Marking an important proactive milestone in interconnection, this week Illinois made connecting to the electric grid easier – more streamlined – which translates to savings of time and costs for developers and ultimately energy consumers.

“The interconnection standards that were adopted this week in Illinois are an important step to ensuring the state can smoothly incorporate growing amounts of renewable generation onto the distribution grid,” according to Sky Stanfield, a member of IREC’s regulatory team.

“We commend Illinois for having the foresight to adopt emerging national best practices before the older standards cause an interconnection slow-down, as we have seen recently in growing markets such as New York and Minnesota.  The new standards reflect many important developments in interconnection policy and should serve as an excellent example for other states in the Midwest that may want to take similar proactive action.”

“IREC was pleased to partner with Environmental Law & Policy Center (ELPC) in coordination with the Citizens Utility Board (CUB) to help get these rules adopted in Illinois,” adds IREC Regulatory Director Sara Baldwin Auck. “Combining our national expertise with critical local knowledge led to a very strong outcome that should serve Illinois well into the future.”

IREC posted this blog about the rules when the Commission first voted on them. It provides more detail on the rules that were adopted.