E&E News outlined the renewable energy backlog in PJM, quoting Kat Burnham on the proposed reforms. Read snippets below and the full article here.
The largest U.S. grid operator advanced a plan last week to ease bottlenecks holding back thousands of solar and wind projects, but critics say it means future projects may face even longer delays.
The plan from PJM Interconnection LLC seeks to address a surge of requests from renewable energy developers waiting to connect their projects to the grid system.
Charged with managing the flow of power in 13 states and the District of Columbia, PJM says it has been unable to keep up with so-called interconnection requests in recent years. That has sometimes led to projects being delayed or canceled by developers...
As for PJM, the package of reforms approved last week represents a step in the right direction, said Kat Burnham, a principal at Advanced Energy Economy. The plan now moves to another committee within PJM, and the grid operator aims to file the proposal with FERC in May.
Still, PJM should have addressed the interconnection backlog before it got to where it is today, Burnham said.
“PJM’s current situation offers a cautionary tale to other [RTOs], utilities, and regulatory agencies to prepare early for the clean energy transition and the influx of new projects that will come with it,” she said in a statement. “To meet state and federal and customer clean energy and climate goals, the number of new carbon-free sources of generation entering the queue will only increase in the next decade and beyond.”