Principles/Recommendations for Large-scale and Distributed Energy Interconnection Reform: Solar Energy Industries Association Report

The Solar Energy Industries Association (“SEIA”) issued a June 14th report titled:

Lessons from the Front Line: Principles and Recommendations for Large-scale and Distributed Energy Interconnection Reform (“Report”)

The Report’s authors include Dave Gahl, Melissa Alfano, and Jeremiah Miller.

SEIA describes itself as the national trade association of the solar and solar-plus storage industries, focused on research, education and advocacy. Membership includes 1,000 companies.

The Report notes that the United States solar industry continues to have rapid expansion. However, it expresses concern for what it characterizes as:

. . . outdated interconnection policies pose a major threat to solar and storage deployment across the nation.

The Report argues that:

. . . interconnection policies and regional transmission organizations (“RTOs”), vertically integrated utilities, and distributed utilities have not kept pace with the demands of this new energy marketplace.

The Report advocates what it describes is a series of reform principles and interconnection reform recommendations which include:

• Add staff, adhere to interconnection timelines, and advance needed policies related to planning, forecasting, and standards to ensure progress is made toward state and national clean energy goals;
• Automate and standardize processes where appropriate; and
• Collect more information about infrastructure upgrade costs for all types of projects and make them accessible to developers.

Interconnection reform for large-scale projects is addressed by the Report which recommends that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission standardize queue management requirements across RTOs and require them to:

• Make better transmission system operating information more accessible to interconnection customers; and
• Explore alternate models for paying for network upgrade costs.

In regards to interconnection reforms for distribution level projects, SEIA recommends that state regulators require each distribution utility to:

• Improve and open the black box of distribution system planning and perform proactive forecasting and scenario development to meet state clean energy goals; and
• Provide greater transparency and accuracy of interconnection estimates of infrastructure upgrade costs using hosting capacity maps, through the study process, or through preapplication processes.

State regulators are asked to:

• Reform cost sharing for infrastructure upgrades and split costs between interconnection customers and other system beneficiaries; and
• Increase project maturity requirements for projects to enter the interconnection queues.

A copy of the Report can be downloaded here.