U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich, Ranking Member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, questioned Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairwoman Laura Swett and Commissioners Lindsay See, Judy Chang, David LaCerte, and David Rosner about congressional support for advanced transmission technologies and improvements to generator interconnection processes during an oversight hearing in Washington on July 23.
Heinrich began by asking how Congress could incentivize the adoption of advanced transmission technologies (ATTs) to make better use of existing grid infrastructure without requiring major upgrades. Commissioner Lindsay See said, “Happy to, Senator Heinrich. I think when we look at our reliability and affordability challenges, it’s certainly necessary that we need to build new infrastructure, and that’s expensive, so nobody’s denying that. But there’s also a really important moment for us to make the most out of the existing infrastructure, and that’s when ATTs, GETs, these technologies can be incredibly helpful. They’re not always the best solution, but they are, and they can give significant speed and cost savings to customers. I was really grateful that my colleagues and I were able to come together and include more language about that in the 206 orders we talked about to make sure that utilities take a hard look at these options when they’re considering transmission upgrades. In terms of what more can be done, you know, FERC has limited authorities in this area, so we can encourage, we can incentivize. But if Congress… gives FERC more clarity and authorities… I would love to see us… run in this direction because I think it can be so helpful for both reliability and affordability.”
Chairwoman Swett said FERC is examining grid-enhancing technologies from all angles but is limited by current law: “The biggest barrier…the Federal Power Act prohibits FERC explicitly from mandating building of any particular transmission facility…and it is my personal opinion as a lawyer that GETs fall under that category. So until Congress changes that prohibition, FERC’s not really able to instruct anything more aggressively.” She added that analysis requirements have been included in recent orders.
Commissioner Judy Chang said she supports pilot projects using advanced technology: “I too support the use of advanced transmission technology—more than support. I think it’s time that we take pilot projects …and really implement the most advanced technologies to save consumers’ money….if Congress wants to work on this, we would be very happy to implement any particular changes under the current authority…”
Turning attention toward generator interconnection reform through automation or artificial intelligence tools—citing over 8,200 proposed power plants seeking grid connection—Heinrich asked Commissioner Rosner what steps beyond Order 2023 should be taken for improvement. Rosner responded, “Thank you for the question, Senator Heinrich, and yes, I think it’s obvious …there’s a huge opportunity …to be smarter about how we run our interconnection processes….In MISO, their old way with pen and paper …took them 686 days …Using automation, the new way—less than 10 days….From my perspective, this is all about let’s give applicants,…let’s give them the answer on whether it makes sense …to connect…or not….None of these interconnection queue reforms work if there isn’t a grid to plug the power plant into…”
A video recording of Heinrich’s questioning was made available following the hearing.