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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 15 / Tuesday, January 26, 2021 / Notices
www.ferc.gov using the eLibrary link as described above. The eLibrary link also provides access to the texts of all formal documents issued by the Commission, such as orders, notices, and rulemakings.
In addition, the Commission offers a free service called eSubscription which allows you to keep track of all formal issuances and submittals in specific dockets. This can reduce the amount of time you spend researching proceedings by automatically providing you with notification of these filings, document summaries, and direct links to the documents. For more information and to register, go to www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/
esubscription.asp.
Dated: January 12, 2021.
Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary.
FR Doc. 202101556 Filed 12521; 8:45 am BILLING CODE 671701P

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Docket No. RM2111000

Accounting and Reporting Treatment of Certain Renewable Energy Assets Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, DOE.
ACTION: Notice of inquiry.
AGENCY:

In this Notice of Inquiry, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Commission seeks comments on the accounting and reporting treatment of certain renewable energy generating assets and renewable energy credits. In addition, the Commission seeks comments on the ratemaking implications of these accounting and reporting changes.
DATES: Initial Comments are due March 29, 2021, and Reply Comments are due April 26, 2021.
ADDRESSES: Comments, identified by docket number, may be filed in the following ways:
Electronic Filing through http
www.ferc.gov. Documents created electronically using word processing software should be filed in native applications or print-to-PDF format and not in a scanned format.
Mail/Hand Delivery: Those unable to file electronically may mail or handdeliver comments to: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Secretary of the Commission, 888 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20426.
Instructions: For detailed instructions on submitting comments, SUMMARY:

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see the Comment Procedures Section of this document.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Daniel Birkam Technical Information, Office of Enforcement, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20426, 202 5028035, Daniel.Birkam@
ferc.gov Sarah Greenberg Legal Information, Office of the General Counsel, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888
First Street NE, Washington, DC
20426, 202 5026230, Sarah.Greenberg@ferc.gov SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
1. In this Notice of Inquiry NOI, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Commission seeks comments on the appropriate accounting treatment for certain renewable energy assets. First, the Commission seeks comments on whether to create new accounts within the Uniform System of Accounts USofA for non-hydro renewable energy generating assets,1 and, if so, how such accounts should be organized.
Second, the Commission seeks comments on how to modify FERC
Form No. 1 to reflect any new accounts.
Third, the Commission seeks comments on whether to codify the proper accounting treatment of the purchase, generation, and use of renewable energy credits RECs. Finally, the Commission seeks comments on the rate setting implications of these potential accounting and reporting changes.
I. Background 2. The USofA contains discrete accounts for steam production, nuclear production, hydraulic production, and other production.2 However, the USofA
does not contain any accounts designed specifically for solar, wind, or other non-hydro renewable generating assets.
Therefore, electric utilities currently record non-hydro renewable assets in the Other Production accounts of the USofA. Commenters have indicated that companies exercise reasonable 1 Non-hydro renewable assets, as referred to in this notice, are production assets other than hydroelectric generators such as solar, wind energy, geothermal, biomass, etc., that rely on the heat or motion of the earth or suns radiation to produce energy. Specifically, these are denoted as renewable because the power production is based on a fuel source that is not consumed or destroyed by the generation process, such as buried hydrocarbons coal, oil, natural gas, or the decay of rare irradiated heavy metals nuclear. Biomass trees, nut shells, grain husks and stalks, etc. is considered renewable, despite its hydrocarbon source being consumed, due to its carbon release being offset by regrowth of carbon capturing equivalent biomass.
2 18 CFR part 101; Accounting and Financial Reporting for Public Utilities Including RTOs, Order No. 668, 113 FERC 61,276 at 59 2005.

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judgment when determining in which Other Production account to book these assets.3
3. Recently, parties have expressed disagreement regarding which Other Production accounts should be used to book non-hydro renewable assets. In Docket No. AC20103, the Commission received a request for confirmation that the costs of certain wind and solar generating equipment are properly booked to the Other Production Accounts 343 Prime Movers, 344
Generators, and 345 Accessory Electric Equipment. In that proceeding, commenters argued that the proposal booked an inappropriate amount of costs to Account 345, which are included in reactive power rates pursuant to the AEP Methodology.4
Commenters, including the Edison Electric Institute, suggested that the Commission consider creating new accounts for wind, solar, and other nonhydro renewables to resolve this issue.5
Concurrently with the issuance of this Notice of Inquiry, the Commission is issuing an order in Docket No. AC20
103, denying the request and explaining that this Notice of Inquiry will begin a proceeding in which the Commission will evaluate the need for further guidance regarding the proper accounting treatment of non-hydro renewable generating assets.
4. In addition, the existing USofA
accounts do not explicitly address the accounting treatment of the purchase, generation, or use of RECs. However, the Commission has stated that RECs are analogous to the sulfur dioxide emission allowances created by Title IV of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, which the Commission addressed in Order No. 552.6 Order No. 552 classified emission allowances as inventoriable items and established new inventory and expense accounts to record the allowances.7 In keeping with Order No.
552, the Commission has found that 3 Comments of the Edison Electric Institute, Docket No. AC20103000, at 3 filed May 28, 2020.
4 Comments of Ameren Services Company, Docket No. AC20103000, at 89 filed May 28, 2020.
5 Id. at 67; Comments of Edison Electric Institute at 4.
6 Ameren Illinois Co., 170 FERC 61,267, at P 52
2020 citing Revisions to Uniform Systems of Accounts to Account for Allowances under the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 and RegulatoryCreated Assets and Liabilities and to Form Nos. 1, 1F, 2 and 2A, Order No. 552, FERC Stats. and Regs. 30,967 1993 cross-referenced at 62 FERC
61,299.
7 Revisions to Uniform Systems of Accounts to Account for Allowances under the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 and Regulatory-Created Assets and Liabilities and to Form Nos. 1, 1F, 2
and 2A, Order No. 552, FERC Stats. and Regs.
30,967 cross-referenced at 62 FERC 61,299.

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