FERC details reliability, infrastructure questions for Western conference on EPA plan

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Jan. 26 released details about a conference it has scheduled for February in Denver, Colorado, that will examine the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed plan to reduce emissions from existing power plants.

The newly released agenda for the meeting details questions and topics related to reliability, infrastructure and markets that commission staff plans to focus on at the conference scheduled to take place on Feb. 25.

FERC on Dec. 9 said that it would hold a series of technical conferences “to discuss implications of compliance approaches” to the EPA’s proposed plan for curbing emissions from existing power plants.

“In particular, the technical conferences will focus on issues related to electric reliability, wholesale electric markets and operations, and energy infrastructure,” FERC said in the notice. The EPA plan is referred to as the Clean Power Plan.

FERC will hold a national overview technical conference on Feb. 19 at its headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Following that technical conference, the commission will hold three regional technical conferences, on dates to be announced, in three cities: Washington, D.C. (Eastern Region), St. Louis, Missouri (Central Region) and Denver, Colorado (Western Region).

FERC on Jan. 26 issued a supplemental notice that offers details on the conference scheduled to take place on Feb. 25 in Denver.

The portion of the conference that will take place in the morning will include a panel that will discuss electric reliability issues.

The agenda includes a number of topics and questions that FERC said panelists should be prepared to discuss in the area of electric reliability.