FUTURE
Transitioning reliably and cost-effectively to a grid that will incorporate many more intermittent renewable resources was a main focus of planning efforts by PJM and its stakeholders in 2021.
As of the end of 2021, 95% of the more than 225,000 MW in PJM’s new services queue were proposed solar, wind, storage or hybrid renewable/battery resources.
As the independent planner for the future needs of our bulk electric system, PJM’s primary objective is maintaining reliability while transitioning to the grid of the future. This work is informed by our strategic direction and is supported by research, analytical studies and active collaboration with our stakeholders to try and ensure durable solutions.
Interconnection Process Reform
As the energy transition accelerates, PJM’s interconnection queue has grown significantly; the number of generation project requests that entered the interconnection queue in 2021 was 1,331, nearly triple the number just three years ago.
To streamline planning for new queue requests, PJM and stakeholders worked together to improve the interconnection process. This collaborative and comprehensive work proceeded with the formation of the Interconnection Process Reform Task Force (IPRTF) and a series of workshops to study related policies, including cost-allocation methods.
The broad goal of this collaboration was twofold:
- Advancing projects through the interconnection process more quickly
- Enhancing cost certainty
By year’s end, the IPRTF remained on track to file proposed Open Access Transmission Tariff (Tariff) changes with FERC in the first half of 2022.
Current Interconnection Queue
“We’re in the middle of a major transformation across the entire system.”
Ken Seiler, Vice President – Planning
Regional Transmission Planning Focus
In July, FERC issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANOPR), titled “Building for the Future Through Electric Regional Transmission Planning and Cost Allocation and Generator Interconnection.”
This FERC initiative provided an opportunity for PJM to share four principles it believes should guide any planning reform:
- Decarbonization policy facilitation
- Grid resilience
- Consumer protection
- Equitable treatment of regional transmission organization (RTO) and non-RTO regions
In 2021, FERC and state utility regulators also partnered to form the Joint Federal-State Task Force on Electric Transmission. This three-year initiative explores:
- The need to modernize and expand bulk electric system infrastructure to accommodate the changing resource mix
- The barriers to transmission expansion and project siting at local, state and regional levels
- The role of technology in expanding transmission capacity
Preparing for Offshore Wind
All but three of the 13 states within PJM’s region are pursuing renewable generation objectives. Effective planning for the grid of the future includes PJM facilitation of states’ varying decarbonization goals.
In 2021, FERC approved PJM’s first-time use of an existing provision in its governing documents, the State Agreement Approach, to assist New Jersey’s goal of constructing and integrating 7,500 MW of offshore wind generation by 2035.
New Jersey is hardly alone among states pursuing offshore wind. Together, the five coastal states in PJM’s footprint have proposed developing more than 20,000 MW of offshore wind resources.
In October, PJM published the Phase 1 results of its Offshore Wind Transmission Study, a collaborative effort with state agencies to identify transmission solutions across the PJM footprint.
The report found that coordinated regional transmission planning among states could present a more efficient, economic path to achieving these objectives in lieu of the status quo where each state is working alone.