In a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) issued on November 18 in Docket No. RM10-11-000, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) proposes several reforms to the pro forma Open Access Transmission Tariff (OATT) that are intended to remove barriers to the integration of variable energy resources (VERs) into the transmission grid.Comments on the VER NOPR will be due 60 days after its publication in the Federal Register.
Through the NOPR, FERC responds to comments filed on its Notice of Inquiry on the Integration of VERs (NOI), where FERC sought comment on the state of VER integration in various regions of the country. Based on the comments it received concerning the NOI, FERC preliminarily finds in the NOPR that the practice of hourly scheduling, a lack of VER power production forecasting, and the lack of a clear mechanism to recover the cost of providing generator regulation service may be contributing to undue discrimination and unjust and unreasonable rates in light of the entry and increasing presence of VERs on the transmission grid. Read more…