Grid Operator PJM Denies Pause on Project Approvals

VALLEY FORGE, Pa. — PJM Interconnection, one of the nation’s largest regional transmission organizations, is denying reports that it is proposing a two-year pause on reviewing energy project applications.

PJM coordinates the transmission of wholesale electricity in portions or the entirety of 13 states and Washington, D.C., and has been grappling with a backlog in its interconnection request queue. The backlog and strategies to mitigate it was outlined in the organization’s January interconnection process reform update.

Inside Climate News reported on Wednesday PJM was proposing a two-year pause on reviewing energy projects which Chief Communications Officer Susan Buehler denied in a statement shared with The Well News. Another report published by pv magazine on Thursday parroted the claim that PJM was proposing a postponement of reviewing interconnection requests. 

Buehler said PJM is months away from instituting any changes to its interconnection process and that delays are not part of its plans going forward. Buehler also characterized media reports of the proposal as “horribly inaccurate.”

“PJM and stakeholders worked intensively for more than six months to reach a consensus on reforms that will speed the interconnection process for development projects and enhance cost transparency, among other improvements,” PJM said in a statement shared with The Well News. “These changes are critical for PJM to help states achieve their decarbonization goals, enable the grid of the future, and establish a more efficient process to handle the unprecedented influx of generation interconnection requests.”

The organization’s interconnection process reform update detailed its creation of an “Interconnection Process Reform Task Force,” which addresses procedural issues, identifies opportunities to reduce interconnection queue backlogs and proposes solutions. PJM is regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which must approve any planned changes to the grid operator’s interconnection process before they are instituted.

Project queue backlogs have become increasingly common as transmission organizations contend with an unprecedented number of generation requests. Last May, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory conducted a study of all seven independent system operators and regional transmission organizations along with 35 additional utilities which found just 24% of connection projects nationwide from 2000 to 2015 were ultimately constructed.

Some of the proposal’s objectives are to accelerate the addition of renewable energy to the grid, prioritize projects ready for construction and streamline the interconnection process’s efficiency, Buehler said. Of the 225 gigawatts of generation projects already in PJM’s planning queue, 95%, or around 214 gigawatts, are renewable energy projects.

PJM’s plans for reforming their project approval process includes a multi-phase cycle of reviewing applications, conducting system impact analyses while determining planning level interconnection costs, undertaking studies and upgrades of applicant facilities, then negotiating final agreements with the applicants. The new process would allow for a multifaceted review of the applicants and their facilities while staggering subsequent cycles of new submissions and progression towards grid interconnection.

“This is a proposal [that] still has multiple steps to go through in the stakeholder process,” PJM said. “It goes before the Planning Committee on Feb. 8, and if approved, goes before the larger Markets and Reliability Committee and then Members Committee in April. If approved by members, PJM would need to file these recommendations with FERC in May.” 

Reece can be reached at [email protected].