Backlogged US clean energy interconnection queue 'slowing energy transition': ACP
Gridlock of projects awaiting connection presents major hurdle to Biden decarbonisation strategy as renewables capacity waiting for switch-on now nearly as large as country's total generating fleet, says industry body
The backlog of yet-to-be connected projects, highlighted ACP, has grown to become almost as large as the 1.26TW installed power plant operating in America today, of which solar and wind comprise 224GW.
US grid queues currently contain only 22.8GW of natural gas projects and no coal, a remarkable shift from last decade when fossil fuels were predominate and are indicative of power generation investment trends by electric utilities and independent power producers.
“Affordable, American clean energy is on the rise, reducing both electric bills and pollution. But outdated regulations and unduly cumbersome permitting processes are slowing down the clean energy transition. These challenges are undermining progress across all energy technologies and must be addressed to create an energy system that is modern, reliable, clean and secure,” said ACP CEO Jason Grumet.
The country’s seven key grids are operated by California ISO Caiso, Ercot in Texas, ISO New England, Miso, New York ISO, Southwest Power Pool, and – the nation's largest – PJM Interconnection, which operates transmission lines in territory including the wind-rich central US.
While large geographically, they do not serve all or parts of eight states in the US southeast or much of the western third of the country outside California. In most cases, vertically integrated utilities there that coordinate, control, and monitor their own grids are also moving away from fossil fuels, although some rely more on hydro and nuclear.
Presently, the average generator interconnection request takes “3.6 years to get capacity on to the grid”, according to Rich Powell, CEO of Clear Path, a non-profit advocacy group for innovative energy and industrial emissions reduction policies.
Historically, no more than 30% of queue projects have secured a connection for a variety of reasons including that some are speculative and are withdrawn, financing and off-take arrangements fall through, changing market conditions, and grid congestion.
Developers last year added nearly 333GW of battery storage, solar, wind, and hybrid capacity to the backlog with about half that total in Miso, which provides transmission service in all or parts of 15 midwestern and southern states, according to ACP.
At the end of 2022, Miso had the largest clean energy interconnection queue with 269GW of capacity, followed by Caiso (187GW), Ercot (166.7GW), PJM (157.5GW), New York ISO (106GW), SPP (85.1GW), and ISO New England (33.1GW).
Solar was the technology with most capacity in the queues with almost 360GW, followed by standalone battery storage (258.3GW); hybrids, mainly solar plus storage (219.7GW); and wind, both offshore and onshore (160.4GW).
These include a 50-52% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 2005 levels, 30GW of offshore wind in operation, and emissions-free vehicles comprising half of new auto and light truck sales. By 2035, he is targeting a carbon-free electric grid.
“Interconnection queues are a challenge for every organised market at this point,” Powell told a recent American Council on Renewable Energy webinar. “Have to be careful our solutions to that problem don’t become worse than the problem itself.”
To process interconnection requests more efficiently, FERC suggests enacting a first-ready, first-served model compared with the present first-come, first-served approach.
The intention is to reduce the number of speculative projects that withdraw from queues late in the interconnection process, which triggers new or re-studies of other projects that enter the process later and are responsible for some of the present backlogs.
Grid operators have told FERC that the current process encourages projects to enter the interconnection queue because it does not require any progress toward commercial viability or penalize withdrawals from the queue.
In response, FERC wants to impose more stringent financial commitments and readiness requirements on interconnection applicants, including increased study deposits, more stringent site control requirements, a commercial readiness framework, and higher withdrawal penalties.
FERC was careful to note that developers were not the only ones at fault. It noted lack of transparency for projects to obtain information about potential interconnection costs prior to submitting a request, which it called “problematic”.
“Without this information, it is difficult for interconnection customers to assess the viability of a specific proposed generating facility,” said FERC.
They then submit multiple speculative interconnection requests in an “attempt to obtain that information through the system impact study process about the costs associated with various project configurations”.
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