Advanced Energy Perspectives

On Monday, Advanced Energy United sent a letter to state energy offices in the West offering our perspective on a study commissioned by the Western Markets Exploratory Group (WMEG) that compares the benefits of several proposed Western day-ahead market scenarios. The study has been filed in multiple dockets in states across the West, but it offers an incomplete view of the benefits that can accrue to the West in a day-ahead market.

Across the country, over 2,000 gigawatts of resources representing 10,000 projects are waiting for the green light to connect to the grid so they can commence construction and start operating—mostly clean resources like wind, solar, battery storage, and hybrid renewable-plus- storage projects. These projects are stuck in interconnection queues, undergoing an evaluation of reliability impacts and transmission system upgrades that must be made before they can start to deliver electricity to the grid.

This is a brief summary of the ins and outs of Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Order 2023, issued on July 27, 2023. For more, we encourage you to download our recently released FERC Order 2023 Toolkit or view our webinar recording, “FERC Interconnection Ruling: The First Domino in Transmission Reform,” which discussed how FERC Order 2023 will affect interconnection queues across the country, including the impact on energy customers, developers, and other stakeholders.

Across the country, more than 2 GW of projects—mostly solar, wind, storage, and hybrid projects—sit in interconnection queues waiting to connect to the transmission grid. The process governing these queues is overseen by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), and on July 27, 2023, the Commission took an important step toward un-jamming clogged queues when it unanimously voted to finalize Order No. 2023, a landmark rule directing interconnection reforms. While much work lies ahead to successfully implement the reforms approved by FERC, and to pursue further reform needs not addressed by Order No. 2023, the rule is likely to result in important incremental improvements to the badly broken interconnection process. 

There is much discussion in the press about the high cost of rebuilding our transmission infrastructure to facilitate our clean energy future. There is much less discussion about the costs we are already paying associated with not moving quickly to rebuild our aging grid. Transmission is critical infrastructure, powering our 21st digital economy and keeping us all safe and protecting us when weather is extreme. Much of the U.S. transmission grid is long past its expected useful life.  

Advanced Energy United was part of a coalition of clean energy business associations, environmental non-profits, and other petitioners last year in challenging a decision by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) over its split-decision approval of the Southeast Energy Exchange Market (SEEM). Last week, we received the welcome news that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled in our favor and remanded the case back to FERC for further review. At United, we see this decision as a win for competition, for open markets, and for an efficient grid.