Interregional Transmission Planning Improvement Act of 2023

Subjects: Energy


<html><body><pre>[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1748 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

&lt;DOC&gt;






118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1748

   To require the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to reform the 
  interregional transmission planning process, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 18, 2023

 Mr. Heinrich introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
       referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To require the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to reform the 
  interregional transmission planning process, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Interregional Transmission Planning 
Improvement Act of 2023''.

SEC. 2. INCREASING EFFECTIVENESS OF INTERREGIONAL TRANSMISSION 
              PLANNING.

    (a) In General.--The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (referred 
to in this section as the ``Commission'') shall ensure--
            (1) the effectiveness of existing planning processes for 
        identifying interregional transmission projects that provide 
        economic, reliability, and operational benefits, taking into 
        consideration the public interest, the integrity of markets, 
        and the protection of consumers;
            (2) any changes to the processes described in paragraph (1) 
        promote efficient, cost-effective, and broadly beneficial 
        interregional transmission solutions that are selected for cost 
        allocation--
                    (A) taking into consideration--
                            (i) the public interest;
                            (ii) the integrity of markets;
                            (iii) the protection of consumers;
                            (iv) the broad range of economic, 
                        reliability, and operational benefits;
                            (v) the need for single projects to secure 
                        approvals based on a comprehensive assessment 
                        of the multiple benefits provided;
                            (vi) that projects that meet interregional 
                        benefit criteria should not be subject to 
                        subsequent reassessment by transmission 
                        planning authorities;
                            (vii) the importance of synchronization of 
                        planning processes in neighboring regions, such 
                        as using a joint model on a consistent timeline 
                        with a single set of needs, input assumptions, 
                        and benefit metrics;
                            (viii) that evaluation of long-term 
                        scenarios should align with the expected life 
                        of a transmission asset to be not less than 20 
                        years;
                            (ix) that transmission planning authorities 
                        should allow for the identification and joint 
                        evaluation of alternatives proposed by 
                        stakeholders;
                            (x) that interregional planning should be 
                        done regularly and not less frequently than 
                        once every 2 years; and
                            (xi) the elimination of arbitrary project 
                        voltage, size, or cost requirements for 
                        interregional solutions; and
                    (B) regardless of the regulatory or business model 
                of the entity developing the transmission project; and
            (3) the use of cost allocation methodologies that--
                    (A) reflect the multiple benefits provided by 
                interregional transmission solutions, including 
                economic, reliability, resiliency, operational 
                benefits; and
                    (B) assign costs broadly to customers based on the 
                multiple benefits described in subparagraph (A) 
                received by customers.
    (b) Recovery of Costs.--The Commission shall allow a transmission 
developer of an interregional transmission project that meets the 
criteria described in subsection (a)(2)(A) to submit to the Commission 
a request to recover the cost of the project if the transmission 
developer demonstrates to the satisfaction of the Commission that--
            (1) the project connects more than 1 planning region;
            (2) no interregional plan that meets the criteria described 
        in subsection (a)(2)(A) has been adopted by the connected 
        planning regions; and
            (3) the benefits of the project outweigh the costs of the 
        project.
    (c) Rulemaking.--Not later than 18 months after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Commission shall promulgate a final rule to 
implement this section.
                                 &lt;all&gt;
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