Washington, DC—Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced today
award selections for $60 million in funding from the American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act to support transmission planning for
the country's three interconnection transmission networks.
The 6 awards will promote collaborative long-term analysis and
planning for the Eastern, Western and Texas electricity
interconnections, which will help states, utilities, grid
operators, and others prepare for future growth in energy demand,
renewable energy sources, and Smart Grid technologies. This
represents the first-ever effort to take a collaborative,
comprehensive look across each of the three transmission
interconnections.
Secretary Chu also announced that he has joined with Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Chairman Jon Wellinghoff to
sign a
Memorandum of Understanding between the agencies to coordinate
efforts related to interconnection-level electric transmission
planning. DOE will lead electricity-related research and
development activities, including research and demonstrations for
hardware and software technologies that help operate the country's
transmission networks. FERC will continue to oversee
electricity reliability standards nationally and will enforce
regulations to ensure that all transmission planning happens in an
open, transparent and non-discriminatory manner.
"As we move the country toward a clean energy future, it is
critical that we analyze the capacity of the country's transmission
infrastructure and plan for future growth in this important
industry," said Secretary Chu. "The initiatives announced today
will support collaborative planning efforts among a broad range of
industry, government and third party organizations. This will
ensure that we are effectively planning, building and strengthening
the transmission networks the U.S. needs to operate a reliable,
efficient and secure electricity system."
"This agreement will allow FERC and DOE to take the regional
planning groundwork that transmission operators have laid to the
important next step of developing interconnection-wide plans," FERC
Chairman Jon Wellinghoff said. "These plans have the potential to
improve the efficient operation of the transmission system and to
reliably integrate new resources such as renewable energy and smart
grid technologies. We at FERC look forward to working with DOE, our
state colleagues and all stakeholders in this important
effort."
The transmission infrastructure in the continental United States
is separated into three distinct electrical networks, or
"interconnections"– the Eastern, Western, and Texas
interconnections (for a map of the interconnections, visit
HERE). Portions of the Eastern and Western
interconnections also extend into Canada and Mexico. Within each
interconnection, the addition of new electricity supply sources and
the development of transmission needed to deliver electricity to
consumers requires careful coordination to maintain the grid's
reliability while limiting costs and environmental impacts.
The transmission planning supported through today's awards will
develop an open, transparent, and collaborative process that will
involve participants from industry, federal, state and local
government agencies, universities, and non-governmental
organizations. This will include discussions among states
within an interconnection on how best to meet the region's
electricity supply needs, along with collaboration among industry
and government agencies from Canada and Mexico.
As a result of these planning efforts, each of the awardees will
produce long-term resource and transmission planning studies in
2011, with updated documents in 2013. The knowledge and
perspective gained from this work will inform policy and regulatory
decisions in the years to come and provide critical information to
electricity industry planners, states and others to develop a
modernized, low-carbon electricity system.
The awards announced today are divided into two topic areas
– funding for transmission planners and funding for state
agencies. Awards under the first topic area will fund
transmission planners' work with stakeholder organizations within
an interconnection to project options for alternative electricity
supplies and the associated transmission requirements. The second
group of awards will go to state agencies or groups of agencies to
develop coordinated interconnection priorities and planning
processes.
The following organizations have been selected for awards:
Eastern Interconnection
- Eastern Interconnection Planning Collaborative - $16
million
- Eastern Interconnection States' Planning Council - $14
million
Western Interconnection
- Western Electricity Coordinating Council - $14.5
million
- Western Governors' Association - $12 million
Texas Interconnection
- Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) - $2.5
million
- Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) for work with
Texas government agencies - $1 million
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