NV Energy is asking the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for permission to let pending interconnection customers withdraw their requests without paying a penalty in the wake of changes to clean energy tax credit rules and other actions by the Trump administration.
The request suggests that developers may abandon renewable energy projects that are no longer feasible. Projects with solar or wind components make up nearly 80% of NV Energy's interconnection queue.
The Solar Energy Industries Association and the Interwest Energy Alliance on Monday asked FERC to approve the request, which would also apply to customers with executed interconnection agreements, saying it would help remove unviable projects from NV Energy’s interconnection queue.
“The opportunity created by NV Energy’s waiver request will encourage now-uncertain projects to withdraw from the queue or terminate their projects quickly, without penalty and with rapid return of their commercial deposits,” the trade groups said in a joint filing. “In turn, more certain projects could expect a reduced possibility of multiple restudies and less uncertainty with regard to cost responsibility if less certain projects exit sooner.”
Driven by the phaseout of clean energy tax credits in the spending bill signed July 4 and a Department of Interior memo, NV Energy on July 28 asked FERC to approve a waiver so it could open a one-time, 60-day window to give interconnection customers a chance to exit the interconnection process without paying a withdrawal fee.
“The purpose of this waiver request is thus both to clear the queue to the extent possible and avoid unneeded disputes, by providing a benefit to those willing to leave the queue,” the Berkshire Hathaway Energy subsidiary said.
The more interconnection requests that can be withdrawn and more interconnection agreements that can be terminated, the better off developers with offtake customers and financing will be, NV Energy said.
Under the July 15 DOI memo, both the deputy secretary and secretary of the Interior will need to personally review “every decision, action, consultation, and other undertaking” related to solar and wind development on federal land under BLM management, according to Las Vegas-based NV Energy. The BLM controls 67% of Nevada’s territory, the utility company said.
Renewable energy development in Nevada has been frozen since DOI issued its memo, Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo, a Republican, said in an Aug. 4 letter to Interior Secretary Doug Bergum.
“I am concerned the memo will prevent or unnecessarily delay energy development in the state that is poised to help meet the growing energy demands of the mining industry and data centers,” Lombardo said in the letter, which was included with the SEIA and IEA filing.
NV Energy had 49 projects totaling about 17,610 MW in its interconnection queue as of July 31, including about 8,530 MW of solar and battery storage hybrid projects. It also has executed interconnection agreements with 27 projects that signed interconnection requests after 2020, but haven’t come into service, totaling about 5,735 MW.
NV Energy's interconnection queue
NV Energy said its proposal may help renewable energy developers focus on their most viable projects.
“The rapid return of commercial deposits may also allow renewable developers to focus their development efforts on their projects that may be able to obtain tax credits, are not solar or wind and sited on federal land, or on their projects that remain viable because they are needed to meet state renewable standards, regardless of the changed economics,” the utility company said.
