The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Thursday rejected a request for a waiver from certain PJM Interconnection rules for a roughly $2 billion, gas-fired project that is in the grid operator’s fast-track Reliability Resource Initiative interconnection review process.
Granting the waiver for Advanced Power Services’ Chestnut Run project in Carroll County, Ohio, would harm third parties by causing delays in PJM’s review of other generator interconnection requests, including those in its RRI, FERC said. One of FERC’s criteria for approving waivers from commission-approved rules is that the waivers don’t harm third parties.
PJM’s RRI process was designed for shovel-ready projects that could help meet near-term grid reliability needs. It initially included 51 projects totaling about 11.8 GW PJM release says 51 projects totalling 9.3 GW. The process barred changes to a project’s size and its capacity interconnection rights.
Advanced Power hit an equipment supply hurdle when it was unable to acquire the turbines it had planned to use for its project. In its waiver request at FERC, the Boston-based independent power producer said it could use alternate turbines, but that would change the plant’s configuration.
The company, owned by ArcLight Capital Partners, asked FERC for a waiver so it could reduce the project’s maximum output by 55 MW to 1.245 GW and reduce its capacity interconnection rights.
In its decision, FERC agreed with PJM that allowing Advanced Power to reconfigure its project could lead to interconnection review delays.
“Studies resulting from the equipment changes would introduce substantial delays to Transition Cycle #2 and have a ripple effect on the remainder of PJM’s [interconnection study] cycle schedule,” FERC said.
After clearing its backlog of interconnection requests, PJM in April started reviewing the first cycle under its reformed interconnection queue process. The cycle includes 811 generating projects totaling about 220 GW.
Advanced Power didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
There are 41 projects totaling 7.9 GW in nameplate capacity remaining in the RRI process, according to Jeffrey Shields, a PJM spokesman. The projects are being reviewed in PJM’s “transition cycle 2,” the final transition phase of the grid operator’s interconnection reform process that is set to wrap up early next year with interconnection agreements, he said.
Transition cycle 2 has a “decision point” on Tuesday, when some project developers may opt to withdraw their project from the process, Shields told Utility Dive in an email.
