Lost in Transmission: How to Bring More Clean Energy Onto the Grid

September 2023
Citation:
53
ELR 10726
Issue
9
Author
Ryan Block

The Inflation Reduction Act and other policies are pushing solar, wind, and other clean energy technologies into the marketplace. But these generators struggle to make the physical connection to the electricity market because interconnection is proving to be a bottleneck; over 2,000 gigawatts of capacity are waiting to connect to the grid. This Article examines the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC’s) regulations that govern the entry of new generation resources onto the grid. It reviews the statutory underpinnings of FERC’s interconnection authority and analyzes key federal regulations, including pending FERC proposals, and finds that current backlogs are the product of outdated assumptions, perverse incentives, and unintended consequences, which in turn cause externalities and uncertainties. It concludes by proposing policies to enable the development and deployment of grid-enhancing technology.

Ryan Block is a 2023 graduate of Texas A&M University School of Law, and will be an associate at Mcnees Wallace & Nurick, L.L.C. in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

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