Bill introduced into Congress to force FERC to create rules that make interconnections go faster. Below is the core of the bill (definitions and boiler plate are missing). The bill would require FERC to figure out how to make interconnections, not just studies go faster, just as FERC has realized that there are grid stability and reliability issues that need to be addressed and likely remedies applied to the grid. This bill directly contradicts some of what FERC told NERC to do in FERC Order 901 to stabilize the grid. My comments are enclosed in <<>>, the rest of the text below this is the text of the bill:
Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Commission shall initiate a rulemaking—
(1) to address the inefficiencies and ineffective11 ness of existing procedures for processing interconnection requests to ensure that new generation projects and energy storage projects can interconnect quickly, cost-effectively, and reliably; and
(2) to revise the pro forma Large Generator Interconnection Procedures and, as appropriate, the pro forma Large Generator Interconnection Agreement, promulgated pursuant to section 35.28(f) of 19 title 18, Code of Federal Regulations (or successor regulations), to require transmission providers—
(A) to develop and employ modeling assumptions for each resource type based on actual operating abilities and practices, for the purposes of studying an interconnection request;
<<FERC to improve reliability and grid stability is working in the opposite direction with NERC (FERC 901) to create specific and accurate models for each interconnection request>>
(B) to study interconnection requests in a manner consistent with the risk tolerance of the interconnection customer.
<<Note the risk tolerance of the party interconnecting, not the transmission customers or the ratepayers>>
(C) to select, as appropriate, 1 or more cost-effective solutions to address network reliability needs that may be identified while studying an interconnection request;
<<Where do the transmission owners get the funds to implement this, and as more interconnects come online, do they get more money to implement more reliability solutions? What level of reliability is acceptable?>>
(D) to provide sufficient information to interconnection customers for the interconnection customers to understand how a transmission provider has implemented the assumptions and solutions described in subparagraphs (A) and (B);
<<How is that done and the requirements not to tell other interconnection applicants in the same study about the other applicant’s projects as required by existing law?>>
(E) to share and employ, as appropriate, queue management best practices, including with respect to the use of advanced computing technologies, automation, and standardized study criteria, in evaluating interconnection requests, in order to expedite study results; and
<< Can we raise the price to be in the queue retro-actively and push the speculators out? This bill does not prohibit it. >>
(F) to implement transparency and performance-enhancing measures to ensure timely and cost-conscious construction of necessary network upgrades once an interconnection agreement has been executed.
<< How can things be timely when DOE has basically frozen the transformer manufacturing and there is a 3-7 year lead time on transformers?>>
<< This bill likely will not pass, at least in this session.
FERC normally takes about 2 years for hearings, rehearings, and input from the public and when they try to go too fast, it normally ends up in court.
The specifics are missing from the bill, how much time should the queue processing be reduced by, for instance?
You look at what FERC did with LGIA a few weeks ago with the FERC order 2023-A rehearing and you wonder what is behind this bill. Do the sponsors of the bill care about blackouts?