FERC-912, (Final Rule & Rehearing in RM19-15 & AD16-16) PURPA Section 210(m) Notification Requirements Applicable to Cogeneration and Small Power Production Facilities
ICR 202006-1902-003
OMB: 1902-0237
Federal Form Document
⚠️ Notice: This information collection may be outdated. More recent filings for OMB 1902-0237 can be found here:
FERC-912, (Final Rule &
Rehearing in RM19-15 & AD16-16) PURPA Section 210(m)
Notification Requirements Applicable to Cogeneration and Small
Power Production Facilities
In accordance
with 5 CFR 1320, the information collection is approved. Because
the agency sought comments only on the changes associated with the
order, the existing expiration date remains the same for this
collection.
Inventory as of this Action
Requested
Previously Approved
09/30/2022
09/30/2022
09/30/2022
39
0
9
460
0
100
0
0
0
NOTE: When the Notice of Proposed
Rulemaking (NOPR) and corresponding information collection request
were submitted to OMB for Docket Nos. RM19-15 and AD16-16
(RIN1902-AF67), OMB review was pending for the regular renewal of
the existing FERC Form No. 556. In addition, changes were not
foreseen to the FERC-912 at the NOPR stage, so no ICR was submitted
for FERC-912. Because only one item per OMB Control No. can be
pending OMB review at a time and FERC-556 renewal was pending, we
had to use a temporary (placeholder) information collection number
(FERC-556A, OMB Control No. 1902-0316; ICR 201904-1902-001) in
order to submit the NOPR to OMB on a timely basis. Due to ROCIS
requirements (and to avoid an incorrect requirement for metadata
showing an emergency request), the information for the NOPR and
Final Rule are entered into the ROCIS metadata fields (for both
FERC-556 and FERC-912) for the 60- and 30-day notices here. It also
is required to indicate it's not related to a rulemaking but is in
fact a Final Rule. RM19-15 & AD16-16. FERC issues its final
rule approving certain revisions to its regulations (PURPA
Regulations) implementing sections 201 and 210 of the Public
Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA). On September 19,
2019, the Commission issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR)
proposing to modify its PURPA Regulations. Those regulations were
promulgated in 1980 and have been modified in only specific
respects since then. Approximately 130 separate comments were
submitted in response to the NOPR, several of which were submitted
on behalf of multiple parties. In total, over 1,600 pages of
comments were submitted, and in addition thousands of pages of
exhibits were attached to the comments. In this Order, FERC is
updating its PURPA regulations. FERC also made changes and
clarifications in the rehearing Order 872-A, that are addressed
here and in the updated supporting statement. FERC-912 in general.
The use of FERC-912 is necessary to provide the Commission with the
information needed to determine whether an order is appropriate to
either terminate or reinstate the purchasing or selling of energy
under PURPA section 210(m). The Commission's implementing
regulations, found in 18 CFR Part 292, provide the following
procedures: §292.310 an electric utility's application for the
termination of its obligation to purchase energy from a QF,
§292.311 an affected entity or person's application to the
Commission for an order reinstating the electric utility's
obligation to purchase energy from a QF, §292.312 an electric
utility's application for the termination of its obligation to sell
energy and capacity to QFs, and §292.313 an affected entity or
person's application to the Commission for an order reinstating the
electric utility's obligation to sell energy and capacity to QFs.
Note that the reinstatement of an electric utility's obligation to
sell or purchase electric power to/from a QF depends on a
Commission determination that the qualifications that relieved the
utility from the obligation of purchase or sale are no longer met.
The Commission uses the information collected by FERC-912 to
determine if an order is appropriate and required under PURPA
section 210(m). Without this collection of information, the
Commission would not be able to carry out its obligations under
PURPA section 210(m).
Given the FERC’s expressed
intent in the NOPR to propose revisions to PURPA Regulations that
more closely adhere to the goals and terms of PURPA, we considered
comments regarding whether these proposals are consistent with the
requirements of PURPA. Based on that review and further
consideration, we adopt the following changes to the proposals in
the NOPR, among certain others described below: • we establish a
rebuttable presumption, rather than a per se rule, that locational
marginal prices (LMPs) may reflect a purchasing electric utility’s
avoided energy costs; • we provide that any competitive
solicitations used to establish avoided capacity costs must adhere
to the Commission’s Allegheny standard for evaluating competitive
solicitations; • we clarify that the FERC’s existing PURPA Regs.
already require that states, to the extent practicable, must
account for reduced loads in setting QF capacity rates; • we
clarify terminology we used in the NOPR relating to the
determination of whether small power production facilities are
separate facilities to focus not on whether they are separate
facilities, but rather to mirror the statutory language and thus
focus on whether they are at “the same site”; • we clarify in the
regs.that protests may be made to initial self-certifications and
applications for FERC certification, but only to
self-recertifications and applications for Commission
recertification making substantive changes to the existing
certification; • we identify additional factors that can be
considered for small power production QFs located more than one but
less than 10 miles apart, such as evidence of shared control
systems, common permitting and land leasing, and shared step-up
transformers; • we revise the regulations to lower the rebuttable
presumption of small power production QFs’ nondiscriminatory access
to 5 MW, rather than 1 MW as proposed in the NOPR, and include
factors that a small power production QF sized greater than 5 MW
could rely on to rebut the presumption that it has
nondiscriminatory access to markets defined in PURPA sections
210(m)(1); and • we revise the proposed requirements to establish a
legally enforceable obligation (LEO) to provide that with regard to
the issue of obtaining permits, QFs need only have applied for all
required permits, instead of being required to have already
obtained those permits. FERC also made changes and clarifications
in Order 872-A.
$523,462
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
Nishi Parekh 202
502-8325
No
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that
the collection of information encompassed by this request complies
with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR
1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding
the proposed collection of information, that the certification
covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a
benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control
number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of
these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked
and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.
rm19-15-001_20201119-3099_FERC Affirms Clarifies PURPA Final Rule.pdf
clean_FERC-556 FERC-912_RehearingRM19-16 12-1 2020 redline supp state.docx
PURPA Section 210(m) Notification Requirements Applicable to Cogeneration and Small Power Production Facilities