The North American Electric Reliability Council has filed comments in response to the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability notice of inquiry relating to plans for an electricity transmission congestion study and possible designation of National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors (NIETCs). NERC expressed particular interested in the identification and designation of NIETCs that jeopardize national security or create a risk of widespread grid reliability problems.

NERC’s comments focused on ensuring that the North American bulk electric system has the ability to reliably meet firm customer demand requirements and can be operated without risk of uncontrolled cascading outages. NERC supports the concept, as described in the Energy Policy Act of 2005, of identifying as national interest electric transmission corridors “any geographic area experiencing electric energy transmission capacity constraints or congestion that adversely affect consumers,” as opposed to specific routes for transmission facilities.

NERC provided support for the congestion study by helping to arrange for transmission transfer capability studies conducted by regional and interregional study groups to be provided to DOE. NERC stated that the expertise of the industry and the studies that have already been completed should be utilized to the maximum extent possible for identifying transmission system congestion. NERC will participate in the March 29, 2006 technical conference on this subject.

NERC’s comments can be viewed at ftp://www.nerc.com/pub/sys/all_updl/docs/pubs/Final_NERC_Comments_on_DOE_NOI_on_NIETCs_030606.pdf.