Plugging into the grid – the challenge of renewable project connectivity

The passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in late summer of 2022 has dramatically accelerated the development of distributed and clean energy projects which have the potential to create significant new loads on the grid to support advanced electrification projects like electric vehicle (EV) charging. Local utilities and regional power authorities (ERCOT, PJM, ISO-NE, NYISO, CAISO, others) need to review many of these projects to make sure the infrastructure can support their deployment, but are limited by budgets, staff and supply chains as to how quickly they can move. This “interconnection” queue can stretch for years, create significant obstacles to project development and financing, delay access to tax credits and create unplanned capital costs that challenge project economics, and the queue is getting longer as legislative mandates and technology drive an increased number of smaller projects “at the edge” of the grid.

Today, every company is an energy company. Any company can be an energy developer, addressing issues including power market participation, unpredictable power costs, poly-fuel transportation transition strategies, decarbonization and improving reliability and resilience. Every company is an energy consumer and is responsible for the impact of its energy choices and its environmental impact. Developing your strategy requires looking at each of these issues, creating a plan to meet those needs and understanding how to work with your state/local/regional power authorities to match your project to their market rules, interconnection procedures and economics.

The more closely your projects align to power authorities’ needs and requirements, and the more focused and intentional your proposal, the greater likelihood of approval. For example, in the last 12 months, PJM (the ISO for states from Virginia to Chicago) has changed its interconnection and project priorities rules three times as it manages a multi-year project evaluation backlog complicated by federal rules designed to facilitate Distributed Energy Resource (DERs) integration. This resulted in a massive expansion of project review requests and a two-year moratorium by PJM on accepting new projects. Most recently, PJM has proposed and received approval for a new “first-ready, first-served” project evaluation model that includes “clustering” of project approvals and more stringent site control requirements (and incremental developer fees costs) designed to reduce speculative project submission by developers and allow the ISO to focus on high probability projects.

PJM’s experience is being repeated around the country as state and federal incentives drive a transition to distributed renewable and storage projects. However, the rules of engagement are constantly changing as federal, regional, and state regulators shape their priorities. Government policies at all levels are reshaping project priorities, resulting in several major policy actions within the past few years: