PROVIDENCE – National Grid Rhode Island has filed a petition with the R.I. Public Utilities Commission to redact from public disclosure several responses related to its purchase price agreement with Orsted U.S. Offshore Wind for the Revolution Wind farm project, seeking to protect pricing information, energy price forecasts and details of contract bids related to wind farm projects in the region.
A spokesman for the PUC told PBN Tuesday that the filing is not unique and has precedent, with companies often filing petitions to redact proprietary information and data in a commission review process.
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National Grid said that such disclosures could limit its ability to negotiate on behalf of ratepayers, undermine the bidding process with other energy generators in the future, and reveal proprietary information and research that would degrade the company’s competitive advantage in the market.
The company also argued that the disclosure of its extreme winter pricing projections and bids in response to an RFP related to the project, including the information within a bid, would likely cause the company “substantial harm.”
Additionally, National Grid requested the redaction of the annual kilowatt hours projected for the Massachusetts wind farm project, Vineyard Wind, arguing that such a disclosure would reveal the project’s capacity factor, or the average power generated, divided by the rated peak power. The company said that that information, if revealed publicly, would put the wind project itself at a disadvantage to purchase wind turbines, causing harm to Eversource.
Specifically, the company has requested to redact four attachments to the PUC from public disclosure as well as a specific response to data request from the commission.
“The redaction request is fairly common when it comes to any of our power purchase agreements, no matter the type of generation facility,” a National Grid spokesman told PBN Tuesday. “We’re simply protecting the public disclosure of certain highly sensitive and proprietary analysis provided by us and our consultants. Recognizing the need to protect the interests of ratepayers, we fully support the Division, Commission, and Office of Energy Resources having full access to the unredacted materials.”
Chris Bergenheim is the PBN web editor. Email him at Bergenheim@PBN.com.
