Cooperatives Caution FERC on 'Special Treatment' for Wind Power

Cooperatives Caution FERC on 'Special Treatment' for Wind Power

NGI's Power Market Today - 10/19/04

FERC should deny "special treatment" sought by the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) in a recent filing related to interconnecting wind power to the transmission grid, a move that appears to be "based solely on the economic interests of the wind industry rather than the technical characteristics of wind generation," the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) said this week [PL04-15, et al.].

At issue is a May 2004 petition for rulemaking filed by AWEA related to the adoption of certain requirements for the interconnection of large wind generators. FERC in late September held a technical conference examining issues raised by AWEA's petition (see Power Market Today, Sept. 27).

NRECA this week said it supports AWEA's proposed low-voltage ride through standard in lieu of requiring power system stabilizers, which are inapplicable to non-synchronous generators. NRECA said the proposed voltage requirements included in the May filing appear reasonable. The association also generally supports AWEA's proposed supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) provisions.

But NRECA said language offered by AWEA to provide flexibility in a proposed "Appendix G" attached to the wind power association's petition is "far too broad."

Rather than authorize a transmission provider to adopt relaxed requirements where appropriate, "the proposed language voids the low-voltage ride through standard and SCADA requirement in a broad range of circumstances," NRECA complained.

"The language could prohibit the transmission provider from requiring adherence to the standards where the capability would contribute to the transmission provider's ability to meet applicable reliability requirements but was not 'necessary' because other generators could make up the difference (at the expense of those other generators), or because the transmission provider could make up the difference itself by installing additional equipment on its side of the interconnection (at its own consumers' expense)."

The language could also block a transmission provider from requiring adherence to the standards because the capability was not required on the date of a study to meet applicable reliability requirements, even though the capability could reasonably be expected to be needed at a later date in light of normal changes in system conditions, according to NRECA. "At that time, the transmission provider's own consumers or other generators would be required to pick up the slack, and the cost caused by the wind installation's lack of capability."

Meanwhile, the association said it also supports AWEA's proposals that wind generators be permitted to meet reactive power standards at the point of interconnection, rather than at each wind turbine and that interconnection customers would not be allowed to disable power factor equipment after the wind plant is in operation.

Reactive power is a component of electric power that contributes to maintaining voltage levels on the transmission system, and is a necessary feature enabling the network to transmit power to customers.

"Unfortunately, AWEA's proposed Appendix G puts so many caveats on the industry's willingness to live up to its technical potential that it seriously undermines itself," NRECA told FERC. "For what appear to be purely commercial reasons, AWEA has sought to build enormous flexibility into Appendix G where it can benefit the generator, while denying transmission providers any flexibility in meeting reliability requirements that could impose additional costs on the generator: that is, all the upside potential of flexibility [for generators] with no downside risk."

NRECA said FERC should delete from Appendix G "any language that permits wind resources to escape the voltage regulation requirements to which all other generators are subject on a nondiscriminatory basis."

Overall, NRECA acknowledged that there continue to be some technical differences between wind generators and other generation technologies that justify certain accommodations.

But AWEA is asking the Commission "to grant wind generators additional preferential treatment unwarranted by the technical limitations of wind generation that would inure in the short term to the benefit of the wind industry, at potential cost to reliability, consumers, wholesale markets, and the long-term interests of the wind industry itself," NRECA said.

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