Information network supports open access [power transmission communication]

On March 29, 1995, the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR) aimed at promoting wholesale competition through nondiscriminatory open transmission access. Industry working groups were formed to define the content of the transmission services information to be communicated over an electronic network and to define the requirements of the network itself. FERC issued final rules on April 24, 1996. At this writing, the transmission services information network (TSIN) is just completing design, and initial implementation should be in place by November 1, 1996. There will be about 2035 nodes representing all public transmission systems in the United States. The network will use the Internet as a base, allowing access by all authorized users anywhere in the world. The tools used will be based on the standard Internet tools such as World-Wide Web browsers. This provides a low-cost, high-function, consistent interconnected network to provide information to all transmission customers. The network will have good performance and be secure. It will allow transmission customers to have information on available transmission capacity, costs and tariffs for transmission capacity and costs of ancillary services. This article outlines the content of the industry reports and the FERC rulings.