Testifying before the House Subcommittee on Energy and Environment today, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association CEO Glenn English urged the committee to develop a “national transmission policy which addresses and provides solutions to four key issues: planning; siting; cost allocation and recovery; and integration of renewable resources.”

Electric cooperatives serve territories rich in renewable energy resources. From 2006 through 2008, cooperatives nationwide increased their renewable energy capacity over 120 percent. To maximize resources still untapped will require a robust transmission system.

English expressed the cooperatives’ support for the planning system endorsed in HR 2454, “American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009” (ACES): As it stands, ACES adopts an effective bottom-up transmission planning process that appropriately builds up from existing local and regional transmission planning efforts and that is focused on meeting consumer needs reliably and affordably, as well as meeting national environmental priorities.”

English urged the Committee “to develop cost allocation policies that are fair and take into consideration the benefits received from any new transmission facilities.”

NRECA proposes that the Committee add a new section on cost allocation that provides for broad sharing of the cost of new extra high voltage interstate transmission facilities that arise from the transmission planning process defined in the legislation, as well as the cost of any lower voltage facility upgrades required for the reliable interconnection and operation of interstate extra high voltage (EHV) facilities. Broad cost allocation should be conditioned on: the facilities arising from the planning process; a right for any entity to own a share of the facilities; limits on rate “incentives” available to those who build the facilities; and, consideration for those consumers in regions that may not obtain any benefit from the investments.

English cautioned against the concept of “renewable-only” transmission lines. “No element of the integrated transmission system is physically able to distinguish which form of generation produced the current. The only way to assure the delivery of purely ‘green’ electrons would be to construct an isolated line directly from a renewable generation source to its customer,” English said.