§ 20-140

(This Section may contain text from a Public Act with a delayed effective date ) Sec. 20-140. Interconnection Working Group. (a) The Commission shall establish an Interconnection Working Group. The Working Group shall include representatives from electric utilities, developers of renewable electric generating facilities, representatives of new large loads seeking grid interconnection, other industries that regularly apply for interconnection with the electric utilities as appropriate, representatives of distributed generation customers, the Commission staff, and other stakeholders with a substantial interest in the topics addressed by the Interconnection Working Group. (b) The Interconnection Working Group shall address at least the following issues in relation to new generation and new large loads: (1) the cost of and the best available technology for interconnection and metering, including the standardization and publication of standard costs; (2) transparency, accuracy, and use of the distribution interconnection queue and hosting capacity maps; (3) distribution system upgrade cost avoidance through use of advanced inverter functions, energy storage, and load management; (4) predictability of the queue management process and enforcement of timelines; (5) benefits and challenges associated with group studies and cost sharing; (6) minimum requirements for application to the interconnection process and throughout the interconnection process to avoid queue clogging behavior; (7) the process and customer service for interconnecting customers adopting distributed energy resources, including energy storage; (8) options for metering distributed energy resources, including energy storage; (9) interconnection of new technologies, including smart inverters and energy storage; (10) collection, examination, and sharing of data on Level 1 interconnection costs, including cost and type of upgrades required for interconnection, and the use of this data to inform the final standardized cost of Level 1 interconnection; (11) determination of a single standardized cost for Level 1 interconnections, which shall not exceed $200; and (12) such other technical, policy, and tariff issues related to and affecting interconnection performance and customer service as determined by the Interconnection Working Group. (c) The Commission may create subcommittees of the Interconnection Working Group to focus on specific issues of importance, as appropriate. (d) The Interconnection Working Group shall report to the Commission on recommended improvements to interconnection rules, tariffs, and policies as determined by the Interconnection Working Group at least every year. A report shall include consensus recommendations of the Interconnection Working Group and, if applicable, additional recommendations for which consensus was not reached. Non-consensus shall not be a basis for excluding recommendations that are majority or minority recommendations. The Commission shall use the report from the Interconnection Working Group to determine whether processes should be commenced to formally codify or implement the recommendations. The Interconnection Working Group shall provide the reports under this subsection (d) to the Commission on at least the following topics in the order listed below within a reasonable time, but no later than 12 months, after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 104th General Assembly: (A) a mechanism for good cause extensions to construction timelines as long as the interconnection customer reasonably demonstrates progress; (B) a mechanism for all electric utilities to accept cash, letters of credit, or bonds for any deposits required under the interconnection agreement; (C) cost sharing for distribution system upgrades and interconnection facilities for multiple interconnection customers attempting to interconnect on the same feeder or substation; (D) requirements that interconnection studies process without delay based on queue position or status of applications ahead in the queue, and associated requirements for disclosure of contingent upgrades; (E) provisions allowing for queue reservation for the interconnection of projects installed on public school land to accommodate timing constraints of school board approval and budgeting; and (F) if feasible within the time allotted for the initial report, parameters for utility interconnection studies of energy storage systems not paired with distributed generation that are based on the proposed operational profile of the energy storage systems. (d-5) Within 12 months after the report directed by subsection (d) has been submitted, the Working Group shall report to the Commission on the following: (A) mandatory disclosures on the hosting capacity map and studies for contingent upgrades including timelines for notice of responsibility and payment; (B) a framework for concurrent study on multiple feeders for a distributed energy resource; and (C) if not provided in the initial report required under subsection (d), parameters for utility interconnection studies of energy storage systems not paired with distributed generation that are based on the proposed operational profile of the energy storage systems. (d-10) Within 12 months after the report directed by subsection (d-5) has been submitted, the Working Group shall report to the Commission on the following: (A) dynamic hosting capacity maps; (B) standards for public queue and hosting capacity map information regarding individual projects in queue, including (i) distributed generation nameplate capacity, (ii) paired or stand-alone energy storage system nameplate capacity, (iii) detailed estimated upgrade costs, and (iv) systems that have completed upgrades and withdrawn projects; and (C) timelines for refund of deposits if the interconnection agreement is terminated. Within the same time period, utilities shall publish all final interconnection agreements, facilities studies, and system impact studies. (d-15) Within 12 months after the report directed by subsection (d-10) has been submitted, the Working Group shall report to the Commission on the following: (A) level of detail of costs in system impact and facilities studies and level 2 studies; and (B) a cap on charges to the interconnection customer based on a percentage of the non-binding cost estimate in the facilities study, system impact study, or level 2 study. (e) In collaboration with the General Counsel of the Commission, the Office of Retail Market Development shall develop policies and procedures to facilitate employees of the Office in leading the Interconnection Working Group without interference with docketed proceedings. The policies and procedures developed under this subsection (e) shall be designed to allow the Interconnection Working Group to work without interruption.

Legislative History

(Source: P.A. 104-458, eff. 6-1-26.)