A DOE Roadmap to Unlock Interconnection Queue Backlogs

 

U.S. Interconnection Queues Have Unprecedented Amounts of Renewable Energy and Storage

Grid interconnection, the process of connecting generators or energy storage to the electric grid, has emerged as a significant obstacle to the energy transition in the United States. From 2000 to 2010, the U.S. averaged between 500 to 1,000 new annual transmission interconnection requests, corresponding to around 150 to 200 GW of proposed generation each year. Over the last decade, however, new requests rose to 2,500 to 3,000 per year, representing anywhere from 400 to 750 GW of proposed annual capacity, a three- to five-fold expansion. To put that in perspective, the total installed capacity of resources in 2023 amounted to 1,279 GW, with cumulative pending requests of more than double that amount (see Figure 1).

Over these last two decades, the time it takes from submitting an interconnection request to achieving commercial operations has roughly doubled. While the heightened interest in developing clean energy is a positive sign of ongoing decarbonization efforts, historical interconnection procedures were not designed to accommodate the growing demand of clean energy resources. The electric industry today faces the challenge of connecting these resources quickly while maintaining or ideally enhancing the strong reliability of the electricity system.

In response to these challenges, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Interconnection Innovation e-Xchange (i2X) program developed a transmission interconnection roadmap to serve as a guide for key industry stakeholders that are trying to effect change and take action to implement solutions to our current interconnection challenges.

Roadmap Outlines 4 Key Goals and Identifies 35 Solutions to Focus Interconnection Reform Efforts

While improvements to the transmission interconnection process have been ongoing in the U.S. since the 2000s, the backlogs in current queues motivate efforts to develop novel solutions. Last year, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued Order 2023 to further improve generator interconnection processes. This year, it issued Order 1920 to improve transmission planning processes. Before these proceedings opened, the DOE recognized the need for a stakeholder-driven document that could build upon earlier reform efforts by providing a longer-term perspective that expands the solution space for interconnection process change.

The DOE’s transmission interconnection roadmap became that document and is organized around four goals that, if achieved, would improve interconnection outcomes and help reduce the backlog of projects:

1. Increase data access, transparency, and security for interconnection.
2. Improve the interconnection process and timeline.
3. Promote economic efficiency in interconnection.
4. Maintain a reliable, resilient, and secure grid.

Together, these goals are meant to frame a comprehensive package of solutions that incorporate not only methods to improve the administrative processes around planning, submitting, and administering interconnection applications, but also enhancements in the way we model and set technical reliability requirements for inverter-based resources (IBRs). Some of the solutions in the roadmap are complementary: to be effective, they would need to be implemented in tandem with other solutions. Other solutions are exclusive: adopting one solution might obviate the need for or even preclude another.

Example solutions identified that could be implemented in the next three to five years include improving the scope and standardization of data for projects already in the queue, automating certain parts of the interconnection process, encouraging customers to make better use of the existing transmission system, for instance, through fast tracking certain projects, and developing rules for dynamic model quality testing and validation. Solutions that require longer-term exploration and development include considering market-based approaches to rationing interconnection access, exploring options for delinking interconnection from network upgrade investments, and evaluating options to allow interconnection customers to be more involved in providing their own interconnection studies.

How Will We Know If We Are Making Progress?

Outlining solutions within the roadmap establishes the “what” of interconnection reform. But it is also important to lay out a vision for what success will look like.  The roadmap develops metrics that measure interconnection outcomes and gauge progress on achieving the outlined goals. Of course, not all elements of interconnection reform lend themselves to measurable targets, but the roadmap tries to outline foundational performance indicators, including: 1) shorter interconnection times, 2) lower interconnection cost variance, 3) increased completion rates, and 4) elimination of adverse IBR behavior during disturbance events. More details and our quantitative targets are shared in Figure 2. These are targets for 2030, but interconnection progress needs to be tracked annually, as we believe incremental improvements to the interconnection process are possible.

Interconnection Reform Entails Collaboration Among a Diverse Group of Stakeholders

Throughout much of the U.S., interconnection reforms are shaped by transmission providers’ (e.g. independent system operators, regional transmission organizations, utilities) stakeholder processes. Transmission providers thus play a central role in managing and implementing interconnection process improvements. However, solutions and actions often come from other stakeholders: interconnection customers, state agencies, federal regulators, transmission owners, load-serving entities, equipment manufacturers, consumer advocates, equity and energy justice communities, advocacy groups, consultants, and the research community, which includes DOE.

Interconnection reform is a complex issue requiring technical, policy, and administrative change. No individual or group has discovered a silver bullet that easily solves all identified problems. Such an easy fix will not likely be identified in the future either. The good news, however, is that the roadmap identifies and documents a collection of solutions and strategies that can begin to unlock interconnection backlogs and ultimately lead us to a more equitable, efficient, and modern electricity system for all. These ideas were inspired by extensive stakeholder engagement efforts organized and facilitated by the i2X team (Figure 3). These stakeholder groups have been actively participating in the interconnection reform movement already, helping make change a group effort.

If you are interested in these interconnection conversations, I encourage you to learn more about our events and discussions at www.energy.gov/i2x. The i2X program continues to build a national community of practice, excellence, and innovation for interconnection. Most immediately, mark your calendars and attend our Forum for the Implementation of Reliability Standards for Transmission (monthly, interactive, virtual meetings) or our Solutions eXchange webinar series, where we will discuss how we can begin to implement some of the key solutions identified in the roadmap. I hope to see you there.

 

Will Gorman
Research Scientist
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory