In the long-awaited Broadview Order, FERC reinforced PURPA’s statutory limit for small power production qualifying facilities (SPP QFs) to a “power production capacity” of not more than 80 MW. SPP QFs can not evade this statutory limit by restraining the ability of much large facilities to actually “send out” more than 80 MW through the use of limited inverters. The Commission attempted to dodge the question that the industry was actually awaiting, regarding how storage charged from an SPP QF should be counted with regard to the 80 MW limit, stating that it “did not need to address whether the associated battery storage system is a separate facility or whether and how the battery storage system should be considered in determining the facility’s power production capacity.” Instead, the ruling was based on the 160 MW of solar capacity at the site. But, the ruling provided no indication that if the facility had consisted of 80 MW of solar and 80 MW of battery storage that the outcome would not have been identical.
The order is prospective and does not affect SPP QFs that have self-certified or have been granted Commission certification prior to September 1, 2020. Until December 31, 2020, the effective date of Order No. 872, any challenge to a Form 556 filing for an over 80 MW SPP QF would have to be through a Petition for Declaratory Order, rather than a protest.
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