Wind Generators Deemed Transmission Owners And Operators For NERC's Reliability Standards

On June 16, 2011, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) upheld two North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) determinations that the owners of generator tie-line interconnection facilities could be required to register as a transmission owner and a transmission operators (TO/TOP).¹

In an order, FERC denied the appeals of Cedar Creek Wind Energy, LLC (Cedar Creek) and Milford Wind Corridor Phase I, LLC (Milford), which had argued that the NERC and the Western Electricity Coordination Council (WECC) misapplied NERC's registration criteria to their interconnection facilities. In affirming the NERC registrations, FERC found that, based on the specific facts, each of the Cedar Creek and Milford interconnection facilities had a material impact on the Bulk-Power System (BPS) because reliability of the BPS depended on the reliable operation and maintenance of their respective interconnection facilities. Consequently, FERC required the wind generators