California Rule Transforms How Renewables Connect To The Grid
New rule simplifies the process and reduces the ability of utility companies to delay the process.
A new decision from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) marks a significant milestone by dramatically simplifying the interconnection process for distributed energy resources (DERs), like solar and batteries, and providing valuable transparency for project developers.
This is one of the most significant changes to the interconnection process in decades and offers a model for other states, at a time when interconnection has increasingly become a bottleneck to renewable energy development around the country.
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The new process will replace the “15% of peak load” screen, which has historically been used to evaluate if a project requires more detailed review to determine whether any grid upgrades are needed before it is approved to interconnect. Under the newly adopted rules, projects that do not exceed 90% of available capacity as shown in the ICA (a conservative buffer requested by utilities) will be able to pass the new screen. Projects that do not pass this improved screen will be subject to supplemental reviews; however, the rule changes also include significant improvements to the supplemental review process that are expected to allow a greater amount of DERs to be integrated through the screening process.
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“Today’s decision by the CPUC takes the first step toward a vastly improved interconnection process that better reflects the realities of the grid and makes it faster and easier to install the levels of clean energy that will be needed to reach California’s decarbonization goals,” said Sky Stanfield, Partner at law firm Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger and attorney for IREC in this proceeding.
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The use of hosting capacity data also gives clean energy developers greater agency to avoid time-consuming and costly interconnection processes. Developers can explore the ICA map from the utility in their area (such as this one from Southern California Edison) to identify preferable locations for DER projects where there is sufficient additional capacity for the project without the need for a grid upgrade. The data shown on the map will be the same data used to evaluate the project, minimizing the amount of guesswork involved in the interconnection process.
https://cleantechnica.com/2022/06/28/groundbreaking-california-rule-transforms-how-renewables-connect-to-the-grid/
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