PJM has received 94 submissions from generation owners seeking to have new projects or uprates to existing units included in the RTO’s expedited Reliability Resource Initiative (RRI) interconnection study process. (See FERC Approves PJM’s One-time Fast-track Interconnection Process.) 

The applications amount to 26.6 GW of nameplate capacity split evenly across upgrades to existing facilities and new projects, according to a PJM announcement. It includes new battery storage installations and uprates to nuclear and gas units. Once PJM has selected projects, it intends to publicly share that list, including the fuel mix and expected effective load carrying capability (ELCC) ratings. Over the next month, the submissions will be narrowed to 50 based on seven weighted criteria:

• • 35 points based on the project’s unforced capacity (UCAP);
  • 20 points for resources with high effective load-carrying capability (ELCC) ratings;
  • 10 points for projects sited in the Dominion or BGE zones;
  • 10 points for being able to achieve commercial operation between 2028 and 2031;
  • 10 points for evidence of permits, siting and equipment procurement supporting a project’s in-service date;
  • 10 points to projects that are uprates of existing generation or planned projects; and
  • 5 points for projects that take advantage of existing transmission headroom.

The initiative is designed to address a potential capacity shortfall PJM has identified in the 2029/30 delivery year by allowing projects capable of quickly bringing new capacity to the grid to be included in the next cycle. When proposing the program, PJM originally said it would allow 100 projects to be included, which was reduced to 50 to ensure there is no impact to the timeline of existing queue positions. (See Stakeholders Divided on PJM Proposal to Expedite High-capacity Generation.) 

The selected RRI submissions will join 550 projects in Transition Cycle 2 (TC2), which together could offer about 50 GW of nameplate if completed. PJM has stated it likely is insufficient given the low historic completion rate of queue projects and the preponderance of generation types with low capacity contributions, namely wind and solar. Generation interconnection agreements (GIAs) are expected to be reached for TC2 projects in late 2026. 

“This will provide an influx of reliable generation needed to help meet demand growth, in tandem with those resources that are already in PJM’s generation interconnection queue,” PJM’s announcement reads. 

PJM said it sees benefit to including projects that are unlikely to come online prior to 2030. 

“Uprates and certain types of generation would be able to come online by 2030. Even for those that can’t, it still benefits the PJM markets to have projects with an overall high score get a head start toward construction and commercial operation through participation in the RRI process,” the announcement said. 

Clean Energy Advocates Opposed to RRI

The RRI has been criticized by environmental groups and clean energy developers, who argue it would allow fossil generation to skip a queue renewables have been languishing in for years. Several have requested rehearing on FERC’s order approving the initiative, including the Environmental Law and Policy Center, Office of the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel (OCC) and Invenergy Renewables and a joint request from the Sierra Club, NRDC, Appalachian Voices and the Sustainable FERC Project. 

“PJM’s RRI is a flawed, unfair proposal that clearly favors dirty, toxic gas plants, when there are plenty of renewable energy projects that have been in the queue for over half a decade that can get online faster, and at a cheaper cost than that of gas plants,” Sierra Club staff attorney Megan Wachspress said in a statement on the organization’s rehearing request. “We are challenging FERC’s decision because we believe our communities deserve clean air and water, and cheaper, more efficient electricity. Renewable energy is the answer that can deliver both.” 

In its rehearing request, the OCC said it supports the RRI in concept, but argued it is incomplete without more transparency and a cost metric to prevent the 50 projects PJM selects from resulting in “uneconomic and costly solutions.” While it said FERC’s order addressed the transparency concern by requiring PJM to post the selected RRI projects and their scores, it said the commission failed to ensure the proposal does not result in unreasonable costs for consumers. 

LS Power Announces Participation

LS Power announced it had submitted five projects to upgrade existing generators under RRI, including converting two gas peakers to combined cycle units. Transforming the peakers — which are located in Troy, Ohio, and Armstrong, Pa. — would add 600 MW in combined output, while an additional 100 MW could be added across the company’s Doswell, Hummel and Hunterstown gas generators. The announcement said the projects would amount to more than $1 billion in investment. 

“With surging demand across the region, LS Power is answering the call for more dispatchable generation to support reliability and resource adequacy, and at a cost less than greenfield new build,” LS Power Generation President Nathan Hanson said. “Our proposed capacity projects are well positioned to meet the requirements of PJM’s RRI and help ensure electric reliability.” 

The Independent Market Monitor has been a proponent of the RRI and has called for its expansion. Rather than being a one-off measure, Monitor Joe Bowring has called for PJM to use it as the basis for a program that could be used to expedite the interconnection study timeline for generation projects that could resolve identified reliability needs. 

In addition to capacity shortfalls, he said, that could include instances where a resource deactivation would cause transmission violations, which can cause PJM to enter into costly reliability-must-run (RMR) agreements to keep those units online. (See PJM Market Monitor Publishes Mixed Views in Annual Report.)