The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) today denied SunZia Transmission LLC's (SunZia) requests regarding negotiated rate authority and the allocation of firm transmission rights to some owners of the proposed jointly owned SunZia Southwest Transmission Project.
But FERC explained that SunZia could restructure its proposal to conform to Commission precedent and policy regarding open access to transmission and negotiated rates for firm transmission.
FERC encourages the development of needed transmission capacity, and finds SunZia's proposal to be innovative. Concerns about open transmission access and fair rates for transmission customers
led the Commission to turn down the SunZia petition as proposed. FERC determined that the project must allow for open access to transmission service without withholding transmission capacity from the market in a manner that is unduly discriminatory or preferential and at rates that are just and reasonable.
The project is proposed as two 460-mile transmission lines between New Mexico and Arizona with interconnections to existing transmission lines along the Project's path. SunZia states that the project could offer upwards of 4,500 megawatts of transmission capacity. SunZia is owned by Tucson Electric Power Company, SouthWestern Power Group, ECP SunZia, LLC, and Shell WindEnergy Inc., which jointly own the project with the Salt River Project Agricultural Improvement and Power District and Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, Inc.
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