[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 164 (Thursday, August 23, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42647-42648]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-18229]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY


Procedures for Conducting Electric Transmission Congestion 
Studies

AGENCY: Office of Electricity, Department of Energy (DOE).

ACTION: Notice of procedures for studies and request for written 
comments.

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SUMMARY: The Federal Power Act (FPA) requires the Department of Energy 
(Department or DOE) to complete a study, in consultation with affected 
states, of electric transmission congestion every three years. DOE has 
issued three previous congestion studies, in August 2006, December 
2009, and September 2015. The forthcoming Congestion Study will be of a 
similar scope.
    DOE expects to release its next triennial study in 2019 for a 45-
day comment period. After reviewing and considering the comments 
received, DOE will publish a report concerning whether it will propose 
any National Corridors on the basis of the study. Interested persons 
may submit comments in response to this notice in the manner indicated 
in the ADDRESSES section.

DATES: Comments in response to this notice are due by October 9, 2018. 
DOE recognizes that some commenters may wish to draw upon or point to 
studies or analyses that are now in process and may not be completed. 
DOE requests that commenters submit such materials as they become 
available. However, materials submitted after December 31, 2018, will 
not be included in the study.

ADDRESSES: You may submit written comments to http://energy.gov/oe/congestion-study, or by mail to the Office of Electricity, OE-20, U.S. 
Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC 
20585. The following electronic file formats are acceptable: Microsoft 
Word (.doc), Corel Word Perfect (.wpd), Adobe Acrobat (.pdf), Rich Text 
Format (.rtf), plain text (.txt), Microsoft Excel (.xls), and Microsoft 
PowerPoint (.ppt). The Department intends to use only data that is 
publicly available for this study. Accordingly, please do not submit 
information that you believe is or should be protected from public 
disclosure. DOE is responsible for the final determination concerning 
disclosure or nondisclosure of information submitted to DOE and for 
treating it in accordance with the DOE's Freedom of Information 
regulations (10 CFR 1004.11). All comments received by DOE regarding 
the congestion study will be posted on http://energy.gov/oe/congestion-study for public review.

    Note:  Delivery of the U.S. Postal Service mail to DOE may be 
delayed by several weeks due to security screening. DOE therefore 
encourages those wishing to comment to submit their comments 
electronically by email. If comments are submitted by regular mail, 
the Department requests that they be accompanied by a CD containing 
electronic files of the submission.


FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David Meyer, DOE Office of 
Electricity, (202) 586-1411, [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Transmission Congestion Study

    The Energy Policy Act of 2005 (Pub. L. 109-58) (EPAct) added 
several new provisions to the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 791a et 
seq.) (FPA), including FPA section 216, 16 U.S.C. 824p. FPA section 
216(a)(1) requires the Secretary of Energy to conduct a study of 
electric transmission congestion within one year from the date of 
enactment of EPAct and every three years thereafter. The 2006, 2009, 
and 2015 Congestion Studies reviewed congestion nationwide except for 
the portion of Texas covered by the Electricity Reliability Council of 
Texas, to which FPA section 216 does not apply. FPA section 216(a) 
requires that the congestion study be conducted in consultation with 
affected states. Also, in exercising its responsibilities under section 
216, DOE is required to consult regularly with the Federal Energy 
Regulatory Commission (FERC), any appropriate regional entity referred 
to in FPA section 215, i.e., the regional electric reliability 
organizations,\1\ and Transmission Organizations approved by FERC.
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    \1\ The regional reliability organizations are currently the 
Florida Reliability Coordinating Council, the Midwest Reliability 
Organization, the Northeast Power Coordinating Council, 
ReliabilityFirst Corporation, SERC Reliability Corporation, the 
Texas Reliability Entity (TRE), and the Western Electricity 
Coordinating Council. See https://www.nerc.com/pa/comp/Pages/Regional-Programs.aspx.
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    Transmission congestion occurs when a constraint within an area's 
transmission network prevents the network from accommodating all 
transactions desired at a given time by authorized users. The most 
common form of transmission congestion is economic congestion. This 
occurs when the transmission system's capacity is sufficient to enable 
compliance with NERC reliability standards, but is not able to allow 
purchasers of wholesale power to obtain supplies from the least-cost 
sellers at all times. The premium involved may or may not be 
sufficiently large or persistent to justify investment in additional 
transmission capacity.

[[Page 42648]]

    In more severe situations, congestion may have both economic and 
reliability components--that is, if an area's electricity demand 
essentially outgrows its transmission network, in addition to forcing 
wholesale buyers to turn to higher-priced sellers, the system may no 
longer be able to meet NERC reliability standards under one or more 
contingencies.
    A third form of congestion occurs when the transmission network is 
not sufficient to enable achievement of established federal, state, or 
local public policy goals. For example, state-imposed renewable 
portfolio standards may lead to demands for transmission service that 
exceed the capacity currently available. At the federal level, 
requirements designed to ensure system resilience and security under 
extreme stress (e.g., natural disasters or cyber/physical attacks) 
could create a demand for additional transmission capacity in specific 
locations.
    The Department is initiating its next triennial congestion study, 
and seeks comments on what publicly-available data and information 
should be considered, and what types of analysis should be performed to 
identify and understand the significance and character of transmission 
congestion. Note: The Department now publishes an Annual U.S. 
Transmission Data Review, now entering its fourth year; it seeks 
comments about any additional publicly-available data and information 
that is not already contained in the annual data reviews published in 
2015, https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2015/08/f26/Transmission%20Data%20Review%20August%202015.pdf; 2016, https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2017/04/f34/Annual%20US%20Transmission%20Data%20Review%202016_0.pdf; and 2018, 
https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2018/03/f49/2018%20Transmission%20Data%20Review%20FINAL.pdf.
    In preparing the 2009 and 2015 Congestion Studies, the Department 
gathered historical congestion data obtained from existing studies 
prepared by regional reliability councils, regional transmission 
organizations (RTOs) and independent system operators (ISOs), and 
regional planning groups. The forthcoming study will draw upon many of 
the same kinds of data, analyses, and information as the earlier 
studies. These sources may include, but would not be limited to:
    a. Electricity market analyses, including locational marginal price 
patterns;
    b. Reliability analyses and actions, including transmission loading 
relief actions;
    c. Historic energy flows;
    d. Current and projected electric supply and generation plans;
    e. Recent, current, and planned transmission and interconnection 
queues;
    f. Results of any ``stress test'' analysis of a transmission system 
based on threat and resilience modeling and any contingency modeling 
incorporating or accounting for interdependencies throughout energy 
systems;
    g. Current and forecast electricity loads, including energy 
efficiency, distributed generation, and demand response plans and 
policies;
    h. The location of renewable resources and state and regional 
policies with respect to renewable development;
    i. Projected impacts of current or pending environmental regulation 
on generation availability;
    j. Effects of recent or projected economic conditions on demand and 
congestion; and
    k. Filings or regional transmission expansion plans developed in 
compliance with FERC Orders No. 890 and 1000.

National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor Designation

    FPA section 216(a)(2) authorizes the Secretary of Energy to 
designate ``any geographic area experiencing electric energy 
transmission capacity constraints or congestion that adversely affects 
consumers as a national interest electric transmission corridor'' 
(National Corridor) after completion of a congestion study, and 
consideration of alternatives and recommendations of interested parties 
and other public comments. Prior to making a separate federal decision 
about any proposed designation of a National Corridor, DOE will 
consider environmental impacts of such a designation, as required by 
the National Environmental Policy Act (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.). 
Designation of an area as a National Corridor would enable the Federal 
Energy Regulatory Commission to exercise jurisdiction over the siting 
of transmission facilities in the National Corridor, if it found that 
certain preconditions (listed in FPA section 216(b)) have been met.
    Some commenters on DOE's previous congestion studies suggested that 
in some circumstances it might be informative for DOE to publish a 
transmission congestion study focused on specific transmission 
project(s), and if appropriate, designate a National Corridor tailored 
to the project(s). DOE agrees, but notes that the need for such studies 
or corridors might not mesh well (in terms of both timing and 
appropriate granularity) with the triennial large-geographic-scale 
congestion studies envisioned in FPA section 216(a)(1). For this 
reason, DOE will continue to produce the triennial studies required by 
the statute, and would also respond, perhaps separately, to requests 
for the preparation of project-specific congestion studies or the 
designation of related National Corridors.
    A party seeking the designation of a project-specific National 
Corridor should submit the following to DOE:
    a. Data or studies confirming the existence in a specific 
geographic area of transmission constraints or congestion adversely 
affecting consumers;
    b. Data or studies confirming that proposed transmission project(s) 
would ease the congestion and its adverse impacts on consumers;
    c. Information showing how a National Corridor should be bounded in 
order to be relevant to the proposed transmission project(s); and
    d. Information showing why it would be in the national interest for 
the Department to intervene in a subject area that is normally subject 
to state jurisdiction.

    Signed in Washington, DC, on August 16, 2018.
Bruce J. Walker,
Assistant Secretary, Office of Electricity, U.S. Department of Energy.
[FR Doc. 2018-18229 Filed 8-22-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6450-01-P