[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 249 (Wednesday, December 29, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 78014-78015]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E4-3859]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. AD04-13-000]


Assessing the State of Wind Energy in Wholesale Electricity 
Markets; Notice Requesting Post-Technical Conference Comments

December 21, 2004.On December 1, 2004, the Federal Energy Regulatory 
Commission (Commission or FERC) held a technical conference in the 
above referenced docket to assess the state of wind energy in wholesale 
electricity markets. Specifically, the conference focused on potential 
policy changes that would better accommodate the participation of wind 
energy in wholesale electricity markets. The conference concluded with 
a list of action items, a summary of which is attached. To the extent 
items are absent from the list, parties may supplement the list in 
written comments as discussed below. Commission staff plans to proceed 
on the list of action items, starting with exploring elimination of 
Order No. 888 imbalance penalties and then progressing to development 
of new transmission services. For this latter effort, Commission staff, 
as discussed at the December 1 conference, will initially work with 
staff of the Bonneville Power Administration.
    Interested persons are invited to file post-technical conference 
comments, including comments on the actions items listed in the 
attachment, the staff paper and any other topic relevant to this 
proceeding. These comments must be filed with the Commission no later 
than 5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) on January 28, 2005.
    A transcript of the technical conference is available from the 
Commission's Web site, http://www.ferc.gov; and the Commission staff 
paper entitled Staff Briefing Paper: Assessing the State of Wind Energy 
in Wholesale Electricity Markets has been posted to the Commission's 
Web site and is available at: http://www.ferc.gov/legal/ferc-regs/land-docs/11-04-wind-report.pdf.
    For more information about this Notice, please contact Jignasa 
Gadani at 202-502-8608, [email protected].

Magalie R. Salas,
Secretary.

Attachment

    At the conference, several parties requested action on various 
items by the Commission and/or other entities. The action items 
discussed at the conference include:

Transmission Rates and Services

     Should FERC reevaluate the imbalance penalties under the 
Order No. 888 pro forma transmission tariff? Based upon its evaluation 
the Commission could determine whether it is appropriate to modify its 
policy on imbalances. Potential solutions include:
    [cir] Eliminating imbalance penalties for intermittent resources 
(while keeping non-punitive charges that reflect only the costs imposed 
by imbalances).
    [cir] Allowing intermittent resources scheduling flexibility in 
order to minimize imbalance penalties.
    [cir] Pricing imbalances on avoided cost and/or to aggregate 
imbalances over a greater time period and allow for netting and 
trading.
     Should existing regional grid operators evaluate the 
applicability of tariff provisions on imbalance charges currently in 
place in the California Independent System Operator Corporation's 
(CAISO's) service territory to other regions?
     Can improved wind generation forecasts help reduce 
imbalance penalties? What state-of-the-art forecast methodologies are 
available? Industry forecasters are encouraged to propose state-of-the-
art parameters to be used as a benchmark.
     How can FERC and the industry increase utilization of 
existing transmission facilities? Potential options could include, but 
are not limited to:
    [cir] A common definition of the needs and wants of the industry in 
relation to the development of innovative transmission services under 
pro forma transmission tariffs.
    [cir] Partial Firm Transmission Service. o Curtailable Firm 
Transmission Service.

[[Page 78015]]

    [cir] Long-term Non-firm Transmission Service.
     Should FERC seek to develop an alternative to the 
transmission access queue? First-come-first-served may not be the most 
appropriate option. Potential solutions could include:
    [cir] Clustering.
    [cir] Open Season.
     In what ways should FERC and the industry seek to 
eliminate rate pancaking?
     Should FERC address allocation of new transmission 
capacity costs across seams?
     Should FERC update its abandoned plant policy to enable 
transmission owners to recover costs when building in excess of their 
current needs in anticipation of interconnection by generators?
     Should FERC examine the possibility of adopting a new 
transmission interconnection category--a ``Renewable Resource Trunk 
Facility'' that would not be treated as a generation tie and would be 
rolled into rates?
     Utilities that have existing policies and procedures in 
place that accommodate wind resources should identify which provisions 
have been proven to work, which have not, and any operational data in 
support.

Transmission Planning

     Order No. 888 pro forma tariff provisions 13.5 and 28.2 
address a Transmission Provider's obligations in response to requests 
for service, continued reliable operations, planning, and construction 
and/or redispatch. How effective are these provisions of the tariff? Do 
they need to be revisited? Should these provisions somehow provide for 
regional planning and expansion; and if so, how might this be 
accomplished outside an ISO or RTO?

State Support

     In what ways should FERC work with States on their 
preferences for Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) and Renewable 
Energy Credits (RECs)? How can the Commission develop policies that 
will assist utilities in meeting diverse State renewable requirements?

Tribal Consultation

     What issues do Indian tribes face in developing wind 
energy and bringing it to wholesale markets?
     What are the wind energy development issues in which FERC 
and Indian tribes should be consulting?

Capacity Value for Wind Resources

     Should benchmark criteria be established for use in 
developing capacity credits for State-administered reserve margins and 
capacity requirements?
     Should FERC advocate the use of the Effective Load 
Carrying Capability method of determining the capacity value of 
intermittent resources?

Other

    Please comment on the following issues raised at the conference:
     The suggestion that FERC staff review the results of the 
Western Area Power Administration's wind transmission study results to 
analyze the transmission capacity credits for wind resources.
     Should FERC, in conjunction with the Western Interstate 
Energy Board and the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable 
Energy Laboratory, analyze and compare actual transmission flows 
against Available Transmission Capacity?
     How can the Commission monitor the secondary market for 
transmission service and develop methods in which to spur activity in 
this market?
     How can FERC counter the difficulty of funding long-term 
regional transmission planning in non-RTO regions?
     Should the U.S. Department of Energy increase funding for 
energy storage technology? If so, would this benefit the grid 
operations as wind is added to the grid, by increasing the ability to 
accommodate the diurnal/nocturnal nature of wind use and maximize 
capacity?
     How can the industry seek better data standards? Will 
better quality data on transmission availability assist in gaining an 
appropriate picture of the operational aspects of existing transmission 
facilities?
     How can the industry develop standards that govern wind 
integration cost studies?
     What regional planning efforts should the industry 
undertake in order to develop better methods of cost support and cost 
recovery?
     Should programmatic assessment or evaluation of 
transmission corridors be undertaken by the Bureau of Land Management, 
Department of Agriculture, and the U.S. Department of Energy?
     Should the government explore increasing its funding of 
weather data sites to expand beyond airport facilities to areas with 
high wind potential and why?
[FR Doc. E4-3859 Filed 12-28-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P