On February 10, 2025, Pluvia LLC (“Pluvia”) filed a petition for a declaratory order, asking FERC to clarify its jurisdiction to issue a preliminary permit for the construction, operation, and maintenance of transmission lines and other facilities to develop wholesale interstate transmission of electricity between Puerto Rico and the mainland United States. In its petition, Pluvia proposes to purchase electricity from the interstate transmission system on the U.S. mainland, store energy in Storage As Transmission-Only Assets (“SATOA”) or other storage devices, and ship the stored energy as sea cargo to Puerto Rico. Pluvia explains that, if approved by FERC, its proposal would establish an alternative to undersea cables as a basis for FERC’s Federal Power Act (“FPA”) jurisdiction in Puerto Rico.
Under the FPA, FERC would have broad regulatory authority over jurisdictional facilities and/or activities within Puerto Rico if Puerto Rico’s transmission system connects to the United States mainland grid via undersea cables. However, FERC also has the authority to decline to exercise that jurisdiction, as it has done with respect to projects that have connected the Electric Reliability Council of Texas to the rest of the United States grid. In its petition, Pluvia argues that its proposal would be part of a broader plan to engage in the commercial interstate transmission of electricity from the United States mainland to Puerto Rico’s electricity markets and vice versa. Pluvia explains that the need for its proposal is based on the fact that Puerto Rico is an isolated island, the government holds a monopoly over the energy market, and increased natural disasters, like hurricanes, threaten reliability and electricity costs. Pluvia argues that the government-owned utility, Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, “does not appear able or willing to fund the major investments and make the structural changes necessary to raise adequately Puerto Rico’s economic competitiveness, meet consumer expectations for system cost and stability, or achieve the system resilience called for by the Commonwealth’s exposure to major hurricane risks and proximity to active plate tectonic faults.”
Addressing the legal basis for FERC to assert FPA jurisdiction over facilities and activities in Puerto Rico, Pluvia asserts that two prior FERC orders serve as relevant precedent. First, Pluvia cites In re Alternative Transmission, Inc.,182 FERC ¶ 61,163 (2023), where FERC determined that, in the event of transmission between the mainland United States and Puerto Rico by means of undersea cables, FERC would have jurisdiction over Puerto Rico’s electric transmission system pursuant to sections 210, 211, 211A, 212, and 214 of the FPA (See the April 11, 2023 issue of the WER for a broader discussion on In re Alternative Transmission, Inc.). Next, Pluvia cites In re ISO New England Inc., 185 FERC ¶ 61,044 (2023), where FERC confirmed that storage constitutes transmission under the FPA. Based on these two orders, Pluvia argues that FERC should clarify whether FERC’s jurisdiction under the FPA extends to SATOA and other storage devices as well.
At the time of this writing, FERC has not yet issued an order on Pluvia’s petition.
A copy of Pluvia’s petition, filed in Docket No. EL25-57, can be found here.