The Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report to Congress on September 26 urging FERC to take additional steps to analyze the benefits and performance of the Regional Transmission Organizations (RTOs) that manage regional transmission grids. FERC’s development of RTOs has been controversial from the beginning, with many arguing that they ultimately increase electricity prices. […]
Transmission providers and customers alike are increasingly complaining about the lengthy queues for interconnecting to the transmission grid. Scores of generator projects sign up for interconnection service, which is then delayed for years while the transmission provider conducts an array of studies. To clear backlog on its transmission network, the Bonneville Power Administration is conducting […]
In the first test of the “backstop” transmission siting authority given to FERC in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct 2005), Southern California Edison (SCE) recently discussed with FERC staff the siting of a 230-mile, 500 kV transmission line from the Palo Verde nuclear plant near Phoenix, Arizona to Devers, California, near Palm Springs […]