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BPA Files for Rehearing on FERC's Environmental-Redispatch Order by Staff North America Windpower, January 10, 2012

The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) has filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) a request for clarification and rehearing of FERC's order regarding BPA's interim environmental-redispatch policy.

Last month, FERC ruled that BPA's actions to curtail 350 MW of wind generation last spring unduly discriminated against wind energy and gave preferential treatment to hydropower.

FERC said BPA's environmental redispatch policy diminished open access to transmission, and resulted in BPA's "providing transmission service to others on terms and conditions that are not comparable to those it provides itself."

"While BPA is meeting a regulatory deadline to respond to ongoing litigation, we continue to believe that a solution developed in the Northwest by regional parties is the best path forward," says BPA administrator Steve Wright. "We support the continuation and acceleration of ongoing informal settlement discussions with affected parties."

BPA says that developing a regional solution is especially important before the spring snowmelt season and expiration of the interim policy on environmental redispatch, which will occur on March 30. With or without a settlement, BPA notes, the organization must adopt a new policy.

According to BPA, a regional settlement would provide a "far better foundation for continued integration of renewable resources than continued litigation." Absent a settlement, the organization contends, any new policy seems likely to lead to even more litigation that may stretch on for many years.

Related Pages:
BPA Practices: Federal Action Enforces Fairness in Electricity System by Reiten Shimsack Furman Piro, The Oregonian, 1/9/12