Utility Dive reports on a the release of a new report, co-commissioned by United, that calls for grid interconnection reforms to advance cost certainty and transparency, speed and schedule certainty, and remove barriers to market access. The article quotes United's Caitlin Marquis, who emphasizes the importance of reshaping the interconnection process as electricity demand increases.

Dive Brief:

• The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s generator interconnection reform rules issued in July 2023 are “helpful” but more changes are needed to help bring online generation and energy storage resources, according to a report released Tuesday by renewable energy trade groups.

• The report calls for grid interconnection reforms to advance cost certainty and transparency, speed and schedule certainty, and remove barriers to market access. For example, there should be a fast-track process for using existing and already-planned interconnection capacity, according to the report written by the Brattle Group and Grid Strategies.

• The report was issued ahead of a two-day workshop FERC is holding to explore potential interconnection reforms. The workshop starts on Sept. 10.

Dive Insight:

Last year, about 2,600 GW of generator and energy storage resources were seeking to connect to the grid, up 30% from 2022, according to an April report from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. 

The interconnection backlog has become a major bottleneck for project development with proposed projects bogged down in lengthy and uncertain interconnection study processes, Berkeley lab researchers said, noting that most interconnection requests are ultimately canceled and withdrawn.

U.S. grid operators such as the PJM Interconnection and the California Independent System Operator have been making changes to their processes for reviewing interconnection requests and FERC last year issued its Order 2023 in efforts to clear out interconnection queue backlogs.

However, additional reforms are needed, according to the report, which was funded by the Advanced Energy and Solar and Storage Industries institutes, with support from the Clean Energy Buyers Association. 

The report calls for four major interconnection process reforms:

• Adopting an interconnection “entry fee” for proactively planned capacity to provide interconnection customers significant interconnection cost certainty and address cost allocation of the upgrades identified through proactive planning processes;
• Putting in place a fast-track process that would give construction-ready projects access to existing and planned interconnection capacity;
• Optimizing the interconnection study process, in part by making it more efficient; and
• Speeding up the process of building network upgrades needed to bring new resources online after the interconnection study process is completed.

“The process for connecting new energy projects to the power grid is outdated, unpredictable, and slow, which leads to higher costs and a less reliable grid,” Caitlin Marquis, Advanced Energy United managing director, said in a press release. “At a moment when demand for electricity is on the rise, consumers can’t afford the status quo.”