Interregional Transmission Planning Improvement Act of 2023

II 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 Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Interregional Trans- 4 mission Planning Improvement Act of 2023’’. 5 SEC. 2. INCREASING EFFECTIVENESS OF INTERREGIONAL 6 TRANSMISSION PLANNING. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Federal Energy Regulatory 8 Commission (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Commis- 9 sion’’) shall ensure— 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:38 Jun 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1748 IS (1) the effectiveness of existing planning proc- 1 esses for identifying interregional transmission 2 projects that provide economic, reliability, and oper- 3 ational benefits, taking into consideration the public 4 interest, the integrity of markets, and the protection 5 of consumers; 6 (2) any changes to the processes described in 7 paragraph (1) promote efficient, cost-effective, and 8 broadly beneficial interregional transmission solu- 9 tions that are selected for cost allocation— 10 (A) taking into consideration— 11 (i) the public interest; 12 (ii) the integrity of markets; 13 (iii) the protection of consumers; 14 (iv) the broad range of economic, reli- 15 ability, and operational benefits; 16 (v) the need for single projects to se- 17 cure approvals based on a comprehensive 18 assessment of the multiple benefits pro- 19 vided; 20 (vi) that projects that meet inter- 21 regional benefit criteria should not be sub- 22 ject to subsequent reassessment by trans- 23 mission planning authorities; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:38 Jun 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1748 IS (vii) the importance of synchroni- 1 zation of planning processes in neighboring 2 regions, such as using a joint model on a 3 consistent timeline with a single set of 4 needs, input assumptions, and benefit 5 metrics; 6 (viii) that evaluation of long-term sce- 7 narios should align with the expected life 8 of a transmission asset to be not less than 9 20 years; 10 (ix) that transmission planning au- 11 thorities should allow for the identification 12 and joint evaluation of alternatives pro- 13 posed by stakeholders; 14 (x) that interregional planning should 15 be done regularly and not less frequently 16 than once every 2 years; and 17 (xi) the elimination of arbitrary 18 project voltage, size, or cost requirements 19 for interregional solutions; and 20 (B) regardless of the regulatory or busi- 21 ness model of the entity developing the trans- 22 mission project; and 23 (3) the use of cost allocation methodologies 24 that— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:38 Jun 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1748 IS (A) reflect the multiple benefits provided 1 by interregional transmission solutions, includ- 2 ing economic, reliability, resiliency, operational 3 benefits; and 4 (B) assign costs broadly to customers 5 based on the multiple benefits described in sub- 6 paragraph (A) received by customers. 7 (b) RECOVERY OF COSTS.—The Commission shall 8 allow a transmission developer of an interregional trans- 9 mission project that meets the criteria described in sub- 10 section (a)(2)(A) to submit to the Commission a request 11 to recover the cost of the project if the transmission devel- 12 oper demonstrates to the satisfaction of the Commission 13 that— 14 (1) the project connects more than 1 planning 15 region; 16 (2) no interregional plan that meets the criteria 17 described in subsection (a)(2)(A) has been adopted 18 by the connected planning regions; and 19 (3) the benefits of the project outweigh the 20 costs of the project. 21 (c) RULEMAKING.—Not later than 18 months after 22 the date of enactment of this Act, the Commission shall 23 promulgate a final rule to implement this section. 24 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:38 Jun 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS