In 1996, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued Order 888, which required transmission-owning utilities under FERC jurisdiction to provide open access transmission service to eligible wholesale power customers. Among other things, the elements of electric service are unbundled, meaning that wind project developers must not only find a taker for the energy but also potentially make interconnection, ancillary service, and transmission arrangements for their wind projects. In 1999, the FERC issued Order 2000, which required transmission-owning utilities to file an intent with FERC on whether they have joined or plan to join a regional transmission organization (RTO). Order 2000 also required RTOs to meet certain criteria and be approved by FERC in order to begin operations as an RTO. More recently, FERC said it would issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in 2002 on certain requirements and services, often termed 'standard market design' (SMD), that must be included in all transmission tariffs filed at FERC. This paper discusses the chronology of open access transmission issues, from Order 888 onward, and reviews some of the important issues raised by FERC's SMD initiative.
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