Policy & Regulation

PJM moves to next phase of new interconnection process

PJM moves to next phase of new interconnection process

Regional transmission organization publishes initial system impact studies for 300+ projects

PJM announced the completion of Phase I System Impact Studies for 306 proposed generation projects as part of Transition Cycle #1 of PJM’s new interconnection process.

Developers now have 30 days to decide whether to proceed with their new service requests into the next study phase of Transition Cycle #1, which will begin June 20. The projects in this transition cycle are expected to clear PJM’s study process and be ready for construction by mid-2025.

Separately, another 306 projects have previously qualified for an Expedited Process, or “fast lane,” with Final Agreements to be issued throughout 2024.

“This is another critical milestone for PJM’s widely supported interconnection process reform,” said Aftab Khan, executive vice president of operations, planning, and security. “New service requests for generation resources are moving through our process as designed and promised, with more than 200,000 MW of projects to be studied over the next two years to help states advance their energy policy goals.”

PJM has launched a new webpage created to share study results and request status. The Phase I Study results for Transition Cycle #1 projects are posted there, in addition to an overall report for the cluster.

The new page also highlights PJM’s shift from a queue-based study process to its current cycle-based process. The legacy serial-study-based page will continue to provide information about projects that were part of PJM’s legacy interconnection queue.

The cutoff date for Transition Cycle #2 applications is expected to be announced June 20, with an anticipated deadline of December 16. In total, PJM expects to process about 72,000 MW in projects by mid-2025 and 230,000 MW over the next three years; over 90% of those projects are renewable or storage.

PJM’s interconnection process reform was approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in November 2022 and went into effect in July 2023. The reforms, developed in collaboration with stakeholders, are meant to provide an efficient and timely process for handling New Service Requests by, among other changes, transitioning from a “first-come, first-served” queue approach to a “first-ready, first-served” cycle approach.

PJM continues to provide updates on study progress at the monthly public meetings of the Interconnection Process Subcommittee.

Since the new interconnection process was implemented in July, 734 projects were eligible to be evaluated in the first step. Of those, 118 either dropped out of the process or did not post sufficient readiness requirements by the due date, clearing the queue of projects that were less certain to be developed but still required the same time and resources from PJM. The remaining projects fell into either the Expedited Process or Transition Cycle #1 as outlined above.

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