[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 247 (Tuesday, December 24, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 78444-78446]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-32374]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket Nos. RM01-12-000, RM02-1-000 and RM02-12-000]


Notice Amending Procedures Described in November 12, 2002 Notice

December 17, 2002.
AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice Regarding Technical Conference.

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SUMMARY: The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued a Notice Of 
Possible Discussion Items For January 21, 2993 Queuing Technical 
Conference on December 17, 2002 that included information on the 
conference and an attachment of possible topics of discussion and 
instructions on how to participate in the conference.

DATES: Persons interested in speaking should file a request to speak on 
or before December 30, 2002.

ADDRESSES: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street, NE., 
Washington, DC 20426.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Norma McOmber, 888 First Street, NE., 
Washington, DC 20426, (202) 502-8022.

[[Page 78445]]

Remedying Undue Discrimination Through Open Access Transmission Service 
and Standard Electricity Market Design; Standardization of Generator 
Interconnection Agreements and Procedures; Standardization of Small 
Generator Interconnection Agreements and Procedures Advance Notice of 
Proposed Rulemaking; Notice of Possible Discussion Items for January 
21, 2003 Queuing Technical Conference

    1. As announced on December 3, 2002, a technical conference is 
scheduled for January 21, 2003 in the Commission Meeting Room (Room 2C) 
at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street, NE., 
Washington, DC. The conference is open to the public and registration 
is not required; however, those planning to attend are asked to notify 
the Commission of their intent at http://www.ferc.gov/registration/012103.htm Commissioners may attend and participate in the discussions. 
The conference will run from approximately 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Background

    2. On April 24, 2002, the Commission issued the Standardization of 
Generator Interconnection Agreements and Procedures Notice of Proposed 
Rulemaking (Interconnection NOPR) in Docket No. RM02-1-000 which 
addressed interconnection agreements and procedures for generators of 
all sizes. Subsequently, supporters of small generators asked the 
Commission to consider developing streamlined procedures and 
requirements that would allow small generators to avoid the unnecessary 
delay that they claim would occur if they were subjected to the more 
extensive interconnection studies and other procedures required for 
large generators. The Commission subsequently severed the subject of 
interconnection of generators up to and including 20 MW from the 
Interconnection NOPR and initiated another docket, RM02-12-000 (Small 
Generator Interconnection Rulemaking). The Commission issued an Advance 
notice of Proposed Rulemaking (Small Generator ANOPR) in this docket on 
August 6, 2002.
    3. During the course of the Interconnection NOPR Proceeding, the 
Small Generator Interconnection ANOPR proceedings, as well as the 
Commission's Standard Market Design NOPR (SMD NOPR) proceeding in 
Docket No. RM01-12-000, participants have raised a number of 
significant issues concerning queuing procedures for interconnection 
requests.
    4. The purpose of the technical conference is to explore these 
issues in greater detail and to provide us with the information we need 
to adopt consistent policies for wholesale electric markets in each of 
these related rulemakings. The technical conference is intended to be a 
working session that focuses on clarifying areas of concern with the 
referenced proceedings, resolving differences, and devising solutions 
to the difficult issues that have been identified. To make the 
conference successful, we encourage participants to come prepared to 
offer concrete solutions to the issues raised and to support 
alternative proposals.

Opportunity for Self-Nomination To Present at Technical Conference

    5. Persons interested in speaking should file a request to speak on 
or before December 30, 2002 by e-mailing their request to 
[email protected]. The request to speak must include the name of 
the speaker; his or her title; the person or entity the speaker 
represents; area of interest; and the speaker's mailing address, 
telephone number, facsimile number and e-mail address. Speakers will be 
selected to allow staff to hear diverse, constructive concrete 
solutions. Hence, not all self-nominated speakers may be invited to 
speak. Since time allotted for the conference is limited, interested 
speakers are encouraged to coordinate their efforts with others who may 
have similar positions.
    6. The Attachments to this Notice sets forth possible topics for 
discussion. As further details related to this technical conference 
develop, subsequent notices will be issued.

Linwood A. Watson, Jr.,
Deputy Secretary.

Attachment: Possible Topics for Discussion

    1. Provide information on existing queues.
    A. Summarize the rules that govern the queue of a specific 
transmission provider: How a generator's queue position is 
determined; how small generators (20 MW) are handled in the queue; 
what milestones must be met to retain queue position; what events 
trigger a change in queue position or removal from the queue; how 
inactive projects are treated; how queue position determines 
responsibility for costs of studies and upgrades; how queue position 
determines entitlements to financial transmission rights or other 
property rights; how a change in the queue position of one generator 
affects the cost responsibility of others; and how Qualifying 
Facilities are treated.
    B. Would proposed restrictions on the Critical Energy 
Infrastructure Information Rulemaking proceeding (Docket Nos. RM02-
4-000, PL02-1-000) affect parties' ability to site plants or 
interconnect cleanly?
    C. What siting and grid operations information is needed to 
obtain a position in the queue, where is this information kept, and 
what are the rules for accessing this information?
    D. Describe any differences in the way small and large 
generators are treated for queuing purposes.
    E. Describe any differences in the way ``energy resources'' and 
``network (or capacity) resources'' are treated for queuing 
purposes.
    F. Discuss whether generator interconnection requests and 
transmission service requests are included in the same queue. If 
not, describe the relationship between the two queues. What is the 
relationship between the transmission planning process and the 
administration of the queue(s)?
    G. Describe the current status of the interconnection queue, 
including: location, size, queue position, date of request and 
expected completion date of each active project; and the number, 
size, queue position and date of request of any projects that are 
inactive.
    H. Do all TOs and ISOs/RTOs conduct the same interconnection 
studies, grid impact studies or other analyses for new project 
interconnection?
    2. Describe good and bad experiences with queues.
    A. Provide examples of good and bad experiences with queues. 
Panelists should be as specific as possible regarding the facts of 
their experiences. Of particular interest are examples of problems 
associated with the following: undue discrimination on the part of 
transmission providers; inappropriate or unrealistic milestones; 
inequitable cost assignments; study procedures or other requirements 
that lead to unnecessary project delays or increased costs; and lack 
of flexibility in the queuing rules.
    B. Identify any problems that are specific to small generators 
or to large generators.
    C. Describe any problems created by providing the generator with 
the option to interconnect as either an energy resource or a network 
(capacity) resource.
    D. Describe any problems associated with the need to manage both 
interconnection requests and transmission service requests within 
the context of an overall transmission planning and expansion 
process.
    3. How can queue administration be improved?
    A. Identify options for improving queue administration, such as: 
common study/analytical techniques and tools; procedures for 
ensuring that the projects of independent generators are treated 
comparably with those of the transmission provider; treatment of 
inactive projects; procedures for coordinating the upgrades needed 
for projects in the queue with the transmission planning process; 
rules for assigning cost responsibility and property rights to 
generators in the queue; treating interconnection requests on a 
clustered basis as opposed to strict first-come, first-served; use 
of milestones to maintain queue position; and a list of actions or 
events that can trigger a change in queue position.
    B. Should small and large non gas-fired generators receive 
different queuing treatment? If so, how should it be different?

[[Page 78446]]

    C. Should the Commission standardize specific queue management 
practices or should it allow regional variations that are governed 
by a set of core principles?
    D. Should queue position be treated as a property right which 
can be transferred?

[FR Doc. 02-32374 Filed 12-23-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-M