Qualifying Facilities and Independent Power Producers

BGM advises clients on the panoply of issues arising from the connection of independent electricity generation to the utility grid. One of our partners was a FERC Deputy Assistant General Counsel when that agency was first applying its cogeneration and small power production rules under the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA). We have followed subsequent changes in law including the amendment of PURPA provisions and the dilution of requirements for mandated purchases of power by electric utilities from PURPA qualifying facilities following the advent of open access transmission service. We have provided regulatory support for project financings of qualifying facilities and we have worked on related contracts for sales and purchases of electricity and thermal output.

We also have represented clients opposed to the purchase of electricity from qualifying facilities in certain circumstances, such as where the claimed "useful thermal output" from a cogeneration facility was of questionable merit. We crafted a comprehensive one-of-a-kind qualifying facility curtailment plan that enabled one of our utility clients to curtail mandated power purchases from any of its interconnected qualifying facilities in identified circumstances, such as minimum system load conditions. Having developed that unique curtailment plan, we were active in helping to achieve state regulatory commission approval of the plan.