Governors' Wind Energy Coalition

 Shell and BP weighed in on FERC’s efforts to improve U.S. electric transmission policy, joining hundreds of commentators who filed with the commission on Tuesday. The oil giants called on FERC to ensure transmission policy doesn’t hinder the development of their offshore wind plans in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic as they continue to diversify their power portfolios. Shell is planning to develop approximately 3,500 MW of offshore wind generation over the next decade, while BP has contracts to develop up to 4.4 GW of offshore wind.

DOE, TOO: The Energy Department also submitted comment, pushing for FERC to redo its transmission policy to speed along the transition to renewables. The department assessed FERC’s current policy as out of step with creating high-voltage, interregional transmission — which DOE views as crucial for ensuring reliability and deployment of new renewables.

“Strengthening our transmission networks is necessary not only for rapidly and cost-effectively decarbonizing the power sector to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, but also for improving the reliability and resilience of our Nation’s power grid to increasingly frequent events that can cause large-area, long-duration outages,” DOE wrote.