[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1222 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
114th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 1222
To amend the Federal Power Act to provide for reports relating to
electric capacity resources of transmission organizations and the
amendment of certain tariffs to address the procurement of electric
capacity resources, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
May 6, 2015
Ms. Murkowski introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Federal Power Act to provide for reports relating to
electric capacity resources of transmission organizations and the
amendment of certain tariffs to address the procurement of electric
capacity resources, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Continuity of Electric Capacity
Resources Act''.
SEC. 2. DIVERSITY OF SUPPLY AND CONTINUITY OF ELECTRIC CAPACITY
RESOURCES.
Title II of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 824 et seq.) is
amended by adding at the end the following:
``SEC. 224. DIVERSITY OF SUPPLY AND CONTINUITY OF ELECTRIC CAPACITY
RESOURCES.
``(a) Definitions.--In this subsection:
``(1) Bulk-power system; transmission organization.--The
terms `bulk-power system' and `transmission organization' have
the meaning given the terms in section 215.
``(2) Electric capacity resource.--The term `electric
capacity resource' means an electric generating resource, as
measured by the maximum load-carrying ability of the resource,
exclusive of station use and planned, unplanned, or other
outage or derating.
``(3) Regional reliability coordinator.--The term `regional
reliability coordinator' has the meaning given the term
`reliability coordinator' (as defined by the Electric
Reliability Organization).
``(b) Electric Capacity Resources Report.--
``(1) Notice.--Not later than 14 days after the date of
enactment of this section, the Commission shall submit to each
transmission organization with a tariff on file with the
Commission that includes provisions addressing the procurement
of electric capacity resources notice that the transmission
organization is required to file with the Commission a report
in accordance with paragraph (2).
``(2) Report.--Not later than 180 days after the date on
which a transmission organization receives a notice under
paragraph (1), the transmission organization shall submit to
the Commission a report that--
``(A)(i) identifies electric capacity resources
that are available to the transmission organization as
of the date of the report; and
``(ii) describes the fuel sources and operational
characteristics of each electric capacity resource
identified under clause (i);
``(B) evaluates, using generally accepted metrics,
the financial health, viability, and projected
remaining years of service of the available electric
capacity resources identified under subparagraph
(A)(i);
``(C) identifies--
``(i) over the short- and long-term periods
in the planning cycle of the transmission
organization, announced and projected
retirements of the available electric capacity
resources;
``(ii) the projected future needs of the
transmission organization for electric capacity
resources; and
``(iii) the availability of transmission
facilities and transmission support services
necessary to provide for the transmission
organization reasonable assurances of essential
reliability services, including adequate
voltage support;
``(D) assesses the current and projected status of
the reliability of the elements of the bulk-power
system under the control of the transmission
organization, over the short- and long-term periods in
the planning cycle of the transmission organization
(including the current and projected status of electric
capacity resources), as determined by the regional
reliability coordinator that has been designated by the
Electric Reliability Organization to have oversight
over the bulk-power system elements under the control
of the transmission organization; and
``(E) prior to the submission of the report, has
been made available to members of the transmission
organization and to the public for comment.
``(c) Tariff Amendments.--
``(1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date
on which the Commission receives a report submitted under
subsection (b), the transmission organization that submitted
the report shall file with the Commission--
``(A) 1 or more tariff amendments that would
achieve each of the objectives described in paragraph
(2) with respect to the transmission organization; and
``(B) supporting information that demonstrates the
manner in which the amendments would achieve each of
those objectives, taking into account the report
submitted under subsection (b)(2).
``(2) Objectives.--The objectives referred to in paragraph
(1) are the following:
``(A) A diverse generation portfolio and the
availability of transmission facilities and
transmission support services necessary to provide
reasonable assurances of a continuous supply of
electricity for customers of the transmission
organization at the proper voltage and frequency.
``(B) An enhanced opportunity for self-supply of
electric capacity resources by electric cooperatives,
Federal power marketing agencies, and State utilities
with a service obligation (as those terms are defined
in section 217(a)), with the term `self-supply' to be
defined in the supporting information filed under
paragraph (1).
``(C) A reasonable assurance of short- and long-
term reliability, with the terms `short-term
reliability' and `long-term reliability' to be defined
by the applicable regional reliability coordinator
referred to in subsection (b)(2)(D).
``(D) A reasonable likelihood of prudent investment
in, and adequate fuel supply for, existing and future
electric capacity resources over the short- and long-
term periods in the planning cycle identified in the
applicable report submitted under subsection (b)(2).''.
SEC. 3. ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT UNDER AN AUTHORIZATION DURING WAR OR
EMERGENCY.
Section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 824a(c)) is
amended--
(1) in the first sentence, by striking ``(c) During'' and
inserting the following:
``(c) Authorization During War or Emergency.--
``(1) In general.--During''; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
``(2) No liability.--Any person subject to an order issued
under this subsection shall not be liable for actions carried
out in compliance with the order.''.
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