North American Windpower: FERC Proposes Reforms To Small Generator Interconnection Procedures And Agreements

FERC Proposes Reforms To Small Generator Interconnection Procedures And Agreements

by NAW Staff Monday January 21 2013

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR) to modify its small generator interconnection procedures (SGIP) and small generator interconnection agreement (SGIA), which establish the terms and conditions under which public utilities must provide interconnection service for electric generating facilities of 20 MW or smaller.

FERC states that the proposed reforms stem from market changes, such as higher volumes of small generator interconnection requests and increases in solar photovoltaic installations. The proposals are intended to ensure that the time and cost of processing small generator interconnection requests, particularly those for distributed solar generating facilities, will be just and reasonable and not unduly discriminatory, as well as allowing for more efficient interconnection of resources to the benefit of customers while maintaining grid reliability, increasing energy supply and removing barriers to the development of new energy sources.

While the NOPR was motivated by increases in the solar photovoltaic market, the FERC filing also notes that installed wind generation with a capacity of 20 MW or less increased from 1,185 MW in 2005 to 2,961 MW in 2012.

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