NESCOE requests first ISO-NE LTTP RFP

In a move that could unlock significant new energy supplies for New England, a committee representing the six states has asked the region's electric grid operator to use a new process to solicit transmission capable of accommodating large amounts of new generation plants interconnected to the Maine grid.

The New England States Committee on Electricity (NESCOE) is a not-for-profit entity recognized by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) as a regional state committee. NESCOE represents the collective perspective of the six New England states in regional electricity matters. The organization typically focuses on two areas: resource adequacy and system planning and expansion.

For several years, NESCOE has been engaged with regional grid operator ISO New England to reform the region's longer-term transmission planning (LTTP) process. In an initial phase, in 2022 FERC approved a new process through which NESCOE may ask ISO-NE to perform system planning analyses that may extend beyond its usual 10-year planning horizon and that identify, at a high-level, transmission infrastructure necessary to meet a New England state’s energy policy, mandate, or legal requirement.

Meanwhile ISO and stakeholders continued to develop a second phase of reforms, which FERC accepted in July 2024. The second phase's reforms included a new "scenario-based" LTTP process. The second phase of LTTP reforms also creates a process to advance identified transmission upgrades into developable projects. It also includes a cost-allocation mechanism for those transmission improvements

On December 13, 2024, NESCOE submitted a request to ISO-NE, asking the grid operator to issue its first regional solution under this new LTTP process. NESCOE identified the following minimum scope for the first LTTP RFP:

 (1) a requirement to increase the Maine-New Hampshire interface capacity to at least 3,000 MW by 2035 and increase the Surowiec-South interface capacity to at least 3,200 MW by 2035; and

(2) a requirement to develop new infrastructure (e.g., substation) at Pittsfield, Maine that can accommodate the interconnection of at least 1,200 MW (nameplate) of onshore wind. Pittsfield should be used as the presumed location based on previous analysis, however, bidders may propose alternate locations which, based on their own expertise, bidders conclude would be more efficient and cost-effective.

(3) The required in-service date for both scope components is by 2035 unless a bidder can demonstrate supply chain issues that warrant a later in-service date. A strong preference should be given to bids with an in-service date by 2035, or as close as possible thereto recognizing supply chain constraint information bidders provide.

According to NESCOE, this scope includes "two equally important requirements that, when taken together, should result in improvements to the transmission system that will benefit consumers."