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A coalition of about 200 solar and energy storage companies called for siting, permitting and transmission reforms.
A letter signed by nearly 200 solar energy and energy storage companies was sent to Congress, calling for legislation to reform processes that are bottlenecks to clean energy development.
The letter calls for reforms in permitting, project siting, transmission and access to public lands for solar and storage projects. See the letter and the full list of signatories here.
President and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), Abigail Ross Hopper, said that hundreds of billions of dollars of investment depend on the ability of developers to locate, Authorize and effectively interconnect clean energy projects with a modern transmission system.
According to Wood Mackenzie, the solar sector could reach 673 GW deployed by 2034, but there is a 200 GW difference between the highest and lowest solar deployment forecasts. Political decisions greatly influence these results.
“Legislators from both parties realize the importance of building new energy infrastructure quickly and efficiently,” said Ross Hopper. “Now is the time to take policy action to strengthen the U.S. energy industry and support local economies with jobs and private investment.”
The companies requested the following reforms
Modernize federal energy permitting: Streamline and standardize the federal permitting process while supporting environmental safeguards.
Create project siting partnerships at all levels of government: Encourage federal, state, and local authorities to collaborate to identify and designate suitable sites for clean energy development, including on underused and disturbed land.
Increase transmission capacity: Invest in transmission planning, construction and grid modernization efforts to maximize transmission capacity and unleash the full potential of solar energy, especially in remote regions with abundant solar resources.
Allow the Administration to achieve the objectives of public lands: Simplify the process for clean energy generation and transmission projects to access public land leases while maintaining environmental conservation standards.
Encourage interagency collaboration: Empower federal siting agencies—such as the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Office of Land Management, and the Department of Energy—to create a clearinghouse for applications of permits that guarantee an agile approval process for critical transmission infrastructures.
Interconnection queues across the United States are piling up with solar and energy storage projects ready to be developed and installed. The slowness of the process is creating unprecedented bottlenecks. This is the case of the developer AES, which has more than 50 GW of capacity waiting to advance.
“…these projects are ready to move forward and will generate critical economic investment and create jobs in local communities across the country, but require rapid permitting and transmission infrastructure upgrades to ensure we can move towards a clean and reliable energy future,” said Amanda Smith, vice president of external affairs at AES renewables.
Virinder Singh, vice president of regulatory and legislative affairs at EDF Renewables, said current laws are not prepared to allow the nation to build generation and transmission at the scale needed to support economic growth. He said federal leadership is needed to “meet the moment.”
“The lack of transmission capacity is the biggest barrier to the continued growth of the renewable industry,” said David Mindham, director of regulatory affairs at EDP Renewables North America. “The proposed reforms will remove these barriers, creating thousands of new American manufacturing jobs and supporting local economies.”
The Department of Energy recently released a roadmap report to meet the nations needs for transmission interconnection reform to support the energy transition. The report presents 35 interconnection improvement solutions developed through a DOE stakeholder engagement process initiated 22 months ago, known as the Interconnection Innovation e-Xchange (i2X) program.
One of the “long-term” solutions in the roadmap is to “explore options” that allow interconnection customers to self-fund and conduct their own interconnection studies, subject to transport provider oversight, standards and requirements. Tesla stated in late 2022 that, with access to network models, the company could estimate a projects interconnection costs with a reporting study in less than two weeks, while two trade groups then renewed their call to allow interconnection studies. from third parties. |
