[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 90 (Tuesday, May 10, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 28857-28859]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-10967]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. RM16-12-000; Docket No. RM15-21-000]


Review of Generator Interconnection Agreements and Procedures--
American Wind Energy Association; Supplemental Notice of Technical 
Conference

    As announced in the Notice of Technical Conference issued on March 
29, 2016 \1\ and the Supplemental Notice of Technical Conference issued 
on April 13, 2016 \2\ in the above-captioned proceedings, Federal 
Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) staff will hold a technical 
conference on May 13, 2016 to discuss select issues related to a 
petition for rulemaking submitted by the American Wind Energy 
Association (Docket No. RM15-21-000).\3\ In addition, the conference 
will explore other generator interconnection issues, including 
interconnection of electric storage resources. The conference will be 
held from 9:00 a.m. to 4:55 p.m. (EDT) (a time change from prior Notice 
of Technical Conference) in the Commission Meeting Room at Commission 
headquarters, 888 First Street NE., Washington, DC 20426. Members of 
the Commission may attend the conference, which will also be open for 
the public to attend. Advance registration is not required, but is 
encouraged. Attendees may register at the following Web page: https://www.ferc.gov/whats-new/registration/05-13-16-form.asp.
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    \1\ Review of Generator Interconnection Agreements and 
Procedures, Docket No. RM16-12-000 and American Wind Energy 
Association, Docket No. RM15-21-000 (Mar. 29, 2016) (Notice of 
Technical Conference).
    \2\ Review of Generator Interconnection Agreements and 
Procedures, Docket No. RM16-12-000 and American Wind Energy 
Association, Docket No. RM15-21-000 (Apr. 13, 2016) (Supplemental 
Notice of Technical Conference).
    \3\ The comments filed in Docket No. RM15-21-000 will be 
incorporated into Docket No. RM16-12-000.
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    An agenda with a list of selected speakers is attached and will be 
available in the Commission Calendar of Events at http://www.ferc.gov.
    Discussions at the conference may involve issues raised in 
proceedings that are currently pending before the Commission. These 
proceedings include, but are not limited to:
    Northern Indiana Public Service Company, Docket No. EL13-88-000;
    E.ON Climate & Renewables North America LLC, Pioneer Trail Wind 
Farm, LLC, Settlers Trail Wind Farm, LLC v. Northern Indiana Public 
Service Company, Docket No. EL14-66-002;
    Internal MISO Generators v. Midcontinent Independent System 
Operator, Inc., Docket No. EL15-99-000 and EL16-12;
    Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Inc., Docket No. ER16-
675-000;
    California Independent System Operator Corporation, Docket No. 
ER16-693-000;
    ISO New England, Inc., Docket No. ER16-946-000;
    California Independent System Operator Corporation, Docket No. 
ER16-1085-000;
    Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Inc., Docket No. ER16-
1120-000;
    Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Inc., Docket No. ER16-
1211-000;
    Southwest Power Pool, Inc., Docket No. ER16-1350-000; and
    Southern California Edison Company, Docket No. ER16-1459-000.
    The conference will be transcribed and webcast. A link to the 
webcast of this event will be available in the Commission Calendar of 
Events at http://www.ferc.gov. Transcripts of the technical conference 
will be available for a fee from Ace-Reporting (202-347-3700). The 
Capitol Connection provides technical support for the webcasts and 
offers the option of listening to the conferences via phone-bridge for 
a fee. For additional information, visit www.CapitolConnection.org or 
call (703) 993-3100.
    Commission conferences are accessible under section 508 of the 
Rehabilitation Act of 1973. For accessibility accommodations, please 
send an email 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 required accommodations.
    For more information about the technical conference, please contact 
Tony Dobbins ([email protected]; 202-502-6630) or Adam Pan 
([email protected]; 202-502-6023). For information related to 
logistics, please contact Sarah McKinley ([email protected]; 202-
502-8368).

    Dated: May 4, 2016.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.

[[Page 28858]]

[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TN10MY16.000

Review of Generator Interconnection Agreements and Procedures Technical 
Conference

Docket Nos. RM16-12-000 and RM15-21-000

May 13, 2016, Washington, DC

9:00 a.m.-9:20 a.m. Welcome and Commission Staff Opening Remarks

9:20 a.m.-10:20 a.m. The Current State of Generator Interconnection 
Queues

    Panelists should be prepared to discuss the following topics:
    1. How well generator interconnection queues are working, the 
metrics that are used to evaluate queue performance, and whether there 
are clear areas in which improvement is needed.
    2. Whether projects in the queue contributing most significantly to 
queue backlogs are geographically dispersed or concentrated. Whether 
there are queue solutions that might adequately account for the 
geographic characteristics of projects contributing to queue 
congestion.
    3. Queue management practices and whether there are best practices 
that should be incorporated across regions.
    4. The extent to which regions have pursued changes to the 
generator interconnection process that could be implemented without 
requiring tariff changes, as noted by the Commission in the 2008 order 
on interconnection queue practices.\1\
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    \1\ Interconnection Queueing Practices, 122 FERC ] 61,252, at P 
10 (2008). As guidance in this order, the Commission stated that 
reforms made without tariff changes could include: increasing the 
staff available to work on interconnection studies; adopting more 
efficient modeling for feasibility studies or system impact studies; 
and performing a single system impact study for a cluster of 
interconnection requests.
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    5. The primary considerations that should be taken into account 
when developing solutions for each region's individual interconnection 
queue issues.

Panelists:

 Tim Aliff, Director of Reliability Planning, Midcontinent 
Independent System Operator, Inc.

 David Gabbard, Director, Electric Generation Interconnection, 
Pacific Gas and Electric Company

 Dean Gosselin, Vice President of Business Management 
Transmission Services, NextEra Energy Resources LLC

 Alan McBride, Director, Transmission Strategy and Services, 
ISO New England, Inc.

 Steven Naumann, Vice President, Exelon Corporation

 Rick Vail, Vice President, Transmission, PacifiCorp

10:20 a.m.-10:30 a.m.: Break

10:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m.: Transparency and Timing in the Generator 
Interconnection Study Process

    Panelists should be prepared to discuss the following topics:
    1. The length of time it takes to complete the interconnection 
process, causes of variances in receiving study results, causes of 
variations in length of time in the queue, and how delays (and their 
causes) are reported to interconnection customers.
    2. How study costs are determined, how consistent these costs are 
between markets and regions, whether (and how) interconnection 
customers are made aware of study costs in advance of requesting 
interconnection service.
    3. The information (models, assumptions, cost estimates, etc.) to 
which interconnection customers currently have access and the stage in 
the interconnection process when such access is provided (pre-request, 
study stage, etc.). Whether additional information (historical and/or 
projected curtailment or pricing information, etc.) should be available 
to interconnection customers to assist them in planning projects, and 
the challenges and/or barriers to providing this information.
    4. How the capacity factor used for variable generation modeling is 
determined (in general terms) and shared with interconnection 
customers.
    5. The triggers for restudy, how they are determined, and whether 
they are stated in the tariff. The possible effect that limiting the 
number of restudies would have on reliability or cost estimates, 
allocations, or assignments.

Panelists:

 David Angell, Customer Operations Planning Manager, Idaho 
Power

 Jennifer Ayers-Brasher, Director, Transmission & Market 
Analysis, E.ON Climate & Renewables NA

 Joshua Bohach, Senior Development Manager, EDP Renewables 
North America

 David Egan, Manager--Interconnection Projects, PJM 
Interconnection, L.L.C.

 Charles Hendrix, Manager, Generation Interconnection Studies, 
Southwest Power Pool, Inc.

 Randall Oye, Transmission Access Analyst, Xcel Energy

 Stephen Rutty, Director of Grid Assets, California Independent 
System Operator, Inc.

 Kris Zadlo, Senior Vice President, Invenergy LLC

12:00 p.m.-1:00pm Break for Lunch

1:00 p.m.-2:10 p.m. Certainty in Cost Estimates and Construction Time

    Panelists should be prepared to discuss the following topics:
    1. The manner in which disputes regarding interconnection 
configurations or direct assignment and network upgrade costs are 
typically resolved and how such disputes could be avoided. The 
frequency of such disputes.
    2. When cost and construction schedule estimates are provided to 
interconnection customers and the accuracy of these estimates compared 
to actual results. Whether early cost estimates are sufficient to allow 
customers to make decisions whether to move forward with a project. The 
process changes necessary to provide more accurate estimates earlier to 
interconnection customers.

[[Page 28859]]

    3. The factors that affect accuracy of cost and schedule estimates 
and how estimate variances can be reduced.
    4. How other queued facilities that may impact an interconnection 
customer's request are identified and when interconnection customers 
are made aware of such facilities (e.g., a lower-queued project being 
informed that the withdrawal of a specific higher-queued project may 
affect it). The challenges of identifying those facilities that may 
impact an interconnection request.

Panelists:

 Tim Aliff, Director of Reliability Planning, Midcontinent 
Independent System Operator, Inc.

 Dean Gosselin, Vice President of Business Management 
Transmission Services, NextEra Energy Resources LLC

 Paul Kelly, Director, Federal Regulatory Policy, Northern 
Indiana Public Service Company

 Omar Martino, Director, Transmission, EDF Renewable Energy

 Alan McBride, Director, Transmission Strategy and Services, 
ISO New England, Inc.

 Stephen Rutty, Director of Grid Assets, California Independent 
System Operator, Inc.

 Rick Vail, Vice President, Transmission, PacifiCorp

2:10 p.m.-2:20 p.m. Break

2:20 p.m.-3:30 p.m. Other Interconnection Queue Coordination and 
Management Issues

    Panelists should be prepared to discuss the following topics:
    1. Coordinating interconnection requests with affected systems \2\ 
and the challenges associated with affected system coordination and 
areas for improvement.
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    \2\ As defined in the pro forma LGIA and pro forma LGIP, 
Affected System refers to an electric system other than the 
transmission provider's transmission system that may be affected by 
the proposed interconnection. Order No. 2003-A, FERC Stats. & Regs. 
] 31,160 at App. 6 (Standard Large Generator Interconnection 
Agreement), art. 1, order on reh'g, Order No. 2003-B, FERC Stats. & 
Regs. ] 31,171 (2004), order on reh'g, Order No. 2003-C, FERC Stats. 
& Regs. ] 31,190 (2005), aff'd sub nom. Nat'l Ass'n of Regulatory 
Util. Comm'rs v. FERC, 475 F.3d 1277 (D.C. Cir. 2007), cert. denied, 
552 U.S. 1230 (2008).
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    2. The types of changes to a project that should be allowed without 
changing the project's position in the queue, i.e., determining an 
appropriate threshold for modifications to a project before it should 
lose its place in the queue.
    3. How to manage the effects of project withdrawals from the 
interconnection queue and possible best practices to keep the queue 
moving despite project withdrawal. The appropriate balance between 
attempts to prevent speculative projects from entering the queue and 
the recognition that the study process is designed to iteratively 
provide information that project developers will use to decide whether 
to proceed or withdraw (possibly causing restudies).
    4. How transmission providers, transmission owners, and 
interconnection customers coordinate during the interconnection 
process, and possible areas for improvement.
    5. Technologies, tools, or administrative processes that could 
improve the accuracy of cost and time estimates, reduce the processing 
time, or increase the efficiency of the interconnection queue process.

Panelists:

 Tim Aliff, Director of Reliability Planning, Midcontinent 
Independent System Operator, Inc.

 David Angell, Customer Operations Planning Manager, Idaho 
Power

 Jennifer Ayers-Brasher, Director, Transmission & Market 
Analysis, E.ON Climate & Renewables NA

 Daniel Barr, Principal Engineer, ITC Holdings

 Charles Hendrix, Manager, Generation Interconnection Studies, 
Southwest Power Pool, Inc.

 Paul Kelly, Director, Federal Regulatory Policy, Northern 
Indiana Public Service Company

 Omar Martino, Director, Transmission, EDF Renewable Energy

 Steven Naumann, Vice President, Exelon Corporation

3:30 p.m.-4:45 p.m. Interconnection of Electric Storage Resources

    Panelists should be prepared to discuss the following topics:
    1. Whether existing small and large pro forma interconnection 
agreements and procedures are sufficient to accommodate the 
interconnection of electric storage resources.
    2. Modeling of electric storage resources for interconnection 
studies, including potential means for interconnection studies to 
better reflect the intended operation of electric storage devices.
    3. Interconnection of combined storage and generation facilities, 
including (i) the appropriate level of interconnection service for the 
combined facility; (ii) the operational understanding, telemetry, and 
metering of the combined facility; and (iii) the appropriate 
interconnection process for adding storage to an existing generation 
facility.
    4. Potential processes to facilitate the interconnection of 
electric storage resources.
    5. Interconnection of distribution-level and aggregated electric 
storage resources that participate in the RTO and ISO markets.

Panelists:

 David Egan, Manager--Interconnection Projects, PJM 
Interconnection, L.L.C.

 Mason Emnett, Senior Attorney, NextEra Energy, Inc.

 John Fernandes, Director, Policy & Market Development, RES 
Americas

 David Gabbard, Director, Electric Generation Interconnection, 
Pacific Gas and Electric Company

 Alan McBride, Director, Transmission Strategy and Services, 
ISO New England, Inc.

 Stephen Rutty, Director of Grid Assets, California Independent 
System Operator, Inc.

4:45 p.m.-4:55 p.m. Closing Remarks

[FR Doc. 2016-10967 Filed 5-9-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6717-01-P