The ruling was in response to a petition by several US Northwest wind turbine operators, including Iberdrola Renewables and NextEra Energy Resources.
They faced mandatory curtailment last spring when high winds coincided with high springtime river flows, driving generation on the BPA system to exceed electricity demand. The curtailment was part of a policy called Environmental Redispatch.
The BPA, a federal agency that operates most of the Northwest transmission grid and markets power from dams on the Columbia River, says its preference is to reach a settlement with regional energy players to address the issue.
