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Energy Talk: EEI President and CEO Dan Brouillette Weighs in on FERC Order 1920
Energy Talk: EEI President and CEO Dan Brouillette Weighs in on FERC Order 1920
By EEI President and CEO Dan Brouillette
Electricity demand in our country is growing significantly, and new energy infrastructure is needed to meet this demand and to power our nation’s increasingly data-dependent and electrified economy. Each year, Edison Electric Institute’s member companies invest more than $150 billion to make the energy grid smarter, stronger, cleaner, and more secure. We are committed to providing the reliable, affordable, and resilient clean energy that our customers want and expect.
Now more than ever, federal and state lawmakers and regulators, large customers, electric and technology companies, and other stakeholders must come together to address key policy issues to facilitate and ensure that transmission and other critical energy infrastructure is sited, permitted, and built so that reliable and affordable electricity can be delivered where it is needed, when it is needed.
We commend the work of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) last week to address some of the issues that have been impeding transmission development. There are many aspects to transmission planning, and we appreciate that FERC’s new rule reflects what we know about the changing generation mix and changing demand.
The rule is lengthy, and the Commission has made an array of decisions. Allowing for scenario planning over a longer time horizon is a positive step that aligns well with the fact that transmission assets are in service for decades. While we would have liked to see FERC adopt a right of first refusal for jointly owned transmission facilities, we are encouraged that the Commission created those rights for other projects and that they will continue to consider the joint ownership proposal going forward.
We know there is still more work to be done. EEI’s member companies are committed to delivering the future of energy and to working collaboratively with FERC, Congress, state legislators and regulators, and other important stakeholders to make that happen.