Within the pursuit of a extra sustainable future, these of us concerned in renewable vitality have grow to be pioneers of the inexperienced revolution. We construct renewable vitality tasks, accomplice with environmentally progressive corporations, and help renewable offtake in communities throughout america. Nonetheless, regardless of these efforts, our near-term progress is threatened by the interconnection bottleneck.
The difficulty of interconnection—the method of connecting all tasks to the grid—is the one greatest impediment holding again the U.S. vitality transition. Oversubscribed transmission strains, excessive transmissions system improve prices, and cumbersome interconnection processes have all impeded the expansion of renewable vitality over the past decade. This should change.
Collectively, we are able to usher in a brand new period and assist craft options to scale back the interconnection bottleneck and enhance our growing old transmission infrastructure.
On the federal stage, the Inflation Discount Act (IRA) and a large number of state insurance policies attempt to place the U.S. on the forefront of fresh vitality innovation. In response to American Clear Energy’s (ACP) 2022 Market Report, with the injection of federal funding and tax incentives (i.e., the 10-year Funding Tax Credit score or ITC), renewable growth is prone to greater than triple over the subsequent decade.
The huge funding in renewable vitality has led to unprecedented development in renewable growth. This has additionally spiked demand for interconnection with greater than 400 GW of capability getting into the queues of simply 4 markets – PJM, MISO, ERCOT, and SPP. This flurry of purposes is exacerbating the present interconnection bottleneck and worsening points with transmission infrastructure.
Whereas federal incentives and industrial demand converse to the promise and significance of accelerating renewable vitality capability, the capability of current strains falls in need of assembly demand, and best places for renewable technology typically lack correct transmission infrastructure. We want unbiased system operators (ISOs, who handle the grid) to be proactive and work with the vitality sector and the federal authorities to select up the tempo to improve our growing old infrastructure.
U.S. grid operators have all taken totally different approaches to managing interconnection. It’s a fragile activity of balancing velocity, threat, and price: whereas ERCOT makes use of a “join and handle” method, different grid operators take an “make investments and join” method. Nonetheless, the failure to marry these approaches has meant no operator has landed on the optimum method for managing interconnection—or the risk-prone request course of for interconnection research.
Many ISOs use the cluster-study method. Throughout a time interval generally known as an “open window,” all turbines—together with a number of renewable vitality turbines—put in a request for an interconnection examine as a cluster, including their request to an intensive queue. All tasks inside a cluster have equal standing and ISOs have devoted phases throughout which they perform a collection of interconnection research and system affect research. These research assist them decide the ultimate set of programs upgrades and prices for all tasks throughout the cluster which are essential to reliably interconnect to the grid.
However ISOs are lagging in analyzing these clusters. The method can take anyplace between three to 5 years (Southwest Energy Pool is presently evaluating tasks that entered their interconnection queue in 2018) and through this time most tasks could also be withdrawn, normally resulting from price implications. For context, solely 21% of tasks that have been within the queue between 2000-2017 reached industrial operations by 2022.[1]
The method is painful for everybody. Prolonged wait instances in interconnection queues result in later-stage withdrawals which are expensive and will set off a restudy for the cluster. The large burden on utility corporations and ISOs has additionally led to ideas that your entire interconnection course of be paused in some jurisdictions like PJM. In consequence, solely a fraction of the proposed capability will come on-line. Though renewable trade stays hopeful after PJM’s new interconnection reform has now formally kicked off based mostly on “First Prepared – First Served” precept, it’s going to take a number of years earlier than they will clear all of the backlog.
These of us within the renewable vitality area have at all times been pioneering collaborators and innovators. We’ve got a chance—even a accountability—to leverage our partnerships and modern considering to sort out this problem. By embracing our function as builders and innovators we are able to supply interconnection options, contributing to the general enchancment of the transmission grid.
Renewable builders can collaborate to advance new options and develop new coverage concepts. Sol Methods has partnered with stakeholders like Working for Superior Transmission Applied sciences (WATT) to reimagine the near-term answer to permit for the longer-term transmission system interconnection overhaul.
As an alternative of counting on the development of latest transmission infrastructure to be constructed (which takes a number of years), we are able to develop and leverage know-how and innovation to optimize the present system as an interim answer. It’s important that we embrace the advantages of technological development in vitality storage as we craft future interconnection and system upgrades coverage. Storage can function an vitality generator—one that may be each a shock absorber and an vitality producer. It will assist bridge the hole when constructing new transmission strains could also be unrealistic within the near-term.
Lastly, federal help can alleviate funding debates between states and allow the supply of renewable vitality to under-served communities and communities disproportionally impacted by local weather change.
In conclusion, the difficulty of interconnection has posed vital challenges to the expansion of renewable vitality, hindering progress and thwarting vital transmission system upgrades. To interrupt the cycle, we’d like extra proactive and collaborative motion from ISOs and non-ISO utilities to have the ability to make the required grid upgrades and to create modern options that won’t solely allow the speedy enlargement of renewable vitality throughout the U.S. however will deliver American clear vitality to the communities that want it probably the most.
[1] Lawrence Berkeley Nationwide Laboratory: https://emp.lbl.gov/websites/default/information/queued_up_2022_04-06-2023.pdf
