FERC Order 1000 and the case for alternative solutions.
Elizabeth Watson is an energy and environmental fellow and Kenneth Colburn is a senior associate at the Regulatory Assistance Project.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) Order 1000 makes great strides towards ensuring just and reasonable transmission rates and a level competitive playing field. It does this, in part, by requiring the consideration of non-transmission alternatives (“NTAs” or “non-transmission solutions”) during regional transmission planning. Unfortunately, however, the order fails to address certain significant barriers to the implementation of NTAs, making it unlikely that regional plans will ever approve their implementation—or that genuinely competitive solutions will prevail anytime soon.