Massachusetts initiates interconnection working group
On May 31, the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities initiated their interconnection revision process with a working group meeting. The impetus for the revision process has been the increasingly problematic backlog of distributed generation (DG) interconnection applications. Despite the backlog of interconnection requests, stakeholders appear to be concerned about a broader range of interconnection issues…
On May 31, the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities initiated their interconnection revision process with a working group meeting. The impetus for the revision process has been the increasingly problematic backlog of distributed generation (DG) interconnection applications. Despite the backlog of interconnection requests, stakeholders appear to be concerned about a broader range of interconnection issues that reach beyond timelines. The working group has been given four months to discuss potential revisions to the MA interconnection rules with the help of a professional facilitator. In addition to facilitating group discussion, the facilitator is responsible for submitting regular reports to the MA Department of Public Utilities (DPU), which is not participating in the working group. On September 11, the group must provide the DPU with its final report and recommendations, which may include a fully revised tariff produced by stakeholder consensus.
Some of the issues being discussed include pre-application procedures (utility mapping, pre-application meetings, etc.); improved expedited interconnection screens, especially improving the current penetration screen which is only 7.5% of peak load; improved and more transparent supplemental review procedures; improved interconnection queue management; and potential distribution-level group study processes for multiple projects on a single circuit, among other things.
To follow the progress of this working group, see the Massachusetts distributed generation site.
