ITC
Devin McMackin is Manager of Federal Affairs at ITC Holdings Corp.
FERC's Order 1000 is a Final Rule issued in 2011 that reformed the Commission's electric transmission planning and cost allocation requirements for public utility transmission providers. In April, FERC issued a notice of proposed rulemaking aimed at amending Order 1000 to once more reform transmission planning, criticized as hindering new decarbonization goals.
The NOPR, among other changes, proposes to amend Order No. 1000 to permit exercise of a federal right of first refusal for transmission facilities selected in a regional transmission plan for purposes of cost allocation, conditioned on the incumbent transmission provider establishing joint ownership of facilities. That is why a new study matters. It's being called attention to by ITC Holdings Corp. and members of the Developers Advocating Transmission Advancements (DATA) Coalition, including Ameren, Eversource Energy, Exelon, National Grid USA, Public Service Electric and Gas Co., and Xcel Energy, which shows unintended consequences of FERC's Order 1000 include project cost increases and schedule delays.
PUF discussed the new study with ITC's Devin McMackin to dig into what was found and the implications for the future of transmission. The full report titled, Competitive Transmission: Experience To Date Shows Order No. 1000 Solicitations Fail to Show Benefits, is by Concentric Energy Advisors.