82 FR 45013 - Application for Presidential Permit; Central Maine Power Company

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Register Volume 82, Issue 186 (September 27, 2017)

Central Maine Power Company (CMP) has applied for a Presidential permit to construct, operate, maintain, and connect an electric transmission line across the United States border with Canada.

[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 186 (Wednesday, September 27, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45013-45014]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2017-20681]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

[OE Docket No. PP-438]


Application for Presidential Permit; Central Maine Power Company

AGENCY: Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, DOE.

ACTION: Notice of application.

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SUMMARY: Central Maine Power Company (CMP) has applied for a 
Presidential permit to construct, operate, maintain, and connect an 
electric transmission line across the United States border with Canada.

DATES: Comments or motions to intervene must be submitted on or before 
October 27, 2017.

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 July 27, 2017, Central Maine Power Company (CMP or ``The 
Applicant'') filed an application with the Office of Electricity 
Delivery and Energy Reliability of the Department of Energy (DOE) for a 
Presidential permit for the New England Clean Energy Connect (NECEC) 
project. CMP has its principal place of business in Augusta, Maine. CMP 
Group, Inc. owns 100% of outstanding shares of CMP's common stock. CMP 
Group, Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Avangrid Networks, Inc., 
which in turn is a wholly-owned subsidiary of AVANGRID, a New York 
corporation listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: AGR). 
Iberdrola, a corporation (sociedad an[oacute]nima) organized under the 
laws of the Kingdom of Spain (BME: IBE), directly owns approximately 
81.5% of the outstanding shares of AVANGRID common stock, with the 
remaining shares publicly traded on the New York Stock exchange. 
Iberdrola's shares are listed in the Madrid, Bilbao, Barcelona, and 
Valencia (Spain) stock exchanges.
    CMP proposes to construct, operate, maintain, and connect the NECEC 
project, which would cross the U.S.-Canada (Qu[eacute]bec-Maine) 
international border in Beattie Township, Maine. From that point, the 
NECEC's transmission facilities would extend to the point of first 
interconnection with the ISO-New England operated power grid at CMP's 
Larrabee Road Substation in Lewiston, Maine. The proposed project 
includes (1) a 100-foot segment crossing the border; (2) approximately 
145.3 miles of +/-320 kilovolt (kV) overhead high-voltage direct 
current (HVDC) transmission line from the border crossing to (3) a new 
345 kV alternating current (AC) to +/-320 kV HVDC 1,200 megawatt (MW) 
converter station at the Merrill Road Substation in Lewiston, Maine 
(Merrill Road Converter Station), which would convert the electrical 
power from DC to AC; (4) a 1.2-mile, above-ground 345 kV AC 
transmission line from Merrill Road Converter Station to the existing 
Larrabee Road Substation (and associated rebuild of 0.8 mile of lower-
voltage 34.5 kV transmission line to make room in the corridor for the 
new 1.2-mile line); and (5) a 345 kV line terminal at the Larrabee Road 
Substation. The proposed project facilities would be capable of 
transmitting up to 1200 MW of power.
    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 electric energy 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: Randall S. Rich, Pierce Atwood LLP, 1875 K Street NW., 
Suite 700, Washington, DC 20006, [email protected], AND Bernardo 
Escudero Morandeira, Central Maine Power Company, 83 Edison Drive, 
Augusta, Maine 04336, [email protected], AND Jared S. des 
Rosiers, Pierce Atwood LLP, 254 Commercial Street, Portland, Maine 
04101, [email protected].
    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, as amended, 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.


[[Page 45014]]


    Issued in Washington, DC, on September 21, 2017.
Christopher A. Lawrence,
Electricity Policy Analyst, National Electricity Delivery Division, 
Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability.
[FR Doc. 2017-20681 Filed 9-26-17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P