Pioneer Trail Wind Farm, LLC v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

WOOD, Chief Judge.

Before deciding to build a power plant, energy companies and the system operator of an electrical grid must calculate the anticipated cost of connecting the proposed plant to the grid. These determinations occur in a highly regulated environment. Not surprisingly, sometimes the calculations need to be corrected. This case deals with who should bear the costs of additional upgrades to the grid when the initial studies of the costs of connection contained an error. Two wind-farm companies argue that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or the Commission) issued…