In its submission to the OEB consultation on transmission development earlier this year APPrO agreed with Board staff that the transmitter designation process already approved for enabler facilities can be readily extended to network expansions identified by the Ontario Power Authority in its Economic Connection Test (ECT). APPrO also agreed that enabler facilities and network expansions should be considered as part of a transmitter’s project development plans.
APPrO collaborated with the Ontario Waterpower Association and the Canadian Wind Energy association to produce a single submission for the Board. Recommendations focused on minimizing the cost of transmission development for all participants, and on improving the certainty of transmission development. APPrO put forward proposals designed to meet three primary objectives:
1. Maximizing certainty of transmission development and associated timelines;
2. Ensuring that developments are sized adequately to meet the full range of potential customers who can reasonably be expected to benefit from them;
3. Cost minimization through the use of both prudency reviews and reasonable forms of competition.
For more information, see page 12, this issue. See also the OEB website under Transmission Project Development Planning (EB-2010-0059) and APPrO’s submission, available from APPrO. See also the related story, “OEB launches transmission planning process for renewables,” in IPPSO FACTO, June 2010, and APPrO’s submission on the OEB website.