The Interstate renewable energy (IREC) council has its last “Freeing the gridstudy, which evaluates how well each state connects distributed energy resources (DERs), such as solar and energy storage. IREC compiles “Freeing the Grid” with Vote for solar energy.
Credit: Interstate Renewable Energy Council & Vote Solar
The study only looks at statewide interconnection policies. Of all 50 states is New Mexico is the only one with an “A” grade. Compared to the last report published in 2023, eight states’ interconnection practices have improved. Oregon and New Jersey jumped from “D” to “B” grades, Maine went from a “C” to a “B” and Wisconsin from a “D” to a “C.” California, Connecticut, Minnesota and Vermont’s ratings improved, but not by a letter.
“IREC’s Freeing the Grid interconnection grades are a powerful tool for states to benchmark the effectiveness of their interconnection policies. We are pleased to see improvements in eight states this year, but with more than 80% of states scoring a ‘C’ or lower and a quarter of all states having no statewide interconnection rules at all, significantly more work needs to be done to ensure consistent, transparent and efficient processes,” said Chris Nichols, CEO of IREC. “This report and state-specific policy recommendations are particularly timely given the current pressure on regulators to rein in electricity rate increases and supply more energy to meet growing demand.”
IREC stated that “Freeing the Grid” was created to help utility lawmakers and regulators implement more efficient interconnection processes for DERs. Each state is evaluated against 10 categories of criteria that measure interconnection cost, efficiency and transparency, and the report recommends how each state can improve. By implementing these recommendations, IREC ultimately hopes to speed up the process and reduce, if not avoid, interconnection backlogs.
According to this latest “Freeing the Grid” report, 13 states and territories have no statewide interconnection measures. Only nine states received a ‘B’ grade or higher, the rest were below that.
“We are encouraged to see states making meaningful progress toward faster and more transparent interconnection processes,” said Sachu Constantine, Executive Director of Vote Solar. “But this year’s numbers also make clear that many states still have substantial work to do to ensure that community energy sources like solar can be connected to the grid efficiently and equitably. Strong interconnection policies are fundamental to achieving affordable, reliable and equitable clean energy that can benefit all communities.”
News item from IREC
