I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 9362 

To direct the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to improve interregional 

electricity transfer capability between immediately adjacent transmission 

planning regions, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

AUGUST 16, 2024 

Mr. CASTEN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To direct the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to 

improve interregional electricity transfer capability between immediately adjacent transmission planning regions, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Reinforcing the Grid 

5 Against Extreme Weather Act of 2024’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. IMPROVING INTERREGIONAL ELECTRICITY TRANS2 FER CAPABILITY. 

3 Part II of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 824 et 

4 seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 224. IMPROVING INTERREGIONAL ELECTRICITY 

6 TRANSFER CAPABILITY. 

7 ‘‘(a) RULEMAKING.—Not later than 24 months after 

8 the date of enactment of this section, the Commission 

9 shall issue regulations to establish a process for— 

10 ‘‘(1) calculating existing transfer capability be11 tween each transmission planning region and its im12 mediately adjacent transmission planning region, 

13 such that— 

14 ‘‘(A) each transmission planning entity for 

15 a given transmission planning region and the 

16 transmission planning entities for any imme17 diately adjacent transmission planning region 

18 shall use the same method to calculate the 

19 transfer capability between them; and 

20 ‘‘(B) each shared method of calculation 

21 shall comply with requirements established by 

22 the Commission; 

23 ‘‘(2) determining a minimum transfer capability 

24 between each transmission planning region and its 

25 immediately adjacent transmission planning region 

26 in order to— 


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1 ‘‘(A) ensure that each transmission plan2 ning region has sufficient electric transfer capa3 bility with immediately adjacent transmission 

4 planning regions to ensure reliability during im5 pacts associated with weather events, physical 

6 events, or cyberattacks to the transmission 

7 planning region; and 

8 ‘‘(B) optimize achievement of the trans9 mission benefits; 

10 ‘‘(3) identifying, selecting, and allocating costs 

11 for individual interregional transmission projects 

12 needed to achieve each minimum transfer capability 

13 identified pursuant to paragraph (2); and 

14 ‘‘(4) preventing the disclosure of information 

15 pertaining to cyberattacks that may compromise the 

16 security of the electricity system. 

17 ‘‘(b) FILING A PLAN.— 

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 3 years 

19 after the date of enactment of this section, and at 

20 least every 5 years thereafter, the transmission plan21 ning entities for each pair of immediately adjacent 

22 transmission planning regions shall file with the 

23 Commission, and receive approval for, a plan that, 

24 in accordance with the regulations issued under sub25 section (a)— 


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1 ‘‘(A) evaluates and selects interregional 

2 transmission projects based on consideration of 

3 the transmission benefits; and 

4 ‘‘(B) achieves minimum interregional 

5 transfer capability. 

6 ‘‘(2) DUTY OF COMMISSION.—The Commission 

7 shall approve or deny a plan filed pursuant to para8 graph (1) in consideration of the factors described in 

9 subsection (a)(2). 

10 ‘‘(c) REPORT.—Not later than 48 months after the 

11 date on which the regulations are issued pursuant to sub12 section (a), and annually thereafter, the Commission shall 

13 publish in the Federal Register a report on the results 

14 of implementing this section. 

15 ‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

16 ‘‘(1) GREENHOUSE GAS.—The term ‘greenhouse 

17 gas’ includes each of the following: 

18 ‘‘(A) Carbon dioxide. 

19 ‘‘(B) Methane. 

20 ‘‘(C) Nitrous oxide. 

21 ‘‘(D) Sulfur hexafluoride. 

22 ‘‘(E) Any hydrofluorocarbon. 

23 ‘‘(F) Any perfluorocarbon. 

24 ‘‘(G) Nitrogen trifluoride. 


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1 ‘‘(H) Any fully fluorinated linear, 

2 branched, or cyclic— 

3 ‘‘(i) alkane; 

4 ‘‘(ii) ether; 

5 ‘‘(iii) tertiary amine; or 

6 ‘‘(iv) amino ether. 

7 ‘‘(I) Any perfluoropolyether. 

8 ‘‘(J) Any hydrofluoropolyether. 

9 ‘‘(K) Any other fluorocarbon, except for a 

10 fluorocarbon with a vapor pressure of less than 

11 1 mm of Hg absolute at 25 degrees Celsius. 

12 ‘‘(2) TRANSMISSION BENEFIT.—The term 

13 ‘transmission benefit’ means a broad range of eco14 nomic, operational, safety, security, resilience, public 

15 policy, environmental, and other reasonably antici16 pated benefit of constructing, modifying, or oper17 ating a transmission facility, including any benefit 

18 realized when real-time energy prices and oper19 ational conditions differ from those anticipated in 

20 the 48-hour ahead or day-ahead time frame. Such 

21 benefits include— 

22 ‘‘(A) improved reliability; 

23 ‘‘(B) improved resilience; 

24 ‘‘(C) improved safety; 

25 ‘‘(D) reduced congestion; 


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1 ‘‘(E) reduced power losses; 

2 ‘‘(F) greater carrying capacity; 

3 ‘‘(G) reduced operating reserve require4 ments; 

5 ‘‘(H) improved access to lower-cost elec6 tricity generation; 

7 ‘‘(I) improved access to electricity gener8 ating facilities with no direct emissions of 

9 greenhouse gases; 

10 ‘‘(J) improved public health from the clo11 sure of electricity generation facilities that emit 

12 harmful pollution; 

13 ‘‘(K) increased competition and market li14 quidity in electricity markets; 

15 ‘‘(L) improved energy resilience and reli16 ability of Department of Defense installations; 

17 ‘‘(M) optimizing use of existing trans18 mission assets, including any existing rights of 

19 way; 

20 ‘‘(N) other transmission costs avoided by 

21 the proposed transmission solution; and 

22 ‘‘(O) other potential benefits of increasing 

23 the interconnectedness of the electric grid. 

24 ‘‘(3) TRANSMISSION PLANNING ENTITY.—The 

25 term ‘transmission planning entity’ means an entity 


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1 responsible for planning for the deployment of elec2 tric transmission for a given transmission planning 

3 region. 

4 ‘‘(4) TRANSMISSION PLANNING REGION.—The 

5 term ‘transmission planning region’ means a geo6 graphic area that the Commission finds sufficient to 

7 satisfy its requirements for the scope of regional 

8 transmission planning, as established in or in com9 pliance with the following orders issued by the Com10 mission: 

11 ‘‘(A) ‘Transmission Planning and Cost Al12 location by Transmission Owning and Oper13 ating Public Utilities’ published in the Federal 

14 Register on October 12, 2012 (77 Fed. Reg. 

15 64890); and 

16 ‘‘(B) ‘Building for the Future Through 

17 Electric Regional Transmission Planning and 

18 Cost Allocation’ published in the Federal Reg19 ister on October 24, 2012 (77 Fed. Reg. 

20 64890).’’. 

Æ 


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