The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is seeking comments on a possible regulatory framework for dynamic line ratings, or DLR, a move that could increase overall power flows on transmission lines.
FERC intends to move on a DLR rulemaking as quickly as possible, FERC Chairman Willie Phillips said during a media briefing Thursday after its open meeting.
“We can't just build our way to where we need to go,” he said. “We have to get as much as we can out of our existing system if we have any hope to not just reach goals, but also serve our consumers reliably.”
Transmission line ratings set limits on how much power can safely flow across power lines. FERC in late 2021 ordered transmission providers to use ambient adjusted ratings, which are based on weather modeling using real-time air temperatures. In contrast, DLR ratings are set using sensors on transmission lines that measure real-time temperature, wind speed, solar heating and line tension.
DLRs appear to be a “no brainer,” according to FERC Commissioner Mark Christie. “If you can get more capacity out of an existing line, that's a good thing to do and it's cheaper than the alternative,” he said.
“Transmission operators aren’t maximizing the potential of our power lines, leading to unnecessarily high energy costs for consumers,” Caitlin Marquis, managing director at Advanced Energy United, said in a statement. “Dynamic line ratings are one of the most cost-effective tools we have for getting more out of our existing power grid infrastructure.”
The “advanced notice of proposed rulemaking” builds on comments FERC has already received on DLRs through a notice of inquiry. After the agency receives comments on the ANOPR — due in 90 days after it is published in the Federal Register — FERC could issue a proposed rule.
Here are six other takeaways from the meeting.
Rosner outlines priorities. FERC Commissioner David Rosner took part in his first open meeting as a commissioner, after being sworn in earlier this month. “The commission's core responsibility, it’s job number one, is to ensure reliable operation of the country's electric grid,” Rosner said. “It's undeniable that the U.S. energy system is in transition, and maintaining the reliable operation of the electrical grid at reasonable cost to consumers as this transition unfolds is both a challenge and an opportunity for the commission.”
FERC must “keep its eye on the horizon” and continue to follow its policy of resource and fuel neutrality so the next generation of technologies can play a role in the energy system, Rosner said. The agency must also ensure energy affordability and reliability through timely reviews of proposed energy infrastructure while considering the views of all parties, he said.
Clements leaves us teary-eyed at final meeting. In saying goodbye, FERC Commissioner Allison Clements, whose term ends on June 30, highlighted some of the agency’s major accomplishments while she was at the agency, and work still to come. She said key achievements included FERC’s grid interconnection reform and new transmission planning and cost allocation framework as well as a focus on grid-enhancing technologies.
FERC has also set the table for action on transmission cost management, interregional transmission, gas-electric coordination and more interconnection reform, Clements said.
Clements urged FERC commissions to take a proactive approach to reliably and affordably adapting to the energy transition. They should also consider “underserved and overburdened” communities when making decisions, according to Clements, who led the agency’s effort to set up its Office of Public Participation in 2021.
Clements thanked her FERC colleagues, her staff, agency staff, her family and parents. “My time in this role hasn't always been easy, but I've gotten through it … by aiming to stay true to the value system that my parents instilled in me,” Clements said. “My integrity, my belief in respect for all others and my understanding that public service is a high calling all stem from how they raised me.”
FERC approves MISO’s “reliability based demand curve” package. The Midcontinent Independent System Operator’s downward-sloping demand curve will reduce volatility in capacity auction clearing prices, increase the stability of the capacity revenue stream over time and make capacity investments less risky, which should spur investment at a lower financing cost, FERC said in approving the measure.
“This reform marks an important evolution in MISO’s capacity market design that will send more accurate and timely price signals for investment and retirement and avoid the year-to-year volatility MISO has experienced recently,” Clements said in a concurrence to the decision.
Transmission incentives are ‘consumer exploitation’: Christie. Rejecting concerns raised by California utility regulators, FERC approved proposed incentives for two Southern California Edison transmission projects expected to cost about $1.6 billion. Under the decision, SoCalEd will be able to include in its rates all prudently incurred costs as it builds the Del Amo and Lugo projects under a “construction work in progress” incentive and will be able to recover all prudent costs if the projects are abandoned.
Christie dissented from the decision, saying no state agency has reviewed the projects. FERC’s CWIP and abandoned plant incentives for transmission projects “are nothing more than transfers of wealth from consumers to transmission developers and risk from developers to consumers,” he said in his dissent.
“These incentives are a form of consumer exploitation,” he said during FERC’s meeting. “We shouldn't be a party to it. We ought to be looking at reforming these.”
Put the shorts away, winter’s around the corner. FERC approved another North American Electric Reliability Corp. cold weather reliability standard, but — like it has before — ordered additional measures. The standard builds on one approved in February 2023 by clarifying the requirements for generator cold weather preparedness and by making other improvements to help ensure that more generation is available during extreme cold weather, FERC said in its order.
FERC on Thursday launched a “dashboard” showing the status of recommendations by FERC and NERC staff following Winter Storm Uri in 2021 and Winter Storm Elliott a year later. All power plant freeze protection recommendations have been completed, according to the dashboard.
FERC drops plan to increase NERC oversight. FERC shelved a proposal to bolster its performance assessment requirements for the North American Electric Reliability Corp. A FERC proposal issued in 2021 called for NERC performance assessments to be conducted every three years, up from five years. It would also have set up a process for bulk-power system users, owners and operators as well as other interested parties to make recommendations to NERC and its regional entities.
FERC decided the proposal wasn’t an efficient use of FERC and NERC resources.
The proposal was supported by: the Western Interconnection Regional Advisory Body; the ISO/RTO Council; the American Public Power Association, Edison Electric Institute, Electric Power Supply Association, the Large Public Power Council, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association and Transmission Access Policy Study Group; Public Citizen; and the Foundation for Resilient Societies.
