PJM is working with the electricity industry and government officials to solve the supply-and-demand imbalance that is putting the reliability of the grid at risk and making electricity more expensive. As part of these efforts, we are clear that new generation resources must be able to connect to the grid as fast as possible if we are going to be successful.
The good news is that PJM is active on multiple fronts to make this happen.
First, we are accepting new generation applications as part of a new and reformed interconnection process, with all submissions due by April 27. After that, we can say that any and all generation projects seeking interconnection with PJM will be in process.
This represents the culmination of a series of reforms that have moved PJM from a first-come, first-served model to a first-ready, first-served process that is already producing results and is clearing the last of any backlog.
This formidable task was accomplished with coordination and cooperation from all PJM stakeholders, including transmission owners involved in engineering studies and developers themselves, who supported the reforms and helped us meet every commitment made to get to where we are today. The numbers tell the story of both the success of our work and the challenges the industry still faces. Consider:
- Since 2020, PJM has completed interconnection agreements for 103 GW worth of generation projects.
- Of those, only 23 GW of new generation went into service.
- Another 54 GW have cleared PJM’s process and require nothing from PJM to build, but many are delayed. Developers point to permitting issues as their greatest obstacle.
- To clear that amount of generation, PJM processed 294 GW of projects. That means that 74% of all projects studied by PJM in that time withdrew at some point, including 26 GW of projects that had signed interconnection agreements.
As the numbers document, PJM’s interconnection process is not standing in the way of generation development, and the focus should be on clearing real hurdles to construction, as some states have done with permitting timelines.
Our new Cycle process will build on this success. The speculative or less-viable projects that took up valuable queue space, indicated by the large number of withdrawn projects, have been addressed by the rules of the new process. These rules require developers to meet certain progressive milestones to remain in the study process. This should result in projects with a higher likelihood of achieving commercial operation, and PJM will continue to work with developers to make sure their agreement milestones are met.
And so, we will arrive shortly at the start of a new Cycle in April, when all projects will have a turnaround of between one and two years, depending on their impact.
While our interconnection timelines are fully approved by FERC, PJM is committed to streamlining our interconnection process wherever possible, and we actively share these efforts with stakeholders and gather feedback at our regular Interconnection Process Subcommittee meetings.
We are working on numerous fronts internally to further accelerate the process, including a collaboration with Google and Tapestry that leverages AI to shorten various phases of the study process. PJM and Tapestry are testing a new AI tool called HyperQ as it’s being developed. Early results indicate the technology can streamline certain elements in the evaluation of generators’ New Service Requests, and we look forward to sharing more detail as our teams validate results through ongoing analysis and benchmarking.
PJM has taken a series of actions to maximize all available generation going forward, including:
- CIR Transfer: Establishing a separate, streamlined process to transfer Capacity Interconnection Rights (CIRs) from retiring generators to the resources replacing them at the same site. The new rules allow for the expedited study of the projects and “promotes the efficient use of existing infrastructure,” as FERC stated in its Jan. 29 Order.
- Surplus Interconnection Service: This change to PJM’s interconnection rules aims to streamline the use of any unused portion of interconnection service for a facility that cannot or does not operate continuously, every hour of every day, year-round (e.g., adding battery storage to a renewable site).
- Provisional Interconnection Service: This service allows generators to begin operating and injecting energy before all required network upgrades are completed, provided an interim deliverability study confirms no transmission violations. PJM is expanding its availability to generators that don’t yet qualify for Capacity Interconnection Rights but can offer energy in the interim, helping to address the urgent need for capacity while waiting for long-term system upgrades.
And we have also proposed two interim initiatives:
- Expedited Interconnection Track: Filed with FERC on Feb. 27, this two-year interim plan provides a quicker path for advanced projects of significant size (250 MW accredited capacity or greater) to get connected to meet the grid’s immediate supply needs. No more than 10 approved projects would be selected for a calendar year, and it is designed to minimize impacts to new projects seeking interconnection.
- Reliability Resource Initiative (RRI): This one-time initiative has resulted in 41 projects representing approximately 8,000 MW of generation whose studies will be completed at the end of 2026.
These interim initiatives for expedited processing of larger projects will not displace smaller renewable and storage projects, which make up 25 GW of the 30 GW of projects that are scheduled to be completed at the end of 2026. We also expect solar, wind, batteries and hybrid projects to be strongly represented in the new Cycle 1 projects.
The Expedited Interconnection Track is also part of the work PJM and stakeholders are advancing with support from the White House and governors from all 13 states served by PJM to address short- and long-term reliability and affordability issues.
All of these efforts are intertwined, and we are extremely encouraged to see such wide-spread buy-in to meet the challenge of skyrocketing electricity demand from data centers and other large electricity users that are powering a growing economy.
Connecting new power resources to the grid as fast as possible will be central to our collective success. We have come a long way, and we look forward to meeting the next challenge together.