SPP provides preliminary cost data within 60 days of the request and a final in-depth cost analysis within about a year, Kelley said. SPP typically conducts studies for groups of 30 to 50 projects, sometimes as many as 200, as this approach is “much more efficient,” said SPP engineering VP David Kelley. PJM plans to implement a similar process next year. The Southwest Power Pool (SPP) network has shown that this approach provides developers with preliminary data and in-depth analysis faster than on a case-by-case basis and some costs can be shared between projects. FERC issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in June 2022 and, following consultation, is expected to issue final rules in a few months. (FERC).ĪI and other technological advances could dramatically reduce processing times in the coming years, but regulatory hurdles remain, industry sources said.įERC could help increase data transparency in new rules that would require operators to evaluate projects in groups and process them on a first-come, first-served basis. To ease the burden, Southwest Power Pool (SPP) is leading efforts to reduce approval times by evaluating projects in groups, and other grid operators could implement this soon under new rules proposed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
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PJM halted new revisions until 2026 to deal with its huge backlog, and many developers have moved to other markets.ĭevelopers need data on available network capacity, wait times, and network upgrade costs to green light projects and request connection, but access to data is limited and slow. Grid connection costs and project retirements are highest on congested networks, such as the sprawling PJM network, where the costs of active projects in the queue have increased eightfold since 2019, Berkeley Lab said in a study. The number of applications increased by 40% in 2022 to more than 700 GW as demand for solar and storage projects skyrocketed, Berkeley Lab said in a new report. May 3 – Access to transmission data is becoming crucial for wind and solar power developers as they face the challenges of rising grid connection costs and growing approval queues.Ĭonnection costs in the US are rising as more new projects require network expansions and this will continue for years to come as developers take advantage of tax credits in the Reduced Inflation Act of 2022 from the Biden administration leader Joachim Seel, program leader for network connection costs at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), said.Īt the same time, connection queues are growing and delaying or derailing projects as network operators struggle to process a growing volume of requests. US grid operators are simplifying grid approvals to cope with a deluge of renewable energy applications and advanced data technology will reduce approval times for years to come, industry experts told Reuters events.
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