Grid Operator Must Connect Backlogged Clean Energy Projects: Report

"PJM could benefit numerous states with thousands of jobs and billions in investment by implementing recent reforms, including priority for proposals ready to proceed and a “fast lane” for smaller deals."

"Virginia, Illinois, Ohio and Indiana have the most to gain in jobs and new investment if PJM, the country’s largest grid operator, can fix some of the problems now leading to long delays in clean energy projects, a new report says.

To make that happen, PJM would need to approve projects at the same rate it did about a decade ago.

But that requires clearing two big hurdles. The grid operator needs to make major progress on roughly 3,000 active matters in its new service request queue, where 97 percent of more than 250 gigawatts of proposed new generation is for renewable energy, battery storage or a combination of the two. And PJM, whose territory runs from Chicago to New Jersey, would need to add enough interstate power line capacity to connect those projects to the grid.

The June 28 report from the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE), a trade group, focuses on roughly 2,000 projects totaling 167 gigawatts of proposed land-based clean energy generation, which PJM is due to process as it implements reforms approved by federal regulators in November. Those reforms include a switch to prioritizing the projects that are the most ready to be built and a “fast lane” for smaller projects, among others."

Kathiann M. Kowalski reports for Inside Climate News July 5, 2023.

Source: Inside Climate News, 07/06/2023