FERC's Clements says new technologies can help clear power grid logjam

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission member Allison Clements sees a role for grid-enhancing technologies in unclogging U.S. interconnection queues that are ballooning with a record number of renewable energy projects.

FERC is in the midst of several rulemakings related to grid-enhancing technologies, or GETs, which can unlock spare capacity on existing power lines.

"I think the opportunity for grid-enhancing technologies is significant," Clements said in a May 23 interview on the sidelines of an inaugural summit hosted by the WATT Coalition, a group of advanced transmission technology providers. "It is significant in terms of cost savings, reliability contributions to the system and the flexibility that the system needs as it evolves."

In April, the commission issued a proposed rule (RM21-17) on long-range transmission planning and cost allocation that would require system planners and transmission operators to consider two specific types of GETs: dynamic line ratings and advanced power flow controllers.

Dynamic line ratings allow transmission operators to run lines at a higher capacity by providing a steady feed of real-time data on limiting factors such as wind speed, cloud cover, and line tension and sag. Power flow controllers enable operators to shift power from strained lines to neighboring lines with unused capacity.

The two technologies will likely prove crucial in meeting the challenge of boosting U.S. transmission capacity to achieve a carbon-neutral economy by midcentury, a target set by climate scientists and policymakers including U.S. President Joe Biden. To achieve that goal, U.S. transmission capacity will need to increase 60% by 2030, according to energy modeling research led by Princeton University.

Interconnection benefits

FERC's transmission proposal flowed from a broader advanced notice of proposed rulemaking that sought comment on a host of other issues crucial to U.S. grid expansion, including generator interconnection policies.

Regional grid operators are struggling to accommodate a record number of interconnection requests driven by state-level clean energy policies. PJM Interconnection LLC stakeholders, for example, recently supported a proposed two-year pause on processing new interconnection requests to allow the 13-state grid operator to clear a backlog of about 2,500 proposed projects.

FERC Chairman Richard Glick, re-nominated last week to serve another five-year term, has indicated that the commission could soon issue a separate proposed rule on interconnection.

"I think in the record in our [advanced notice of proposed rulemaking] proceeding, there is a good amount of interest expressed in the idea that GETs can be beneficial to interconnection customers as one of the tools to help try and alleviate this terrible logjam of resources trying to interconnect to the system," Clements said.

A February 2021 report conducted by the consulting firm The Brattle Group found that implementing a combination of GETs could double renewable energy integration in the wind-rich states of Kansas and Oklahoma, in part by eliminating the need for related transmission upgrades.

Incentives, cost containment

Clements also expressed openness to providing additional financial incentives for the adoption of GETs to help offset the tendency for utilities to favor transmission solutions eligible for traditional cost-of-service rate recovery. In September 2021, FERC held a technical conference on a shared savings model proposed by the WATT Coalition as part of a broader rulemaking to revamp the commission's transmission incentives policies.

"I'm open to the idea that some sort of incentive to encourage utilities to more quickly adopt grid-enhancing technologies is a good thing," Clements said.

Clements also framed the agency's work on the deployment of GETs as part of a broader effort to control transmission expansion costs. In issuing its latest transmission proposal, FERC also scheduled a related technical conference for Oct. 6 focused on cost management measures.

"To me, finding the right balance between the protection of customers and sufficient build-out of our transmission system to ensure effectiveness and reliability and have a modernized system is the question," Clements said. "That's what our job is at FERC."

One controversial provision in FERC's transmission planning and cost allocation proposal would restore a federal right of first refusal for incumbent transmission owners for projects with a joint ownership model. FERC's last major transmission rule, Order 1000, eliminated that right for new transmission facilities selected in regional planning processes. In its April proposal, however, FERC acknowledged that Order 1000 has caused incumbent transmission owners to focus on local reliability projects shielded from the rule's competitive bidding requirements.

"The results from Order 1000's competition provisions have been mixed at best, and if we're trying to get through misaligned incentive as a barrier to transmission, what are other ways that we can contain costs to ensure customers are protected?" Clements said.

Smart transmission investments will require "getting cost allocation that states and stakeholders are bought into and also ensuring that we're using all the tools in the toolbox to contain costs as transmission is both planned and actually built," the commissioner said.

With Glick renominated for a second term, Clements expressed confidence that the five-member commission will continue to advance its regulatory work on grid expansion through orders that win bipartisan support.

"We've done a lot of legwork up front related to this transmission record in particular, so I think the stage is set for us to compromise under the chairman's leadership to get the job done," Clements said.

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