FERC agreed today to extend the compliance deadline for its interconnection queue rulemaking by four months to April 3, 2024, in response to requests from RTOs and utilities (RM22-14).
FERC Order 2023, issued in July, revised the pro forma generator interconnection queue rules to shift from a first-come, first-served serial process to a first-ready, first-served cluster study process, an effort to unclog backlogged queues filled mostly with renewable projects and storage.
The order also increased financial requirements for developers and set penalties for transmission providers that fail to meet deadlines for completing interconnection studies. Interconnection studies also must consider grid-enhancing technologies (GETs). (See FERC Updates Interconnection Queue Process with Order 2023.)
American Electric Power, Dominion Energy, PacifiCorp, the Edison Electric Institute and PJM filed requests for rehearing or clarification of the order, which the commission effectively denied when it failed to respond within 30 days.
The same parties, along with MISO and SPP, also asked the commission for additional time to comply, citing the order’s complexity and uncertainty over issues raised in the rehearing requests. NYISO also had planned to request a delay. (See NYISO Plans Early November Filing for Partial Order 2023 Compliance.)
The commission responded only to the extension requests, saying it would address the other issues raised on rehearing in a future order.
FERC initially set the compliance date for 90 calendar days after the rule’s Sept. 6 publication in the Federal Register, or Dec. 5. The new order extends the 90-day clock to 210 days for all transmission providers except for those with wholesale distribution access tariffs, which will have 90 days beginning when their RTO or ISO submits its compliance filing.
The commission said its extension “does not change or modify any other determination or other deadlines established by Order No. 2023, including the deadline for eligibility for interconnection customers to opt to proceed with a transitional serial study (for those interconnection customers tendered a facilities study agreement) or transitional cluster study (for those interconnection customers assigned a queue position) or to withdraw their interconnection requests without penalty (i.e., 30 calendar days after the transmission provider submits its initial compliance filing).”
