The NYISO unveiled the framework of its proposed compliance filing for FERC Order No. 2023 (184 FERC ¶ 61,054) to market participants last week at the first meeting of its newly established Interconnection Issues Task Force (“IITF”). This post is the first in a series that will provide updates on the IITF and the NYISO’s Order No. 2023 compliance efforts.
Order No. 2023 finalized reforms to FERC’s standard generator interconnection procedures and agreements for transmission providers, including reforms that modify interconnection study procedures in an attempt to increase the speed of interconnection queue processing. The goal of the order is to ensure that interconnection customers, such as renewable energy generation developers, can interconnect to the transmission system in a “reliable, efficient, transparent, and timely manner.” Order No. 2023, in relevant part, requires transmission providers to switch from serial interconnection studies to first-ready, first-served cluster processes. The NYISO currently uses a hybrid approach where it performs several serial (i.e., single, project-specific) studies before culminating in the clustered Class Year Study.
At the IITF, the NYISO informed stakeholders that it would be adhering to the mandates of Order No. 2023, but would be seeking some “independent entity variations,” which Order No. 2023 noted may be necessary to accommodate regional needs.
The NYISO indicated at the IITF that its proposed compliance filing will seek independent entity variations to accommodate, among other things, an optional pre-application process, an “enhanced scope” for the Customer Engagement Window, and a “two-Phase Cluster Study.” The two phases would include a Local System Upgrade Facilities cluster study and then a cluster System Reliability Impact Study (“SRIS”) plus System Upgrade Facilities/System Deliverability Upgrades study. The NYISO’s process would involve clusters that begin every 18 months with slight overlap.
Notably, while Order No. 2023 contemplates a year-long transitional scenario for transmission providers to shift from their existing processes to the new format, the NYISO is proposing to move directly to the new process without a prolonged transition process. Instead, the NYISO plans to make a partial compliance/waiver filing in November to allow projects to begin to transition to the new process. This filing will eliminate the SRIS requirement for pending projects, and offer options for how projects with completed SRIS scopes can move forward, depending on whether their SRIS scope was approved by the NYISO’s Operating Committee prior to December 1, 2023.
Order No. 2023 Compliance filings are currently due on December 5, 2023, though several entities have motions for extensions of the compliance filings pending before FERC. The NYISO indicated that if the motions are denied, it will seek a more modest extension.
The NYISO filed a request for rehearing of Order No. 2023 on August 28, 2023 (as did several other entities, including MISO, PJM, and SPP). The NYISO’s rehearing request sought (among other things): (i) flexibility to allow each transmission provider to establish its own interconnection study timelines instead of the universally applicable 150-day timeline established by Order No. 2023; (ii) elimination of the strict liability penalty against transmission providers that miss the study deadlines; and (iii) clarification that customers are limited to only one opportunity to cure a deficiency in their interconnection requests, regardless of whether there is still time remaining in the customer’s allotted deficiency response period. By declining to act on the requests for rehearing by September 28, 2023, the requests were denied by operation of law. Petitions for review of Order No. 2023 are due in November.
The next meeting of the IITF is scheduled for October 20, 2023 – look for more information from us shortly thereafter.
