Speaking Energy

On February 29, 2024, President Joe Biden nominated three individuals to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or the Commission): Judy W. Chang (Democrat), David Rosner (Democrat) and Lindsay S. See (Republican). As noted in the White House announcement, “[b]y statute, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission shall be composed of five members, with no more than three from the same political party,” and Lindsay S. See “is the nominee recommended by the Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.”

On February 9, 2024, it was reported that Commissioner Allison Clements will not seek a second term on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or Commission) following the expiration of her first term in June of this year.¹ The Commission is already down two out of five members. Commissioner Clements’ departure without replacement would leave FERC without a quorum and introduce additional uncertainty regarding the direction FERC may take on key energy issues in the coming years. FERC last went without a quorum in 2017, as explained in a prior Speaking Energy post.

On October 19, 2023, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) directed the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) to submit new or modified Reliability Standards that address the impacts of inverter-based resources (IBRs) on the reliable operation of the Bulk-Power System¹ to “protect the grid as the nation makes the transition to expanded use of clean energy technologies.”² The Final Rule also addresses certain IBRs connected to the distribution system that in the aggregate have a material impact on the Bulk-Power System (IBR-DERs).³ Broadly speaking, IBRs are “power electronic devices [used] to change the direct current power produced by generators into alternating current power that is then transmitted on the bulk electric system,”⁴ and they are common to solar, wind, battery storage and fuel cell facilities, among others. Because such resources “respond to grid disturbances differently from traditional [synchronous] generation resources such as hydropower, nuclear, coal or natural gas plants,” FERC determined that they require different Reliability Standards “to ensure IBRs support reliability in the same manner as traditional generation resources.”⁵ We previously covered other FERC actions to address the potential impact of such resources here.

On October 25, 2023, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued an order¹ that extended the deadline for electric transmission providers to comply with its Order No. 2023, “Improvements to Generator Interconnection Procedures and Agreements” (the Final Rule²). The new compliance filing deadline is Wednesday, April 3, 2024, or 210 calendar days from the Final Rule’s publication in the Federal Register on September 6, 2023. The previous deadline had been December 5, 2023, or 90 days from the publication date. The revised deadline applies to “all transmission providers, except for those with wholesale distribution access tariffs,” whose compliance filings are now due “within 90 calendar days of the date on which their relevant regional transmission organization or independent systems operator submits its compliance filing.”³ FERC clarified that the Extension Order “does not change or modify any other determination or other deadlines established by Order No. 2023, including the deadline for eligibility for interconnection customers to opt to proceed with a transitional serial study (for those interconnection customers tendered a facilities study agreement) or transitional cluster study (for those interconnection customers assigned a queue position) or to withdraw their interconnection requests without penalty (i.e., 30 calendar days after the transmission provider submits its initial compliance filing).”⁴

On September 6, 2023, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC or the “Commission”) Order No. 2023, “Improvements to Generator Interconnection Procedures and Agreements” (the “Final Rule”), was published in the Federal Register. The Final Rule had been issued by FERC on July 28, 2023, and requests for rehearing and clarification have already been filed with the agency by numerous transmission owners, generation developers, trade associations and regional transmission organizations (RTOs) and independent system operators affected by the Final Rule. Akin hosted a webinar on the Final Rule on August 3, 2023, providing analysis on the Final Rule’s requirements to (1) increase how quickly requests in the interconnection queue are processed, (2) replace the previous “first-come, first-served” process with a “first-ready, first-served” cluster study process and (3) incorporate technological advancements in generation and transmission into the interconnection process. The published version of the Final Rule establishes an effective date for Order No. 2023 of November 6, 2023. 

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or the “Commission”) recently issued Order Nos. 896 and 897 (collectively, the “Reliability Orders”),¹ which are two final rules designed to bolster electric grid reliability during extreme heat and cold weather events that “may cause unacceptable risk to life and economic harm,” especially during periods of unexpectedly high demand on the Bulk-Power System.²

In Fore River Residents Against the Compressor Station v. FERC,¹ decided on July 21, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ended long-running litigation over the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC or “Commission”) approval of the Weymouth Compressor Station in Norfolk, Massachusetts. The Weymouth Compressor Station is part of the Algonquin Gas Transmission, LLC and Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline, L.L.C. Atlantic Bridge Project, which received a certificate under section 7 of the Natural Gas Act (NGA) from FERC in 2017 (Docket No. CP16-9).² In Fore River, the court found that the petitioners, local residents, municipalities, and an environmental organization lacked Article III standing to challenge two orders issued by FERC after the certificate issued (1) a December 26, 2018, delegated order granting Algonquin a two-year extension of time to construct the facilities (the “Extension Order”)³ that was subsequently upheld by a full Commission order on February 21, 2020 (the “2020 Rehearing Order”);⁴ and (2) a January 20, 2022, denial of rehearing (the “2022 Rehearing Order”)⁵ of a September 24, 2020, order authorizing Algonquin to place the facilities in service (the “In-Service Extension Order”).⁶ It also dismissed the petitions as moot.