Comments for FERC Workshop on Innovations and Efficiencies in Generator Interconnection

Inefficiency in the process of connecting new power plants to the electrical transmission system is increasingly recognized as one of the primary bottlenecks to advancing US decarbonization goals and meeting rising electricity demand.

To address this topic, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) invited Tyler H. Norris, J.B. Duke Fellow and Duke University PhD student, to serve as a panelist at FERC’s Staff-Led Workshop on Innovations and Efficiencies in Generator Interconnection in September 2024 (Docket No. AD24-9-000). Specifically, Norris was invited to provide analysis and comments related to “connect and manage” and potential improvements to flexible energy-only interconnection options as part of the workshop’s “Innovation Panel 2: Exploring Different Approaches to Processing and Studying Generator Interconnection Request.”

Norris’ pre-workshop filings present new analysis from the Nicholas School of the Environment’s GRACE Lab on the performance of energy-only interconnection and its potential benefits and downsides. The filings include a new electricity simulation study analyzing the cost savings of energy-only interconnection compared to alternatives, Modeling the Effects of Flexible Interconnection on Solar Integration: A Case Study. The study found the following benefits to energy-only interconnection for a recent cluster study:

• 72% reduction in network upgrade costs related to thermal power flow overloads
• 75% reduction in identified overloads, including 27 separate transmission elements
• $112 per kW reduction of capacity-weighted costs of studied solar generation capacity

This work builds upon the Nicholas Institute’s 2023 policy brief Beyond FERC Order 2023: Considerations on Deep Interconnection Reform.