U.S. Representative Troy Balderson (OH-12) has reintroduced a legislation, the Guaranteeing Reliability through the Interconnection of Dispatchable (GRID) Power Act, to help grid operators expedite consideration of power generation projects to improve the reliability of the electric grid.
U.S. Senators John Hoeven (R-ND) and Todd Young (R-IN) also introduced identical legislation in the Senate. The act will allow certain projects, at the request of the grid operator, to bypass the interconnection queue. In 2023, the median wait time increased to five years, delaying critical projects from being built and connected to the grid.
The interconnection queue is covered with proposed projects looking to capitalize on the Biden Administration’s taxpayer-funded green energy credits. These projects, which include 97% of all projects in the queue, tend to be weather-dependent and cannot be dispatched at a notice to meet consumer energy needs.
As power demand in Ohio and across the nation increases, the grid will require more dispatchable baseload energy to avoid rolling blackouts and power shortages. The previous Administration issued new rules, such as the Clean Power Plan 2.0, in an attempt to accelerate the retirement of American power plants responsible for providing much of the United States’ baseload power. The GRID Power Act will bring more baseload power generation online in a timely manner, leading to the long-term stability of the American electric grid.
The GRID Power Act directs the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to develop rules authorizing grid operators–Regional Transmission Organizations (RTOs) and Independent System Operators (ISOs)–to fast-track projects ensuring grid reliability and meeting growing power demands by allowing them to bypass the long wait in the interconnection queue.
Under the legislation, grid operators are expected to conduct feasibility and system impact studies on the generation projects before signing an interconnection agreement. The bill also promotes transparency by requiring the operators to provide a process for public comment and stakeholder engagement before submitting proposals to FERC and requires operators to provide regular reports on the state of grid reliability to FERC.
This legislation empowers grid operators to accelerate projects that:
- Provide new dispatchable power and improve grid reliability and resource adequacy;
- Address power shortages caused by retiring or offline dispatchable power; and/or
- Support increased power demand.
FERC is anticipated to review and approve fast-track proposals within 60 days, reducing the total time to approve these projects from many years to 12 months. Upon enactment, the legislation will require FERC to start the rulemaking process for this mechanism within 90 days of the bill's enactment and finalize the rules within 180 days.
