Listen to the podcast episode here, in which ComEd and Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) provide details about their flexible interconnection pilots. Two hardware and software providers explain the investments customers must make to participate in the utilities’ pilot programs and distributed energy resource (DER) providers describe the programs’ benefits:
At the end of 2023, the number of grid connection requests, at 2,600 GW, were more than double the total installed capacity of the US power plant fleet, at 1,280 GW. The requests were led by solar, battery storage and wind energy projects, which accounted for 95% of all active capacity in the queues, according to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
Waiting time for these projects has soared by 70% over the last decade, and up to 80% of projects are withdrawn. Interconnection costs have jumped, with wind, solar and battery storage projects experiencing the highest costs.
Three solar companies in 2024 detailed just how much the delays were hurting them in a complaint against Public Service of New Hampshire over 28 distributed solar projects, totaling 160 MW, stuck in interconnection queue. Kearsarge Solar, ReWild Renewables and Lodestar Energy described what a canceled project meant to them: a lost revenue stream of $169,640/MW from net metering annually over 20 years along with potential earnings from renewable energy certificates and the residual value of projects at the end of their net metering term. They grapple with these costs after they’ve paid the utility $75,000 to $200,000 for system impact studies.
Now, a handful of utilities are launching pilot programs aimed at cutting wait time and the costs associated with interconnection delays.
For ComEd, community solar projects in rural areas especially face delays, said Jessie Bauer, ComEd’s manager of DER engineering and capacity planning. In addiition, Alex Collins, manager, DERMS execution and operations at PG&E, said that the utillity plans to add 100 MW through its flexible interconnection program.
But customers must make investments to participate in these programs. Two companies explain what’s needed in the podcast episode.
DER providers favor such programs, especially if they are part of a suite of efforts that aim to address interconnection delays, said Andrea Pratt, vice president of government and utility regulations for Greenlane Infrastructure, which focuses on transportation electrification.
“I just want to applaud all the utilities that are looking at this because this is exactly the type of innovative solution that we need in our toolbox in order to serve some of these sites,” she said in the podcast episode, which you can find on Apple Podcasts here.