This article was originally published by E&E News.
By Francisco "A.J." Camacho
Republicans in Congress have introduced a bill that would boost gas, coal and nuclear projects by pushing them toward the front of a line of new electricity capacity waiting to be brought onto regional grids.
The average wait time in the "interconnection queue" — where new generation waits for approval from a transmission grid — has ballooned from less than two years in 2008 to five years in 2023. Roughly three-quarters of projects will be abandoned while waiting in the queue.
The "GRID Power Act" — proposed by Rep. Troy Balderson (R-Ohio) and Sens. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) and Todd Young (R-Ind.) — pitches a partial fix by directing the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to allow electric grid operators to push "dispatchable" power plants through a backlog of mostly wind, solar and energy storage projects. With an eye toward improving grid reliability, project approval could happen in months instead of years under the legislation.
The bill defines “dispatchable power” as generation that provides a “known and forecastable electric supply.”
“Our interconnection queue is buckling under its own weight,” Balderson said. “The growing backlog of projects is adding years to an already time-consuming process. This legislation would give grid operators the authority to identify and expedite the consideration of essential projects that will protect our grid’s reliability and provide the power needed to meet America’s growing demand.”
Republicans and some regional grids are pressing for changes that would fast-track new natural gas generation and extend the life of older, dirtier coal plants — around-the-clock power they say can address electricity supply concerns more quickly. Advocates for slowing the pace of wind and solar point to a more electrified U.S. economy and a projected surge in electricity demand to power artificial intelligence data centers.
“I'm not being melodramatic when I say if we don't have substantial dispatchable resources, we're going to be in the dark and freezing,” FERC Chair Mark Christie told POLITICO’s E&E News. “The market structures that we have out in the East [are] obviously not keeping dispatchable resources operating, and they're not getting dispatchable resources built in the quantity that we need.”
The House sponsor, Balderson, doesn’t discount renewables but calls for power that can be dispatched more easily to meet demand and balance needs on the grid.
“Intermittent resources like wind and solar play a distinct role in the system but do not provide the consistent power necessary to replace the function dispatchable resources serve in grid operations," Balderson’s office said in a statement. "This legislation is solely about prioritizing reliability in grid planning and does not undermine the benefits renewable resources can provide.”
While sponsors say the new legislation will help avert such a crisis, not everyone is convinced.
Former FERC Chair Joe Kelliher proposes fixing regional transmission planning and increasing financial stakes and readiness requirements for projects in the interconnection queue.
"Both those steps would do a lot more good than the GRID Power Act," Kelliher said.
Renewable energy developers have voiced concerns, too. They argue that prioritizing dispatchable projects could leave wind, solar, and battery storage projects further behind in the interconnection queue.
As of the end of 2023, about 95 percent of the 2,600 gigawatts of proposed projects were wind, solar and battery storage, according to Department of Energy estimates.
The bill isn’t the only effort underway to reform the queue, said Sarah Johnston, an energy and environmental economics expert at the University of Wisconsin.
Federal regulators and organized markets such as PJM Interconnection, which serves Great Lakes and mid-Atlantic states, are already focused on reliability, Johnston noted. “One reform that comes to mind is the PJM Reliability Resource Initiative, which would allow 50 projects that they expect to be most helpful for reliability to essentially jump some of the interconnection queues,” she said.
PJM is waiting for a decision from FERC on similar proposals to reform its interconnection queue, and a decision is likely to come this week.
Johnston sees the legislation and PJM proposal as cut from a similar cloth, though she notes PJM would fast-track some battery storage projects, which appear to be excluded from the "GRID Power Act."
Last year's iteration of the bill specified that "dispatchable" power meant plants that can quickly ramp up or shut down to ensure grid reliability. Under that definition, natural gas seemed to be a first priority.
Kelliher said this year's bill maintains "spongy language” that “serves as a reminder that Congress has not been active on electricity legislation for many years."
Beyond ambiguity, Kelliher says the underlying premise of the bill encroaches on state authority in a way that, if passed, could see it struck down in court.
The 1935 Federal Power Act preserved state authority over resource adequacy, Kelliher noted.
"But the GRID Power Act would reverse that," he said. "However, since the bill leaves the 1935 act intact it essentially would order FERC to regulate in an area left to the states, which would be vulnerable on judicial review."
