FERC has approved a follow-up filing for ISO-NE’s compliance with Orders 2023 and 2023-A, authorizing variations from the final rule related to interconnection point modifications, cost allocation and commercial readiness deposits (ER24-2009-001). 

Order 2023 requires grid operators to adopt cluster processes to study interconnection requests on a first-ready, first-served basis. (See FERC Updates Interconnection Queue Process with Order 2023.) 

The commission accepted the bulk of ISO-NE’s first compliance filing for Order 2023 in April but required ISO-NE to make a series of minor changes and clarifications in a follow-up order, which the RTO submitted in early June. (See FERC Approves ISO-NE Order 2023 Interconnection Proposal.) The second filing was supported by NEPOOL and was not protested before the commission. 

FERC has accepted this subsequent filing in its entirety, effective Aug. 12, 2024.  

In its approval, FERC ruled that ISO-NE can allow interconnection customers to modify their interconnection points during a cluster study. The commission wrote that this change “provides flexibility … to adjust the point of interconnection in the event that unexpected results show that the originally selected point of interconnection is not technically feasible.” 

ISO-NE wrote in its filing that providing this flexibility should reduce risks of withdrawals from the cluster study process. 

FERC also approved ISO-NE’s clarification of how it will allocate costs of network upgrades for “reactive devices or any substation additions beyond the point of interconnection.” 

ISO-NE proposed to allocate these costs proportionately “based on the type of violation and each facilities’ impact to that violation,” FERC noted.  

Regarding commercial readiness deposits, ISO-NE clarified it was to begin accepting surety bonds as of Sept. 1.  

“This means that interconnection customers seeking to participate in the transitional cluster study will be able to submit surety bonds to secure commercial readiness deposits for that study,” ISO-NE wrote in its filing.  

The follow-up filing also included variations related to site control, interactions between cluster studies and ISO-NE cluster enabling transmission upgrade studies, modeling and ride-through requirements for non-synchronous generators, and a series of “minor clean-up revisions,” including amendments to typos and unintended errors.