In October of last year, the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) issued a study finding that maintaining electric reliability will require significant acceleration in the siting and construction of new transmission lines. The NERC study is indicative of growing concerns that changes to the current transmission planning process are necessary to maintain reliability and accommodate interconnection of the massive amounts of renewable resources expected to come online over the next 10 to 20 years.
In response to these concerns, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) recently initiated a rulemaking to consider changes to the transmission planning process used by FERC-approved public utility transmission providers, including regional transmission organizations and independent system operators. Among the contemplated modifications, FERC will assess ways to better ensure that public policy mandates, such as renewables portfolio standards (RPS), are properly reflected in the transmission planning process and that coordination between regional transmission planners is improved.
Changes Are Needed
In commenting on the rulemaking, FERC Commissioner Philip Moeller described transmission as “the ultimate ‘enabling’ energy technology,” noting that transmission improves the efficiency of the electric system, enhances reliability, and increases access to new resources. The cost to realize these benefits, however, is potentially staggering. Industry experts estimate that, over the next 20 years, $300 billion to $400 billion in new transmission infrastructure will be needed to simply maintain current reliability levels nationwide. When new generation and other infrastructure investment is considered, these projections escalate to as much as $2 trillion.
In California, regulators believe that seven new transmission lines at a cost of $12 billion will be needed to integrate renewable resources necessary to meet the state’s expected 33% RPS target by 2020 (see “Old Challenges Persist in Impeding Renewable Energy Goals,” POWER, August 2009). Given the stakes, it is essential that transmission planning and permitting become more efficient and better aligned with reliability and RPS goals.
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