Transmission

Press Release, “Keystone Transmission Dialogue Release Final Recommendations,”
June 15, 2005

“Regional Transmission Projects: Finding Solutions,” A Report by The Keystone Center, June 2005

Excerpt from the Executive Summary:
The Keystone Center convened and facilitated a year-long Dialogue on “ Regional Transmission Projects: Finding Solutions” to develop recommendations that will help address the difficult and contentious issues related to expansions of regional electric transmission systems that are needed for reliable and economic transmission of power within and across regions. This effort brought together a cross-section of affected stakeholders and thought leaders to address the problem with the collective wisdom of their experiences and interests. Transmission owners sat at the table with consumer advocates and environmental organizations. Representatives from regional transmission organizations exchanged ideas with state and federal regulators. Generation developers explored common interests with public power suppliers. Together, the Dialogue participants developed consensus solutions about how to begin unraveling some of the more intractable issues surrounding identification of need, allocation of costs, and reaching consensus on siting—issues that can frustrate the development of regional transmission infrastructure.

The purpose of the Dialogue was to advance the debate about regional transmission organizations (RTOs), a new concept in the electric power industry. RTOs are entities that manage or operate the transmission facilities of all or part of an electric supply system.

RTOs are a very timely and important topic. The electric utility industry is in the midst of an historic restructuring process, which is intended to create greater competition in the marketplace. Members of the U.S. Congress are currently debating RTO-related issues as part of larger legislative discussions regarding this restructuring. In addition, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) recently issued a rule ("Order 2000") that requires public utilities that own, operate, or control electric transmission to file a proposal by October 15, 2000 to participate in a RTO, or explain their reasons for not doing so. No FERC-approved RTOs exist at present, although a number of entities are currently being developed.

The Keystone Dialogue on Regional Transmission Organizations brought together a diverse and high-level group of people to address RTO-related issues. Dialogue participants included individuals from the electric utility industry (including some in the process of creating RTOs), other corporations, the financial community, federal and state regulatory agencies, and state consumer and environmental advocacy groups.

The Dialogue focused on two broad topics relating to RTOs: (1) possible models for how RTOs could be organized, structured, and operated and (2) possible models for how federal and state agencies' jurisdictional responsibilities could be reapportioned in light of the evolving electricity marketplace. This report describes and evaluates a variety of RTO and jurisdictional models, although it does not make recommendations regarding which should be implemented.

Dialogue Group participants hope that the report will help to inform the decisions of policy makers and others involved in the establishment, operation, and regulation of RTOs. In particular, participants hope that the document will be useful to federal, state, and local regulators, federal and state legislators, the electricity industry, large-scale consumers of electricity, environmental and consumer advocates, and the financial community.

To order a “Final Report for The Keystone Dialogue on Regional Transmission Projects,” contact 970-513-5835.

Final Report: Keystone II Project on Transmission Certification and Siting of Transmission Facilities,
March 1991 | Please contact 202-452-1590 to order report.

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