PJM Interconnection, the nation’s largest electrical power grid operator, is struggling to connect new electricity projects to its system, threatening power reliability and clean-energy goals, according to a study.
Interconnection issues have long been recognized as a recurring problem by PJM, New Jersey officials and energy experts, but a scorecard released Monday by Advanced Energy United, a national business association, found its problems ranked the worst among the seven regional power grids studied.
The scorecard, developed by Grid Strategies and the Brattle Group, showed that interconnections are not going smoothly in any of the regions, with some areas having serious deficiencies. PJM scored a D-minus, the lowest ranking of any region.
The analysis comes as PJM, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and to a lesser extent, the state Board of Public Utilities are exploring options to transform the interconnection process. PJM and the federal commission are looking at resolving problems with interconnections with larger projects while the state is revamping projects to connect to the distribution system.
Jeff Shields of PJM disputed the scorecard’s conclusions. In a statement, the group said the report is an assessment of conditions and practices that no longer exist.
In New Jersey, interconnection delays also impact the distribution system overseen by the BPU. In South Jersey, the distribution system is so tapped to capacity that there are problems connecting solar systems to one-family homes in Atlantic City Electric’s territory.
Throughout the country, there are 2 million megawatts of generation and energy storage projects seeking to connect to the U.S. grid, according to the analysis, the first of its kind in attempting to evaluate interconnections.
For PJM, the interconnection problem came about as the grid operator was slow to anticipate and respond to the growing volume of projects entering its queue, according to Jon Gordon, director of Advanced Energy United. “They got overwhelmed,’’ Gordon said
“There are few bright spots for generator interconnection in PJM,’’ the analysis said. “PJM has not planned its system to create headroom for new resources, other than its recent process for NJ offshore wind.’’ In that case, PJM and the BPU jointly worked on developing a single interconnection point on land for the initial offshore wind projects in Monmouth County.
In its report, the overall low grades given to PJM reflect a dire need for reforms, including increased staffing capacity.
There are over 260,000 megawatts of renewable energy and storage stuck waiting in line to connect to PJM because of the process flaws, added Kristina Persaud, New Jersey State Lead at Advanced Energy United.
“PJM is moving too slowly to adapt to changing market conditions, allowing the process of connecting new electricity to the transmission grid to become dysfunctional,’’ Persaud said.
The backlog in connecting projects is so deep that PJM has refused to accept any new applications until 2025, Gordon said. “If you are a developer, you are going elsewhere where there’s not a three-year wait,’’ he added.,
“It is promising that PJM is working on developing new approaches because the old way of getting electricity sources connected to the transmission system isn’t working,’’ he said.
PJM disputed the assessments made in the scorecard. In 2023, it implemented new rules that are enabling the process of new service requests more efficiently, according to PJM’s statement. About 72,000 megawatts of projects are expected to be processed by mid-2025, and 230,000 megawatts over the next three years.