Transmission ‘Monitor’ Emerges As Flashpoint In FERC Grid Proposal

Regional electric grid operators are pushing back on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) draft rules to ease deployment of transmission lines needed to integrate high levels of renewables, while environmentalists, Biden administration officials and some states are cheering the plan. A key point of contention is FERC’s proposal for expanded federal oversight of transmission planning, in the form of an “independent transmission monitor” that would oversee planning and costs of transmission projects in a given region. Regional grid operators,...