Action alert: Tell the CPUC to support WDG interconnection

✅  Tell the CPUC to support WDG interconnection

Rule 21 Interconnection Discussion Forum: 25 June 2019, 1:45pm PT

Weigh in to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and California’s investor-owned utilities (IOUs) about wholesale distributed generation (WDG) interconnection requirements.

The CPUC’s Rule 21 describes the process a developer must follow to connect their distributed energy resource (DER) to the grid. The process for connecting WDG projects is onerous and time-consuming.

The CPUC has initiated the Rule 21 Interconnection Discussion Forum as an informal venue for utilities, developers, and other stakeholders to explore a wide variety of issues related to interconnection practices and policies. The forum meets quarterly.

The next quarterly meeting is on Tuesday, 25 June, 1:45pm – 2:30 pm PT, with the following topic scheduled for discussion:

• Utilities commonly require wholesale systems interconnecting under Rule 21 to install separate interconnection facilities when existing facilities serving on-site load may have sufficient capacity. Is the requirement to install separate facilities necessary to support safe and reliable interconnection? If not, how should the Commission address this utility practice?

Recommended talking points

Background:

• WDG refers to distributed energy generation, often commercial-scale solar, that interconnects to the distribution grid and serves local loads while avoiding any use of the transmission grid. Rather than serving one customer, these systems can serve an entire community.
• See the Clean Coalition’s WDG Interconnection Pilot for information on the issues with WDG interconnection and how they can be solved.

Talking points:

• Interconnecting a wholesale distributed generation (WDG) project to the grid in California can take years, and it can be arduous and expensive. That means many projects never get off the ground. Fixing the WDG interconnection process will result in significantly more clean local energy in the state.
• Compared to the process for identically sized and similarly sited net energy metering (NEM) projects in California, interconnecting WDG projects costs significantly more, takes longer, and is far less predictable.
• WDG projects should be allowed to interconnect at locations where the utilities’ ICA 2.0 and other published information indicate adequate available hosting capacity with no significant required grid upgrades and no transmission or other constraints.

Attend the meeting

Call in using the dial-in information or the link below, or attend in person at the CPUC, Courtyard Room, 505 Van Ness Ave, San Francisco, CA 94102.

https://centurylinkconferencing.webex.com/centurylinkconferencing/j.php?MTID=m390998c98476845327e69d9ce7d5ab79

Meeting number: 714 980 142

Meeting password: !Energy1