WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued a long-awaited final rule on interconnection. The Solar Energy Industries Association has been tracking this rulemaking for well over a year and has advocated for interconnection reforms that improve efficiency and reduce long wait times, promote transparency and fairness, and enhance competition in the energy market.

Following is a statement from Melissa Alfano, director of energy markets and counsel at the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA):

“Interconnection reforms need to be meaningful to make a difference, and this final ruling from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is a step in the right direction.  

“In particular, we are pleased to see that the rules set binding study deadlines and establish penalties for transmission providers that fail to meet those deadlines. In addition, the new rules will make it easier to add energy storage to projects that are already in the interconnection queue, helping to increase energy storage capacity on the grid and recognize the growing value clean energy has when it comes to providing grid services.  

“We were also pleased to see that FERC scrapped its egregious proposed commercial readiness rule. This rule would have required clean energy project developers to have an offtake contract in place before entering the interconnection queue, an impossible standard to meet because it defies commercial realities.

“While this is a decisive step forward, we have a long way to go before we clear the two terawatts of generation and storage that are trapped in the interconnection queue. SEIA will continue to advocate for interconnection reforms that improve transparency and appropriately value clean energy assets.”