Do we have enough engineers to conduct interconnection studies?
As two regional grid operators have flagged a shortage of qualified engineers to conduct interconnection studies, pv magazine usa spoke with Kalyan Chilukuri, a vice president with Electric Power Engineers, about industry staffing challenges and measures that might help.
It’s time to fix our nation’s broken interconnection process
The good news is that we know what to do. Interconnection has been studied extensively by numerous industry groups and research organizations, which have arrived at some essential guiding principles for reform.
Solar groups call on EIA to provide data on interconnection, outages, and manufacturing
The data would help solar and storage providers to speed deployment, said Solar and Storage Industries Institute and the national solar trade group, SEIA.
Faster, lower-cost interconnection by combining ERCOT, MISO, PJM approaches
ERCOT’s approach enables interconnection in 2 to 3 years, whereas recent regional transmission planning by MISO and PJM found cost-saving ways to interconnect 53 GW and 75 GW of renewables respectively, said a Brattle transmission expert.
To speed interconnection, federal regulators propose cluster studies and study deadlines
Transmission providers would face firm deadlines for completing interconnection studies, backed by penalties, under a proposed rule. Project developers would face readiness requirements involving study deposit amounts, site control, commercial readiness milestones, and withdrawal penalties.
SEIA proposes how to extricate hundreds of gigawatts of solar from interconnection queues
As applications to interconnect solar and storage projects have “skyrocketed,” the national solar trade group recommends ways to speed interconnection on both the transmission and distribution grids.
200 partners to help speed interconnection through US Department of Energy program
Three regional grid operators and two utilities have joined the DOE partnership, alongside renewables developers and trade groups, to pursue faster, simpler, and fairer interconnection of renewables and storage, on both the transmission and distribution grids.
US Department of Energy launches partnership to speed interconnection
A new partnership that engages grid operators, utilities, clean energy developers, regulators, and DOE’s national laboratories aims to lower costs and reduce wait times for utility scale solar projects connecting to the grid.
Enphase Energy microinverter receives first UL interconnection certification
The Enphase IQ8 Microinverter system certified to the new North American safety and grid interconnection standards for connecting solar inverters, energy storage systems, and distributed energy resources to the grid.
Get your Virginia interconnection now, solar regulation increasing in 2025
The state’s Department of Environmental Quality has defined solar panels as impervious surfaces for the purpose of measuring stormwater, which will increase project cost requirements.
