Energy Wire reports on Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)'s approval of a major rule in July 2023 aimed at improving the interconnection process. In the article, Caitlin Marquis is quoted, expressing overall support for the ruling and FERC's efforts to incorporate feedback from the developer community.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved a major new rule Thursday to accelerate the connection of energy projects to the power grid, a move that could ease widespread delays stifling renewable energy.

The final rule aims to make the grid connection process more efficient at a time of unprecedented growth in clean energy development nationwide.

Calling the decision “historic,” FERC acting Chair Willie Phillips said changes in the rule will make the electric system more reliable by helping new energy projects come online faster. All four FERC commissioners voted for the plan.

There are over 2,000 gigawatts of proposed U.S. solar, wind and battery storage projects seeking to come online through what’s known as the interconnection process, according to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. That’s greater than the electric capacity of all of the power plants already on the nation’s grid today.

The sheer volume of proposed projects has overwhelmed the longstanding grid connection process. It took an average of five years for new electricity projects that were built last year to be studied and approved for connection, compared to less than two years in 2008, Berkeley Lab has estimated.

Although it’s common for some energy projects to be canceled before they’re approved to connect, clean energy developers say the grid connection process has become a major impediment to meeting states’ renewable energy policies and realizing the goals of last year’s Inflation Reduction Act.

Under the new FERC rule, grid operators and electric utilities will need to change how they study energy projects and will now be subject to firm deadlines and penalties if they fail to process connection requests on time. Proposed electricity projects will be studied in groups, rather than individually, and projects that are further along in the development process will be prioritized.

The rule also requires project developers to submit financial deposits and obtain certain land or building rights in order to be studied and approved to come online.

However, the final rule will not require developers to have a contract with an electric utility or other power company to be considered for connection to the grid. That potential requirement was included in the commission’s proposed rule from last year and was met with widespread criticism from renewable energy advocates, who said it would stifle development.

“Obviously we will need to dig into the rule in more detail, because this in particular is one where the details really do matter, but I’m encouraged that it seems that significant progress has been made since the proposed rule,” Caitlin Marquis, managing director at the clean energy trade group Advanced Energy United, said in an interview. “It does look like the commission heard the feedback from the developer community.”