Affordable Energy is Suffering Years-Long Delays
True or false: Energy projects can immediately start pumping clean power into the grid.
False! Before new energy projects can be built, they go through a process known as interconnection – the process of studying and building the physical connections that allow energy to flow between different parts of our electric grid. This process is necessary to allow reliable delivery of electricity to homes and businesses, but it’s broken and in dire need of reform. In fact, thousands of affordable, clean energy projects are stalled waiting to be connected to the grid.
In recent years, families have suffered from sky-high utility bills amid record inflation, with little relief in sight. The current interconnection backlog is blocking TENS of MILLIONS of homes from accessing more affordable energy. Our state officials must take immediate action to bring down utility bills and hit clean energy goals by accelerating the deployment of cleaner, more affordable energy. Take action by signing our letter telling state officials we cannot afford to wait on interconnection delays!
TAKE ACTION
Take action by signing our letter telling state officials we cannot afford to wait on interconnection delays!
What is interconnection?
We need to create clean energy and connect it to the grid so it can be delivered to our homes and businesses. However, clean energy projects are being stalled because of the inefficient and complex process of getting those projects connected to the grid. That process is called interconnection. All new resources must go through the interconnection process, which means that the pace of interconnection effectively sets the pace for the clean energy transition.
Why should I care about it?
Without an efficient interconnection process, our electric systems will be unable to efficiently bring online new reliable, affordable, and clean resources to replace expensive and inefficient fossil resources. This would result in higher costs for consumers, more power outages, and a less reliable energy system.
Currently, the interconnection process in many regions is broken and complex, leading to lengthy wait times which causes renewable energy developers to withdraw projects. The country is split into many interconnection regions. The electric grid across the mid-Atlantic and rust belt regions is run by an independent entity called PJM. In the PJM region alone, there are currently 2,700 projects stuck in the interconnection process. 95% of these projects are clean wind, solar, and storage projects that are essential to meet states’ clean energy laws.
The process is so broken that over the past five years, developers have withdrawn more than 1,000 clean energy projects from the PJM interconnection queue alone. That includes solar, wind, and battery storage projects that could have powered more than 18 million homes and created 400,000 jobs. And PJM is not unique; New England and other regions of the country face similar issues.
How do we fix problems surrounding interconnection?
In order to get more clean energy projects up and running and connect them to the electric grid, we need to improve the interconnection process. By creating a more efficient process, we can reduce the time and cost associated with bringing new projects online. Solutions include streamlining and standardizing interconnection studies, more efficient management of interconnection queues, improving coordination between regions, and shortening the timeline for interconnection approval. Additionally, there should be improved coordination between states and transmission operators. This coordination can help align clean energy policies with transmission planning and identify areas of clean energy potential to connect projects to the grid.