[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 49 (Monday, March 14, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13613-13614]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-5708]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Supplemental Notice of Technical Conference
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Docket No.
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Priority Rights to New Participant- AD11-11-000
Funded Transmission.
Alta Wind I, LLC....................... EL10-62-000
Alta Wind II, LLC......................
Alta Wind III, LLC.....................
Alta Wind IV, LLC......................
Alta Wind V, LLC.......................
Alta Wind VI, LLC......................
Alta Wind VII, LLC.....................
Alta Wind VIII, LLC....................
Alta Windpower Development, LLC........
TGP Development Company, LLC...........
Puget Sound Energy, Inc................ EL10-72-001
Terra-Gen Dixie Valley, LLC, TGP Dixie EL10-29-002
Development Company, LLC, and New York
Canyon, LLC.
Green Borders Geothermal, LLC v. Terra- EL10-36-002
Gen Dixie Valley, LLC.
Terra-Gen Dixie Valley, LLC............ ER11-2127-001
Northern Pass Transmission, LLC........ ER11-2377-000
Cedar Creek Wind Energy, LLC........... RC11-1-000
Milford Wind Corridor Phase I, LLC..... RC11-2-000
SunZia Transmission, LLC............... EL11-24-000
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On February 22, 2011, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
(Commission) announced that a Technical Conference on Priority Rights
to New Participant-Funded Transmission will be held on Tuesday, March
15, 2011, from 9:30 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. (EST). The staff-led conference
will be held in the Commission Meeting Room at the Commission's
headquarters at 888 First Street, NE., Washington, DC 20426. The
conference will be open for
[[Page 13614]]
the public to attend and advance registration is not required. Members
of the Commission may attend the conference.
Attached to this supplemental notice is an agenda for the
conference. If any changes are made, the revised agenda will be posted
prior to the event on the Calendar of Events on the Commission's Web
site, http://www.ferc.gov.
Notice is also hereby given that discussions at the conference may
address matters at issue in the above-referenced individual proceedings
that are either pending or within their rehearing period.
A free webcast of the technical conference will be available.
Anyone with internet access who desires to listen to this event can do
so by navigating to the Calendar of Events on the Commission's Web site
and locating this event in the Calendar. The event will contain a link
to its webcast. The Capitol Connection provides technical support for
webcasts and will offer the option of listening to the conference via
phone-bridge for a fee. If you have any questions about the webcast,
visit http://www.CapitolConnection.org or call (703) 993-3100.
This conference will also be transcribed. Transcripts will be
available immediately, for a fee, from Ace Reporting Company (202-347-
3700 or 800-336-6646).
FERC conferences are accessible under section 508 of the
Rehabilitation Act of 1973. For accessibility accommodations please
send an e-mail to [email protected] or call toll free (866) 208-
3372 (voice) or (202) 502-8659 (TTY), or send a fax to (202) 208-2106
with the requested accommodations.
For further information please contact Becky Robinson at (202) 502-
8868 or [email protected]; or Pierson Stoecklein at (202) 502-
6372 or [email protected].
Dated: March 7, 2011.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
Priority Access to New Participant-Funded Transmission
AD11-11-000
March 15, 2011
Agenda
9:30-9:45 a.m. Welcome and Opening Remarks
Introduction
The electric industry has evolved since Order No. 888 was
adopted. In addition to the traditional utility structure of
vertical integration, new models for developing, owning, and
operating electric transmission infrastructure have been the subject
of petitions before the Commission. In several of these proceedings,
various proposals have been made regarding priority access to the
transmission capacity developed. Commission staff would like to
explore issues related to priority rights to use transmission
infrastructure developed under these new business models in two
contexts: independent and/or merchant transmission \1\ and generator
lead lines.\2\
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\1\ See, e.g., Chinook Power Transmission, LLC, 126 FERC ]
61,134 (2009).
\2\ See, e.g., Milford Wind Corridor, LLC, 129 FERC ] 61,149
(2009).
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In both contexts, participants are encouraged to identify and
discuss the appropriate balance between the Commission's
requirements for open access and the needs of project developers.
Participants are encouraged to propose and discuss possible
regulatory alternatives that are consistent with the Commission's
open access policies and its statutory responsibility to ensure that
rates, terms, and conditions of service are just and reasonable and
not unduly discriminatory or preferential.
Panel 1
9:45-11:45 a.m. Independent and/or Merchant Transmission Lines
Transmission infrastructure is no longer solely developed,
owned, and operated by incumbent utilities serving native load
within their traditional footprint, but also by non-incumbent,
independent developers on a cost-of-service or negotiated rate
basis. The purpose of this panel is to discuss whether to allow
these non-traditional entities flexibility in the allocation of
priority rights to the use of transmission facilities and, if so,
how such flexibility could be implemented consistent with Commission
open access policies. Panelists are encouraged to address:
The effect of the Commission's current affiliate rules
and pricing structures (e.g., cost-based or negotiated rates) on the
economics of a proposed project, as well as on efforts to right-
size/up-size a proposed project;
The need for and appropriate application of mechanisms
to ensure customer interest in and access to new transmission
(including, but not necessarily limited to anchor shipper/tenant
arrangements and open seasons) and how such mechanisms can be
implemented to accommodate developers' project development and
customers' needs, while satisfying the Commission's open access
policies and responsibility to ensure that rates are just and
reasonable and not unduly discriminatory or preferential.
Panelists
[rtarr8] Stephen Conant, Senior Vice President for Strategic
Development, Anbaric Transmission, LLC & NEITC
[rtarr8] Terry Wolf, Manager, Transmission Services, Missouri
River Energy Services
[rtarr8] Mike Cashell, Chief Transmission Officer, NorthWestern
Energy
[rtarr8] Cynthia Marlette, Special Counsel, Patton Boggs LLP
(Western Independent Transmission Group)
[rtarr8] Michael Skelly, President, Clean Line Energy
[rtarr8] David Raskin, Partner, Steptoe & Johnson LLP
[rtarr8] Robert van Beers, Chief Development Officer, Tonbridge
Power, Inc.
[rtarr8] Tyson Utt, Project Manager, Horizon Wind Energy LLC
[rtarr8] Kenneth Houston, Director, Transmission Services,
PacifiCorp
11:45 a.m.-1 p.m. BREAK
Panel 2
1-3 p.m. Generator Lead Lines
Increasingly, generation owners have chosen to build,
administer, and operate the transmission facilities that
interconnect their generation facilities with the network
transmission system, referred to herein as generator lead lines. In
that situation, generation owners also have sought to secure
priority rights to use the capacity on these lines. The purpose of
this panel is to address the application of the Commission's open
access policies to generator lead lines in the instance when
affiliated or unaffiliated third-party generators also seek to use
these facilities. Panelists are encouraged to address:
The unique attributes of generator lead lines among
transmission facilities (including ownership structures, physical or
operational characteristics, etc.);
The implications for generation developers and
potential transmission customers of the Commission applying open
access polices in the same manner to generator lead lines as it
applies those policies to other transmission facilities, and whether
the Commission should apply its open access policies to generator
lead line facilities in a manner different from the way it applies
such policies to other transmission facilities;
The showing required to justify priority usage
allocations (e.g., types of ownership/lease arrangements and
expansion/development plans with definite dates and milestones for
construction), and the extent to which this showing accommodates
developers' project development and customers' needs, while
satisfying the Commission's open access policies and responsibility
to ensure that rates are just and reasonable and not unduly
discriminatory or preferential.
Panelists
[rtarr8] Brad Oachs, Chief Operating Officer, Minnesota Power
[rtarr8] Joel Newton, Senior Attorney, NextEra Energy Resources
LLC
[rtarr8] Tom DeBoer, Director, Rates and Regulatory Affairs,
Puget Sound Energy, Inc.
[rtarr8] Richard Lorenzo, Partner, Loeb & Loeb LLP
[rtarr8] Adam Wenner, Partner, Chadbourne & Parke LLP
[rtarr8] Kurt Adams, Executive Vice President & Chief
Development Officer, First Wind
[rtarr8] Kris Zadlo, Vice President, Regulatory Affairs and
Transmission, Invenergy LLC
3-3:15 p.m. Wrap-Up
[FR Doc. 2011-5708 Filed 3-11-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P