Interregional Transmission Planning Improvement Act of 2023

Bill: 118-s-1748
Sponsor: full_name: Sen. Heinrich, Martin [D-NM]
Introduced: 2023-05-18
Policy area: Energy
Latest action: action_date: 2023-05-18
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

Summaries:

tv_txt: II 118th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 1748 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.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Interregional Transmission Planning Improvement Act of 2023 . 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.