The Politics of Effective Interconnection Regimes for Clean Energy Transitions

• In Event: Energy Policy and Politics

Abstract

As the U.S. grapples with the urgent need to speed clean energy deployment for climate mitigation to meet state and federal net zero targets, interconnection delays are a major obstacle to achieving emissions reduction goals and commitments under the Paris Agreement. Increasing delays and costs are only in part related to the rising rate of deployment; ineffective interconnection regimes also play a significant role, which can be linked to vested interests of utilities, perverse incentive structures, absence of proactive approaches, mismatched institutional design and norms such as serial study, or outdated cost sharing approaches. This paper contributes to the literature on barriers to clean energy transition through the focus on interconnection regimes, which encompass political-institutional challenges as much as technical ones. Nevertheless, some states have managed to break through barriers using legislative and regulatory vehicles to create relatively more effective and innovative interconnection regimes. The main research question guiding this paper is: How have barriers been overcome in states with effective interconnection regimes? To answer these questions, the paper uses comparative case study analysis to examine nine distributed-level interconnection regimes in the U.S.: three effective interconnection regimes (e.g. in NY, NM, CA), three ineffective interconnection regimes (e.g. in VA, MA, NJ), and three states without formal interconnection regimes (e.g. in WY, AR, GA); through the case study analysis, the paper investigates the role of market structure, regulatory mandates and incentive structures, technical capacity in the Commission and industry in prevailing to overcome barriers to create effective interconnection regimes in some jurisdictions, while failing in others.

Author

• Kathryn Chelminski, Brown University