"The Moore administration supports a recent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission order intended to help states achieve clean energy targets. The region’s grid operator wants FERC to reconsider."

"A Baltimore coal-fired power plant will be operating past its planned retirement date next year, pumping out pollution, while the cheaper clean energy projects that could help replace it are stuck in a queue to connect to the region’s electric grid.

That’s the type of snarl a recent federal order aims to reduce by requiring regional grid operators to carry out long-term planning that accounts for states’ needs, including their clean-energy targets.  

But elected officials and advocates in Maryland and the wider region fear their grid operator, PJM Interconnection, is in no hurry to comply. PJM requested a rehearing of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission order in June, calling it “overly prescriptive in several areas.”

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and governors of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Illinois are among those pushing back, calling on PJM in June to speed up transmission expansion. On Monday the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators urged the grid operator to start that planning without delay."

Aman Azhar reports for Inside Climate News July 16, 2024. [2]