The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission this week took “anothercritical step” toward providing new power generators with more”certainty and assurance” in their efforts to interconnect with thetransmission grid.

The Commission approved, with a few changes, a first-of-its-kindproposal in which an Illinois utility sought to amend itsopen-access tariff to spell out the procedures for requestinginterconnection services on its system and the criteria by whichinterconnection requests would be evaluated. The proposal was madeby Commonwealth Edison [ER00-1820].

Commonwealth Edison’s proposal specifically provides potentialcustomers with information on how priority in the queue forinterconnections will be determined and the time frame in whichstudies will be completed and final decisions made.

“This is another critical step along the road to a more rationalpro-competitive policy” in the electric industry, said Massey, whois spearheading an effort at the Commission to provide greateraccess to the transmission grid for new power generators.

FERC’s decision encourages other utilities to follow inCommonwealth Edison’s footsteps. “I wholeheartedly endorse thiscall and ask [other] transmission providers to heed it. It’s a callto take down another of the obstacles to letting markets work.”

Many in the power industry seek a more standardizedinterconnection process for all utilities to follow, Massey noted.”These suggestions certainly have a lot of appeal to me…..TheCommission should move in these directions. But for today I’msatisfied with our explicit encouragement [for] utilities to amendtheir tariffs as Commonwealth Edison has done.”

For Chairman James Hoecker, the filing marks an importantturning point. “I believe this filing reflects a subtle but veryimportant change in the way transmission owners view the merchantgeneration, that is as customers. What a concept.”

Commonwealth Edison also has submitted an expandedinterconnection policy that will facilitate siting in northernIllinois, and has posted on its Web site the preferred locationsfor new generation in the state, he said. This “takes a lot of themystery out of the process of siting and of market entry by showingwhere new generation can be accommodated without necessarilyexpanding the existing transmission facility. I really like thesecustomer-friendly innovations, as do my colleagues.”

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