[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 49 (Monday, March 14, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13613-13614]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-5708]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission


Supplemental Notice of Technical Conference

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                                                    Docket No.
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Priority Rights to New Participant-      AD11-11-000
 Funded Transmission.
Alta Wind I, LLC.......................  EL10-62-000
Alta Wind II, LLC......................
Alta Wind III, LLC.....................
Alta Wind IV, LLC......................
Alta Wind V, LLC.......................
Alta Wind VI, LLC......................
Alta Wind VII, LLC.....................
Alta Wind VIII, LLC....................
Alta Windpower Development, LLC........
TGP Development Company, LLC...........
Puget Sound Energy, Inc................  EL10-72-001
Terra-Gen Dixie Valley, LLC, TGP Dixie   EL10-29-002
 Development Company, LLC, and New York
 Canyon, LLC.
Green Borders Geothermal, LLC v. Terra-  EL10-36-002
 Gen Dixie Valley, LLC.
Terra-Gen Dixie Valley, LLC............  ER11-2127-001
Northern Pass Transmission, LLC........  ER11-2377-000
Cedar Creek Wind Energy, LLC...........  RC11-1-000
Milford Wind Corridor Phase I, LLC.....  RC11-2-000
SunZia Transmission, LLC...............  EL11-24-000
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    On February 22, 2011, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission 
(Commission) announced that a Technical Conference on Priority Rights 
to New Participant-Funded Transmission will be held on Tuesday, March 
15, 2011, from 9:30 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. (EST). The staff-led conference 
will be held in the Commission Meeting Room at the Commission's 
headquarters at 888 First Street, NE., Washington, DC 20426. The 
conference will be open for

[[Page 13614]]

the public to attend and advance registration is not required. Members 
of the Commission may attend the conference.
    Attached to this supplemental notice is an agenda for the 
conference. If any changes are made, the revised agenda will be posted 
prior to the event on the Calendar of Events on the Commission's Web 
site, http://www.ferc.gov.
    Notice is also hereby given that discussions at the conference may 
address matters at issue in the above-referenced individual proceedings 
that are either pending or within their rehearing period.
    A free webcast of the technical conference will be available. 
Anyone with internet access who desires to listen to this event can do 
so by navigating to the Calendar of Events on the Commission's Web site 
and locating this event in the Calendar. The event will contain a link 
to its webcast. The Capitol Connection provides technical support for 
webcasts and will offer the option of listening to the conference via 
phone-bridge for a fee. If you have any questions about the webcast, 
visit http://www.CapitolConnection.org or call (703) 993-3100.
    This conference will also be transcribed. Transcripts will be 
available immediately, for a fee, from Ace Reporting Company (202-347-
3700 or 800-336-6646).
    FERC conferences are accessible under section 508 of the 
Rehabilitation Act of 1973. For accessibility accommodations please 
send an e-mail to [email protected] or call toll free (866) 208-
3372 (voice) or (202) 502-8659 (TTY), or send a fax to (202) 208-2106 
with the requested accommodations.
    For further information please contact Becky Robinson at (202) 502-
8868 or [email protected]; or Pierson Stoecklein at (202) 502-
6372 or [email protected].

    Dated: March 7, 2011.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.

Priority Access to New Participant-Funded Transmission

AD11-11-000

March 15, 2011

Agenda

9:30-9:45 a.m. Welcome and Opening Remarks

Introduction

    The electric industry has evolved since Order No. 888 was 
adopted. In addition to the traditional utility structure of 
vertical integration, new models for developing, owning, and 
operating electric transmission infrastructure have been the subject 
of petitions before the Commission. In several of these proceedings, 
various proposals have been made regarding priority access to the 
transmission capacity developed. Commission staff would like to 
explore issues related to priority rights to use transmission 
infrastructure developed under these new business models in two 
contexts: independent and/or merchant transmission \1\ and generator 
lead lines.\2\
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    \1\ See, e.g., Chinook Power Transmission, LLC, 126 FERC ] 
61,134 (2009).
    \2\ See, e.g., Milford Wind Corridor, LLC, 129 FERC ] 61,149 
(2009).
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    In both contexts, participants are encouraged to identify and 
discuss the appropriate balance between the Commission's 
requirements for open access and the needs of project developers. 
Participants are encouraged to propose and discuss possible 
regulatory alternatives that are consistent with the Commission's 
open access policies and its statutory responsibility to ensure that 
rates, terms, and conditions of service are just and reasonable and 
not unduly discriminatory or preferential.

Panel 1

9:45-11:45 a.m. Independent and/or Merchant Transmission Lines

    Transmission infrastructure is no longer solely developed, 
owned, and operated by incumbent utilities serving native load 
within their traditional footprint, but also by non-incumbent, 
independent developers on a cost-of-service or negotiated rate 
basis. The purpose of this panel is to discuss whether to allow 
these non-traditional entities flexibility in the allocation of 
priority rights to the use of transmission facilities and, if so, 
how such flexibility could be implemented consistent with Commission 
open access policies. Panelists are encouraged to address:
     The effect of the Commission's current affiliate rules 
and pricing structures (e.g., cost-based or negotiated rates) on the 
economics of a proposed project, as well as on efforts to right-
size/up-size a proposed project;
     The need for and appropriate application of mechanisms 
to ensure customer interest in and access to new transmission 
(including, but not necessarily limited to anchor shipper/tenant 
arrangements and open seasons) and how such mechanisms can be 
implemented to accommodate developers' project development and 
customers' needs, while satisfying the Commission's open access 
policies and responsibility to ensure that rates are just and 
reasonable and not unduly discriminatory or preferential.

Panelists
    [rtarr8] Stephen Conant, Senior Vice President for Strategic 
Development, Anbaric Transmission, LLC & NEITC
    [rtarr8] Terry Wolf, Manager, Transmission Services, Missouri 
River Energy Services
    [rtarr8] Mike Cashell, Chief Transmission Officer, NorthWestern 
Energy
    [rtarr8] Cynthia Marlette, Special Counsel, Patton Boggs LLP 
(Western Independent Transmission Group)
    [rtarr8] Michael Skelly, President, Clean Line Energy
    [rtarr8] David Raskin, Partner, Steptoe & Johnson LLP
    [rtarr8] Robert van Beers, Chief Development Officer, Tonbridge 
Power, Inc.
    [rtarr8] Tyson Utt, Project Manager, Horizon Wind Energy LLC
    [rtarr8] Kenneth Houston, Director, Transmission Services, 
PacifiCorp

11:45 a.m.-1 p.m. BREAK

Panel 2

1-3 p.m. Generator Lead Lines

    Increasingly, generation owners have chosen to build, 
administer, and operate the transmission facilities that 
interconnect their generation facilities with the network 
transmission system, referred to herein as generator lead lines. In 
that situation, generation owners also have sought to secure 
priority rights to use the capacity on these lines. The purpose of 
this panel is to address the application of the Commission's open 
access policies to generator lead lines in the instance when 
affiliated or unaffiliated third-party generators also seek to use 
these facilities. Panelists are encouraged to address:
     The unique attributes of generator lead lines among 
transmission facilities (including ownership structures, physical or 
operational characteristics, etc.);
     The implications for generation developers and 
potential transmission customers of the Commission applying open 
access polices in the same manner to generator lead lines as it 
applies those policies to other transmission facilities, and whether 
the Commission should apply its open access policies to generator 
lead line facilities in a manner different from the way it applies 
such policies to other transmission facilities;
     The showing required to justify priority usage 
allocations (e.g., types of ownership/lease arrangements and 
expansion/development plans with definite dates and milestones for 
construction), and the extent to which this showing accommodates 
developers' project development and customers' needs, while 
satisfying the Commission's open access policies and responsibility 
to ensure that rates are just and reasonable and not unduly 
discriminatory or preferential.

Panelists
    [rtarr8] Brad Oachs, Chief Operating Officer, Minnesota Power
    [rtarr8] Joel Newton, Senior Attorney, NextEra Energy Resources 
LLC
    [rtarr8] Tom DeBoer, Director, Rates and Regulatory Affairs, 
Puget Sound Energy, Inc.
    [rtarr8] Richard Lorenzo, Partner, Loeb & Loeb LLP
    [rtarr8] Adam Wenner, Partner, Chadbourne & Parke LLP
    [rtarr8] Kurt Adams, Executive Vice President & Chief 
Development Officer, First Wind
    [rtarr8] Kris Zadlo, Vice President, Regulatory Affairs and 
Transmission, Invenergy LLC

3-3:15 p.m. Wrap-Up

[FR Doc. 2011-5708 Filed 3-11-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P