The members of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on June 5 granted Blue Sky West LLC authority to make wholesale sales of electric energy, capacity, and ancillary services at market-based rates, effective June 1, 2015, as requested.
They also granted Blue Sky West’s request for waiver of the Commission’s requirements to file an Open Access Transmission Tariff (OATT), to establish and maintain an Open Access Same-Time Information System (OASIS), and to comply with the commission’s Standards of Conduct. They granted Blue Sky West’s request for other waivers commonly granted to market-based rate sellers, except as noted. Additionally, the commissioners found that Blue Sky West meets the criteria for Category 2 seller status in the Northeast region and Category 1 seller status in all other regions and is so designated.
On April 7, Blue Sky West applied for these authorizations. Blue Sky West is constructing and will own and operate a 186-MW wind facility in Maine, in the ISO New England region. Blue Sky West said it has entered into long-term power purchase agreements to sell the entire output of the facility to unaffiliated third parties. The facility will include 34.5-kV connector lines and an approximately 17-mile, 115-kV generator lead line that it will use to connect its generation facilities to the ISO-NE-controlled transmission grid.
Blue Sky West is a wholly owned, indirect subsidiary of SunEdison Inc., which is a publicly-traded company that develops wind and solar energy projects and sells photovoltaic energy solutions.
