The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) has requested that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) reconsider its ‘harmful’ order on cost allocation in the footprint of the Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator (Midwest ISO).
AWEA and its regional partner, Wind on the Wires, are requesting that FERC reconsider the Oct. 23 ruling that approved a transmission cost allocation method requiring Midwest ISO wind generators and other generators to pay 90% of the cost of transmission upgrades for network upgrades for projects rated 345 kV and higher. For projects rated lower than 345 kV, generators are required to pay the entire cost.
AWEA says the decision by FERC to place virtually all the costs for transmission upgrades on the projects requesting interconnection is discriminatory to renewable resources, lacks reasoned analysis and departs from established precedent.
AWEA also filed a response to a FERC request for views on whether its current transmission planning and pricing policies are in need of reform. In a statement, AWEA says ‘many cost allocation methodologies, as they are applied today, are flawed because they too narrowly define the beneficiaries to whom such costs should be assigned.’
AWEA requests that FERC initiate a rulemaking change to require that regional planning be reconsidered to reflect transmission's system-wide benefits.
SOURCE: American Wind Energy Association
