FERC issues transmission planning rule, plus 6 other first half agency highlights - Utility Dive

When the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission started this year with only three sitting commissioners, some feared the agency could lose its quorum and work would grind to a halt.

Instead, despite two vacant seats, FERC issued a landmark transmission and cost allocation rule and made other key advances in the first half of 2024.

Also, the Senate last month approved three new commissioners to fill the vacant seats and one left by FERC Commissioner Allison Clements, whose term ended June 30. This leaves the agency fully staffed as it moves into the second half of the year.

FERC issued 4,085 orders and opinions in the first half tof 2024, up from 3,980 in the same period in 2023, according to the agency’s online filing system. Electric-related orders and opinions dipped to 1,592 in the first six months in 2024 from 1,671 in the year-ago period.

Here are seven highlights of the first six months of 2024.

FERC issues transmission planning and cost allocation rule. At a special meeting in May, FERC approved Order 1920 on a 2-1 vote, with Commissioner Mark Christie issuing a sharp dissent. The rule — proposed in April 2022 — requires transmission providers to consider forward-looking factors when developing their plans, such as utility resource plans, state energy goals, corporate energy procurement commitments and interconnection queues. The transmission plans must look ahead at least 20 years.

About 50 requests for rehearing or reconsideration have been filed so FERC, with three new commissioners who didn’t vote on the order, could revise it. It will also likely be challenged in court.

Senate restores agency to full complement. President Joe Biden in February nominated three people to fill vacant seats at FERC, and the Senate last month confirmed them.

The new commissioners are Judy Chang, who was a managing principal at the Boston-based Analysis Group and former undersecretary of energy and climate solutions for Massachusetts; David Rosner, most recently a FERC energy industry analyst on loan to the Democratic staff of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee; and Lindsay See, formerly the West Virginia solicitor general. See is a Republican; Chang and Rosner are Democrats.

FERC partly approves PJM capacity market reforms. In the first half, FERC took several actions affecting wholesale power markets. The agency, for example, approved PJM’s proposed “modeling enhancement” plan that revises its resource adequacy risk modeling and capacity accreditation processes and bolsters its testing requirements for capacity resources.

However, about a week later, it rejected a PJM proposal to revamp its offer cap and capacity performance rules. The proposals grew out of about two years of stakeholders meetings, which were given urgency following Winter Storm Elliott in December 2022 when the grid operator narrowly avoided rolling blackouts.

The agency backtracks on Delmarva capacity prices. Driven by an appeals court order, FERC in May reversed a previous decision by approving the PJM’s plan to revert to its initial capacity auction results, which increased capacity prices for the Delmarva area in Delaware, Maryland and Virginia by about $288 million.

The PJM Power Providers Group and the Electric Power Supply Association — trade groups for power plant owners — as well as companies such as Constellation Energy, NRG Energy and Vistra supported using the original Delmarva auction results.

FERC rejects $1.1 billion Bridgepoint private equity deal. FERC in March rejected a planned $1.1 billion merger between Bridgepoint Group and Energy Capital Partners — one of the largest private owners of power assets in North America — because they failed to show the transaction wouldn’t harm competition. The companies filed a new merger application in mid-April and asked FERC to approve it by June 6. It is still pending.

Agency approves cold weather power plant standards. Following Winter Storm Uri in 2021, Winter Storm Elliott in 2022 — two storms that caused blackouts — and winter storms last winter, FERC continued to focus on ensuring that power plants are able to run during extremely cold weather.

FERC approved cold weather standards in February that aim to ensure that grid operators don’t cut power to critical natural gas facilities during emergencies. Then in June, it approved another set of cold weather reliability standards, but ordered the North American Electric Reliability Corp. to make additional changes to its cold weather requirements. The standard builds on one approved in February 2023 by clarifying the requirements for generator cold weather preparedness and by making other improvements to help ensure that more generation is available during extreme cold weather, FERC said.