east and Midwest, and those extreme weather events 
collectively cost the people of the United States hun-
dreds of billions of dollars; 
(6) new interregional transmission, and transfer 
capability achieved by means of other technologies 
and grid-operational practices, represents a unique 
opportunity to fortify the critical energy infrastruc-
ture of the United States while lowering the cost of 
living for families; 
(7) studies of interregional transmission rou-
tinely find benefit-cost ratios as high as 2.5, in line 
with real-world experience; 
(8) by relieving grid congestion and promoting 
more efficient grid planning and operation, new 
interregional transmission presents an all-of-the- 
above opportunity for the full energy-generating 
portfolio of renewable, fossil, and nuclear resources 
of the United States; and 
(9) interregional transmission represents a 2- 
way value proposition, with secure careers for work-
ers 
in 
energy 
communities 
and 
competitively 
sourced, low-cost, reliable energy for industrial, com-
mercial, and residential energy customers nation-
wide. 
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SEC. 3. MINIMUM INTERREGIONAL TRANSFER CAPABILI-
TIES AND REQUIREMENTS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Part II of the Federal Power Act 
(16 U.S.C. 824 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 
the following: 
‘‘SEC. 224. INTERREGIONAL RELIABILITY. 
‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
‘‘(1) COINCIDENT
INTERREGIONAL
TRANSFER 
CAPABILITY.—The term ‘coincident interregional 
transfer capability’, with respect to an interregional 
transmission planning region, means the ability of 
the interconnected electrical system to coincidently 
move electric energy reliably between the inter-
regional transmission planning region in question 
and the rest of the interconnected electrical system. 
‘‘(2) COMMISSION.—The term ‘Commission’ 
means the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. 
‘‘(3) INTERREGIONAL TRANSFER CAPABILITY.— 
The term ‘interregional transfer capability’ means 
the ability of the interconnected electrical system to 
move electric energy reliably between 2 or more 
interregional transmission planning regions. 
‘‘(4) INTERREGIONAL TRANSMISSION PLANNING 
REGION.—The term ‘interregional transmission plan-
ning region’ means a region for which electric energy 
transmission planning is appropriate, as determined 
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by the Commission, such as a region approved by 
the Commission to meet the requirements of the 
final rule of the Commission entitled ‘Transmission 
Planning and Cost Allocation by Transmission Own-
ing and Operating Public Utilities’ (Docket No. 
RM10–23). 
‘‘(5) MINIMUM INTERREGIONAL TRANSFER CA-
PABILITY.—The term ‘minimum interregional trans-
fer capability’ means, as applicable— 
‘‘(A) the coincident interregional transfer 
capability described in subsection (b)(1)(A); or 
‘‘(B) a higher coincident interregional 
transfer capability established in accordance 
with subsection (b)(1)(B). 
‘‘(6) MINIMUM INTERREGIONAL TRANSFER RE-
QUIREMENT.—The term ‘minimum interregional 
transfer requirement’ means any requirement to 
meet or maintain a minimum interregional transfer 
capability. 
‘‘(b) ESTABLISHMENT OF MINIMUM INTERREGIONAL 
TRANSFER CAPABILITIES.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 18 months 
after the date of enactment of this section, the Com-
mission shall promulgate a final rule that— 
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‘‘(A) requires each interregional trans-
mission planning region to establish or increase 
interregional transfer capabilities such that the 
coincident interregional transfer capability of 
each interregional transmission planning region 
is not less than the lesser of— 
‘‘(i) 30 percent of its own present-day 
coincident peak load; and 
‘‘(ii) the sum obtained by adding— 
‘‘(I) the present-day coincident 
interregional transfer capability of the 
interregional transmission planning 
region; and 
‘‘(II) 15 percent of its own 
present-day coincident peak load; 
‘‘(B) on a showing of net benefits, may re-
quire 1 or more interregional transmission plan-
ning regions to meet or maintain a coincident 
interregional transfer capability that exceeds 
the applicable minimum interregional transfer 
capability described in subparagraph (A); 
‘‘(C) based on the applicable minimum 
interregional transfer capability, shall govern 
the establishment of minimum interregional 
transfer requirements for interconnections be-
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tween interregional transmission planning re-
gions; 
‘‘(D) calculates the present-day coincident 
interregional transfer capabilities of the inter-
regional transmission planning regions by— 
‘‘(i) defining the present-day coinci-
dent interregional transfer capability of 
each interregional transmission planning 
region as being equal to the greater of— 
‘‘(I) the coincident import capa-
bility of the interregional transmission 
planning region; and 
‘‘(II) the coincident export capa-
bility of the interregional transmission 
planning region; 
‘‘(ii) defining the coincident import 
capability of each interregional trans-
mission planning region as being equal to 
the absolute value of the first 1⁄10 of the 
first percentile (0.1th percentile) of the co-
incident hourly electrical transfers of that 
interregional transmission planning region; 
‘‘(iii) defining the coincident export 
capability of the interregional transmission 
planning region as being equal to the abso-
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lute value of the last 1⁄10 of the 99th per-
centile (99.9th percentile) of the coincident 
hourly electrical transfers of that inter-
regional transmission planning region; 
‘‘(iv) defining the coincident hourly 
electrical transfers of each interregional 
transmission planning region as being 
equal to the sum obtained by adding, with 
respect to each hour, the hourly electrical 
transfers of all balancing authorities that, 
in the determination of the Commission, 
most closely correspond to the inter-
regional transmission planning region in 
question using data from Form EIA–930 
of the Energy Information Administration 
for the 5-year period ending on— 
‘‘(I) for each plan described in 
subparagraph (G) that is required to 
be submitted by the date described in 
that subparagraph, the date that is 1 
year before the date of enactment of 
this section; and 
‘‘(II) for each plan submitted 
under paragraph (4)(A) and each up-
dated plan submitted under para-
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