Interconnection: the Key to Realizing Your Distributed Energy Policy Dream
The first article in an IREC series on interconnection in GreenTech Media, Erica McConnell, former special counsel and Cathy Malina, environmental law fellow with Shute, Mihaly and Weinberger LLP, attorneys for IREC, explain how good connection rules can make or break a market.
Imagine a state that has enacted all of the policies that the public and clean energy providers have asked for: an aggressive renewable portfolio standard, a robust grid modernization plan, far-reaching shared renewables. The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, people are celebrating and getting ready to build new projects — perfect, right?
Unfortunately, there could be dark clouds on the horizon without the one policy most critical to making everything else work: interconnection.
The absence of this crucial policy would cause projects to because mired in a murky technical process, with no end in sight.
Does this sound too pessimistic to be real? It’s not. Just ask Minnesota, New York and several other states that have learned the hard way about the importance of interconnection.
Read the full article.
