News Release: July 5, 2012 Docket No. AD12-12-000 |
FERC Schedules Conferences on Gas-Electric Coordination
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) today announced the dates and locations for five regional technical conferences on better coordination between natural gas and electricity markets. The conferences will explore gas-electric interdependence as well as ways to improve coordination and communication between the two industries.
Public comments filed with the Commission earlier this year identified a wide range of issues related to gas-electric interdependence. Many commenters suggested those issues differ on a regional basis.
Discussion at each conference will focus on: (1) communications, coordination and information sharing; (2) scheduling; (3) market structures and rules; and (4) reliability concerns. The conferences will be open to the public, and Commission members will attend.
The Commission has created a conference-specific Twitter feed, #FERC-GEC, to provide information about the conferences and allow the public, industry, and state officials to follow and discuss the issues. In addition, a new section on gas-electric coordination has been added to FERC’s website.
The schedule for the conferences is:
| Central | August 6, 2012 | St. Louis, Mo. |
| Northeast | August 20, 2012 | Boston, Mass. |
| Southeast | August 23, 2012 | Washington, D.C. |
| West | August 28, 2012 | Portland, Ore. |
| Mid-Atlantic | August 30, 2012 | Washington, D.C. |
Although natural gas infrastructure may not neatly fit into those divisions, the Commission said they are reasonable for discussing gas-electric coordination.
The Central region includes the organized wholesale electric markets of Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator Inc., Southwest Power Pool Inc. (SPP) and Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT). The Northeast region includes the ISO New England Inc. market. Southern Company, Duke and Progress Energy, the Tennessee Valley Authority, and other areas south of PJM Interconnection LLC (PJM) and east of SPP and ERCOT make up the Southeast region.
The West region covers the Western Interconnection. Finally, the Mid-Atlantic region includes areas covered by New York Independent System Operator Inc. and PJM.
Specific venues, times and agendas for the regional technical conferences will be announced at a later time. The Southeast and Mid-Atlantic conferences will be held at FERC Headquarters, located at 888 First St., N.E.
R-12-24
