from constructing or owning the line in Delaware.

Northeast Transmission Development LLC, one of the project finalists, filed a petition requesting regulators determine it could own transmission in the state.

"Nothing in Delaware law or any prior order of the Commission prohibits Northeast Transmission Development LLC from siting, construction and owning in the State of Delaware transmission facilities used in interstate commerce," the commission decided.

Both the Salem nuclear power plant and Hope Creek nuclear facility are located on Artificial Island in Delaware Bay.