Bill Summary
The "Expediting Generator Interconnection Procedures Act of 2025" aims to streamline and enhance the process for connecting electric generation and energy storage projects to the transmission system overseen by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).
Key provisions of the legislation include:
1. **Rulemaking Requirement**: FERC is mandated to initiate a rulemaking process within 180 days of enactment to identify and rectify inefficiencies in current interconnection procedures. This includes revising the existing Large Generator Interconnection Procedures and Agreements to ensure quicker, cost-effective, and reliable interconnections.
2. **Modeling and Study Improvements**: The legislation requires transmission providers to use actual operational data for resource modeling, adopt customer-friendly risk management approaches during interconnection studies, and identify cost-effective solutions for network reliability.
3. **Transparency and Efficiency**: It emphasizes the need for transmission providers to offer clear information about their processes and assumptions, implement best practices in queue management, and ensure timely upgrades to the transmission network once agreements are in place.
4. **Final Rule Timeline**: FERC must finalize the new rules within 18 months of the Act's enactment.
Overall, this legislation seeks to facilitate the integration of renewable energy sources and storage solutions into the national electric grid by improving interconnection procedures.
Possible Impacts
The "Expediting Generator Interconnection Procedures Act of 2025" could affect people in various ways. Here are three examples:
1. **Increased Renewable Energy Access**: The legislation aims to streamline the interconnection process for new generation and energy storage projects. As a result, more renewable energy projects (like solar and wind farms) could be established more quickly. This could lead to a greater availability of clean energy sources for consumers, potentially lowering energy costs and reducing reliance on fossil fuels.
2. **Job Creation in the Energy Sector**: By accelerating the development of generation and energy storage projects, the Act may create new job opportunities in the energy sector. This includes jobs related to the construction, operation, and maintenance of new facilities, as well as jobs in manufacturing and technology development for energy storage solutions. This can contribute to local economic growth and provide employment options for individuals in various regions.
3. **Enhanced Grid Reliability and Efficiency**: The legislation mandates improvements in how interconnections are studied and managed, which can lead to a more reliable electrical grid. By ensuring that interconnection requests are processed efficiently and transparently, the Act can help prevent delays and reduce costs associated with grid upgrades. This increased efficiency can benefit all consumers by providing more stable and reliable electricity service, reducing the likelihood of outages or grid failures.
[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2986 Introduced in House (IH)]
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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 2986
To require the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to promulgate
regulations that accelerate the interconnection of electric generation
and storage resources to the transmission system through more efficient
and effective interconnection procedures.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 24, 2025
Ms. Castor of Florida introduced the following bill; which was referred
to the Committee on Energy and Commerce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to promulgate
regulations that accelerate the interconnection of electric generation
and storage resources to the transmission system through more efficient
and effective interconnection procedures.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Expediting Generator Interconnection
Procedures Act of 2025''.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Commission.--The term ``Commission'' means the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission.
(2) Energy storage project.--The term ``energy storage
project'' means--
(A) any equipment that receives, stores, and
delivers energy using batteries, compressed air, pumped
hydropower, hydrogen storage (including hydrolysis),
thermal energy storage, regenerative fuel cells,
flywheels, capacitors, superconducting magnets, or
other technologies identified by the Commission; and
(B) any project for the construction or
modification of equipment described in subparagraph (A)
as part of an effort to build-out transmission
interconnection opportunities.
(3) Generation project.--The term ``generation project''
means--
(A) any facility--
(i) that generates or injects electricity;
and
(ii) for which an interconnection request
is subject to the jurisdiction of the
Commission; and
(B) any project for the construction or
modification of a facility described in subparagraph
(A).
(4) Interconnection customer.--The term ``interconnection
customer'' means a person or entity that has submitted an
interconnection request.
(5) Interconnection request.--The term ``interconnection
request'' means a request submitted to a public utility to
interconnect a new generation project or energy storage project
to the electric system of a public utility for the purposes of
transmission of electric energy in interstate commerce or the
sale of electric energy at wholesale.
(6) Public utility.--The term ``public utility'' has the
meaning given the term in section 201(e) of the Federal Power
Act (16 U.S.C. 824(e)).
(7) Transmission facility.--The term ``transmission
facility'' means a facility that is used for the transmission
of electric energy in interstate commerce.
(8) Transmission provider.--The term ``transmission
provider'' means a public utility that owns, operates, or
controls 1 or more transmission facilities.
(9) Transmission system.--The term ``transmission system''
means a network of transmission facilities used for the
transmission of electric energy in interstate commerce.
SEC. 3. RULEMAKING TO EXPEDITE GENERATOR INTERCONNECTION PROCEDURES.
(a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of
enactment of this Act, the Commission shall initiate a rulemaking--
(1) to address the inefficiencies and ineffectiveness of
existing procedures for processing interconnection requests to
ensure that new generation projects and energy storage projects
can interconnect quickly, cost-effectively, and reliably; and
(2) to revise the pro forma Large Generator Interconnection
Procedures and, as appropriate, the pro forma Large Generator
Interconnection Agreement, promulgated pursuant to section
35.28(f) of title 18, Code of Federal Regulations (or successor
regulations), to require transmission providers--
(A) to develop and employ modeling assumptions for
each resource type based on actual operating abilities
and practices, for the purposes of studying an
interconnection request;
(B) to study interconnection requests in a manner
consistent with the risk tolerance of the
interconnection customer;
(C) to select, as appropriate, 1 or more cost-
effective solutions to address network reliability
needs that may be identified while studying an
interconnection request;
(D) to provide sufficient information to
interconnection customers for the interconnection
customers to understand how a transmission provider has
implemented the assumptions and solutions described in
subparagraphs (A) and (C);
(E) to share and employ, as appropriate, queue
management best practices, including with respect to
the use of advanced computing technologies, automation,
and standardized study criteria, in evaluating
interconnection requests, in order to expedite study
results; and
(F) to implement transparency and performance-
enhancing measures to ensure timely and cost-conscious
construction of necessary network upgrades once an
interconnection agreement has been executed.
(b) Deadline for Final Rule.--Not later than 18 months after the
date of enactment of this Act, the Commission shall promulgate a final
rule to complete the rulemaking initiated under subsection (a).
(c) Savings Clause.--Nothing in this section alters, or may be
construed to alter, the allocation of costs of the transmission system
pursuant to the ratemaking authority of the Commission under section
205 of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 824d).
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