Stymied DER Developers See Relief Via Flexible Interconnection Programs

DER develoeprs, frustrated by interconnection delays, see the potential for cost and time savings through flexible interconnection programs. Pilot projects from Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), Commonwealth Edison (ComEd) and other utilities are demonstrating the value of flexible interconnection programs in which utilities allow customers to interconnect to the grid much more quickly than they would under traditional interconnection programs. In exchange, the customers agree to scale back or eliminate consumption when the utility needs power. Jessie Bauer, ComEd's manager of DER engineering and capacity planning, and Alex Collins, PG&E's manager of DERMS execution and operations, describe their pilot programs. Two hardware and software providers explain what's needed on the customer side, and a customer deploying fast chargers points to the benefits of such programs. Background reading: The Latest Version of the Big Beautiful Bill in One Chart :  Energy Changemakers  With New Microgrid Funding, Texas Seeks to Avoid the Devastation of Storms Like Winter Storm Uri :  Microgrid Knowledge  Recent Climate Setbacks Will Not Derail the Green Transition:  World Resources Institute Visit CleanEnergyWriters.com to learn about host Lisa Cohn. Email her at [email protected] with clean energy news and trends.