The trade group’s analysis of how to untangle gridlock in connecting wind, solar and battery storage projects into the 369,000-square-mile PJM system (see map) focuses on insufficient transmission planning. The independent federally regulated operator has 88,115 miles of transmission lines with generation capacity of 183,254 MW, but more than 2,000 clean energy projects set to generate 167 GW await connection.

PJM has taken steps to reform its process to connect new generation to the grid but they have been late and lack capacity scale, the report notes. The council says the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, a 15-state Midwest grid, began implementing in 2011 its approach to renewables connection that PJM adopted just earlier this year. MISO also at the time approved a $5-billion portfolio of 17 regional transmission projects. 

“As a result, MISO saw nearly 29.8% of the renewable energy capacity in its interconnection queue reach commercial operation or undergo construction between April 1, 2011 and Sept. 30, 2016, while only 20.3% of the capacity in PJM’s queue reached operation during that time,” the report says. 

About 50% more capacity could have been completed over PJM’s historical average during its four-year transition to its newly approved project approval system, which extends to 2026. ACORE also cites an outside study that said only 2.7% of renewable capacity entered PJM’s queue from Jan. 1, 2017 to mid-2018.

“The renewable energy projects trapped in PJM’s interconnection queue would create thousands of new jobs, drive billions of dollars in capital investment, and deliver lower-cost power to the states in the region,” the renewables group says.

Unlocking 20% of the 2,003 projects in the four-year transition cycle would yield about 34 GW of power and add jobs that pay 30% more than the national median wage across the PJM territory, the report says. It cites Virginia, Illinois, Ohio and Indiana as having the most job-years awaiting PJM action. 

The renewables group did not respond to a question of whether the labor to build the projects is available, with shortages of key craft workers, particularly electricians, reported in more areas, such as Colorado.

Process Designed for Fossil Fuel Links

PJM’s interconnection backlog is largely the result of an outdated process originally designed to connect large-scale, predominantly fossil-fired power plants to the grid and of planning shortfalls, the renewable energy group says.

The report does not include offshore wind because of the lack of historical data on project completion rates. It notes New Jersey’s 2021 agreement with PJM to plan and pay for necessary transmission upgrades for those projects outside of the operator’s standard queue process, as well as the likelihood that Maryland will adopt a similar approach. The report also does not include potential economic benefits of offshore wind. 

Under PJM’s queue process, until recently, developers paid for proposed projects to be studied to determine the cost of required transmission system upgrades. 

“This process—combined with a steady increase in new service requests—increased the wait time for projects and created significant uncertainty regarding their cost assignment,” the report contends. “These factors contributed to the withdrawal of three-quarters of onshore wind, solar, and battery storage project applications in the region submitted between 2011 and 2016, a pattern also seen across the country.” 

PJM began implementing this year its new clean energy review process approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that allows only projects with the most development potential to progress to interconnection. But the operator is not accepting new service requests for four years to allow staff time to adjust to changes.

The renewables group also calls for expedited interconnections of new clean generation sources that are replacing retiring fossil fuel plants and notes need for technologies to automate tasks that “are time-consuming and require extensive engineering knowledge possessed by a small number of individuals.” Grid operator Southwest Power Pool is using automated data entry and validation, says the report.

Adding staff to draft interconnection agreements also would relieve project managers of the responsibility, according to study authors, as would relying more on contractors to perform studies.

Lessons to be Shared

In a separate analysis of transmission planning by all 10 U.S. grid operators also released June 28, Americans for A Clean Energy Grid gave PJM a D+ overall— analyzing performance in four areas: planning methods and best practices; miles of transmission built and future transmission plans; transmission capacity available for new resources, and congestion, a measure of available transmission capacity.

The operator received D grades in the first two metrics but earned a B related to congestion and a C in capacity available for new resources.

"Like many regions, PJM rolls up the local transmission plans (including supplemental projects) to use as baseline inputs to its [planning] process. It does not independently review whether those local projects could be better addressed with regional options." the report noted. "PJM does not conduct proactive generation and load forecasting and does not independently model retirements over its 15-year planning horizon. Thus it fails on the most basic test of planning for the anticipated resource mix."

The analysis noted PJM's Grid of the Future Study released in May that looked at "future scenarios" to integrate pending offshore wind and other renewable energy development to meet policy goals of states in its territory, stressing that the operator "would need to incorporate this information into its actual transmission plan to raise its grade."

The report pointed to MISO and the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) for their proactive planning efforts in the last two years related to "the future resource mix," giving each a B grade overall.

In a June 16 letter to the U.S. Energy Dept., PJM CEO Manu Asthana joined chiefs of two other grid operators, in New England and New York, in saying they would join a new effort by state officials in New Jersey and seven other states in those regions to create the Northeast States Collaborative on Interregional Transmission. The operators said they "welcome the opportunity to leverage the expertise, tools, and processes we have in place." 

The states aim to expedite inter-regional transmission planning to accommodate power transfers across grid borders when needed, rather than wait for federal mandates now being proposed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and in Congress.  

Transmission participants and observers now voice concern that the just enacted debt ceiling law will add new delay, since it did not expressly include provisions directing the transmission rules, as some Democrats proposed—only calling for up to 18 months of added study on transfer capacity levels in North America, and another 12 months for FERC to review study results, report to Congress and develop rule-making actions. 

"The legislation ... will do little to clear the blockages in the permitting queue," said Ken Berlin and Frank Wiley of the Atlantic Council Global Energy Center, a non partisan think thank in Washington, D.C., in a June analysis.