[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 97 (Thursday, May 19, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Page 31622]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-11810]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
[OE Docket No. PP-420]
Application for Presidential Permit; Nogales Interconnection
Project
AGENCY: Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, DOE.
ACTION: Notice of application.
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SUMMARY: Nogales Transmission, L.L.C., (Nogales Transmission) has
applied for a Presidential permit to construct, operate, maintain, and
connect an electric transmission line across the United States border
with Mexico.
DATES: Comments or motions to intervene must be submitted on or before
June 20, 2016.
ADDRESSES: Comments or motions to intervene should be addressed as
follows: Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability (OE-20),
U.S. Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue SW., Washington, DC
20585.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Christopher Lawrence (Program Office)
at 202-586-5260 or via electronic mail at
[email protected], Rishi Garg (Program Attorney) at 202-
586-0258.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The construction, operation, maintenance,
and connection of facilities at the international border of the United
States for the transmission of electric energy between the United
States and a foreign country is prohibited in the absence of a
Presidential permit issued pursuant to Executive Order (EO) 10485, as
amended by EO 12038.
On April 8, 2016, Nogales Transmission filed an application with
the Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability of the
Department of Energy (DOE) for a Presidential permit. Nogales
Transmission has it principal place of business in Dallas, Texas.
Nogales Transmission is owned by Hunt Power, L.P., a Delaware limited
partnership (Hunt Power), which in turn is a subsidiary of Hunt
Consolidated, Inc.
Nogales Transmission proposes to construct and operate the Nogales
Interconnection Project (the Project), an approximately five mile long
overhead transmission system originating at the Valencia Substation in
Nogales, Arizona, connecting to the proposed Gateway Substation three
miles to the West and then crossing the U.S. border two miles to the
south of the Gateway Substation. The proposed project facilities would
be capable of transmitting up to 300 megawatts (MW) of power.
The U.S. portion of the proposed project would cross the U.S.-
Mexico border west of the Mariposa Point of Entry. From the Valencia
Substation to the Gateway Substation, a three mile, 138 kV line would
be constructed. A 300 MW bi-directional Back-to-Back HVDC Converter
will be located at the Gateway substation, connecting the WECC system
to the Mexico system. The Back-to-Back HVDC Converter will have two
phases with each phase capable of 150 MW of bi-directional flow between
the WECC and Mexico systems. From the Gateway Substation to the border,
a 230 kV line would run approximately two miles to the Mexico border.
The Project will be operated in accordance with the established
engineering and technical criteria of the Western Electric Coordinating
Council. System impact studies are being conducted to analyze the
effect of importing and exporting the entire 300 MWs across the Back-
to-Back HVDC system.
Since the restructuring of the electric industry began, resulting
in the introduction of different types of competitive entities into the
marketplace, DOE has consistently expressed its policy that cross-
border trade in electric energy should be subject to the same
principles of comparable open access and non-discrimination that apply
to transmission in interstate commerce. DOE has stated that policy in
export authorizations granted to entities requesting authority to
export over international transmission facilities. Specifically, DOE
expects transmitting utilities owning border facilities to provide
access across the border in accordance with the principles of
comparable open access and non-discrimination contained in the Federal
Power Act and articulated in Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
(FERC) Order No. 888 (Promoting Wholesale Competition Through Open
Access Non-Discriminatory Transmission Services by Public Utilities;
FERC Stats. & Regs. ]31,036 (1996)), as amended.
Procedural Matters: Any person may comment on this application by
filing such comment at the address provided above. Any person seeking
to become a party to this proceeding must file a motion to intervene at
the address provided above in accordance with Rule 214 of FERC's Rules
of Practice and Procedure (18 CFR 385.214). Two copies of each comment
or motion to intervene should be filed with DOE on or before the date
listed above.
Additional copies of such motions to intervene also should be filed
directly with: Enrique Marroquin, Nogales Transmission, LLC, 1900 North
Akard Street, Dallas, TX 75201.
Before a Presidential permit may be issued or amended, DOE must
determine that the proposed action is in the public interest. In making
that determination, DOE considers the environmental impacts of the
proposed project pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of
1969, determines the project's impact on electric reliability by
ascertaining whether the proposed project would adversely affect the
operation of the U.S. electric power supply system under normal and
contingency conditions, and any other factors that DOE may also
consider relevant to the public interest. Also, DOE must obtain the
concurrences of the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense
before taking final action on a Presidential permit application.
Copies of this application will be made available, upon request,
for public inspection and copying at the address provided above, by
accessing the program Web site at http://energy.gov/oe/services/electricity-policy-coordination-and-implementation/international-electricity-regulatio-2.
Issued in Washington, DC, on May 13, 2016.
Christopher A. Lawrence,
Electricity Policy Analyst, National Electricity Delivery Division,
Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability.
[FR Doc. 2016-11810 Filed 5-18-16; 8:45 am]
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