Wind and solar power projects risk overwhelming America's antiquated power grids

An explosion of clean energy projects has overwhelmed the system of connecting new energy sources to homes and businesses.
Plans to install 3,000 acres of solar panels in Kentucky and Virginia are delayed for years. Wind farms in Minnesota and North Dakota were abruptly canceled. And programs to encourage people in Massachusetts and Maine to adopt solar energy are running out of steam.
The energy transition is about to take off in the United States amid record low investment in wind, solar and other low-carbon technologies is facing a serious hurdle: the sheer volume of projects has overwhelmed the country's outdated systems to connect new sources of electricity homes and businesses.
So many projects try to squeeze their way through the approval process that delays can last for years, leaving some developers giving up and losing their minds. 'go away.
More than 8,100 energy projects – the vast majority of them wind, solar and batteries – were waiting for permission to connect to the end of 2021, compared to 5,600 the previous year, blocking the system con nu under the name of interconnection.
It is the process by which electricity generated by nes wind turbines or solar panels is added to the network - the network of power lines and transformers that carry electricity from where it is created to cities and factories. There is no single grid; the United States has dozens of power grids, each overseen by a different authority.
PJM Interconnection, which operates the country's largest regional grid, which spans from Illinois to New Jersey, has been so inundated with connection requests that last year it announced a freeze on new applications until 2026, so it could process a backlog of thousands of applications, mostly for energy renewable.
It now takes about four years, on average, for developers to get approval, double the time it took ten years ago .
And when companies finally get their projects reviewed, they often face another hurdle: the local network is at capacity and they have to spend a lot more than expected for new transport lines and other upgrades.
Many give up. According to a study by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, less than a fifth of solar and wind proposals pass through the so-called interconnection queue.
"De From our perspective, the interconnect process has become the No. 1 project killer,” said Piper Miller, vice president of market development at Pine Gate Renewables, a leading solar and battery developer. /p>
ImageA building that once housed transformers at Brayton Point Power Station, a coal-fired power station that is being repurposed to connect a wind farm to the Massachusetts power grid.Credit ...Simon Simard for The New York Times
After years of dizzying growth, the facilities large-scale solar, wind and battery farms in the United States fell 16% in 2022, according to the American Clean Power...

World Feb 23, 2023 0 46 Add to Reading List

Wind and solar power projects risk overwhelming America's antiquated power grids

An explosion of clean energy projects has overwhelmed the system of connecting new energy sources to homes and businesses.

Plans to install 3,000 acres of solar panels in Kentucky and Virginia are delayed for years. Wind farms in Minnesota and North Dakota were abruptly canceled. And programs to encourage people in Massachusetts and Maine to adopt solar energy are running out of steam.

The energy transition is about to take off in the United States amid record low investment in wind, solar and other low-carbon technologies is facing a serious hurdle: the sheer volume of projects has overwhelmed the country's outdated systems to connect new sources of electricity homes and businesses.

So many projects try to squeeze their way through the approval process that delays can last for years, leaving some developers giving up and losing their minds. 'go away.

More than 8,100 energy projects – the vast majority of them wind, solar and batteries – were waiting for permission to connect to the end of 2021, compared to 5,600 the previous year, blocking the system con nu under the name of interconnection.

It is the process by which electricity generated by nes wind turbines or solar panels is added to the network - the network of power lines and transformers that carry electricity from where it is created to cities and factories. There is no single grid; the United States has dozens of power grids, each overseen by a different authority.

PJM Interconnection, which operates the country's largest regional grid, which spans from Illinois to New Jersey, has been so inundated with connection requests that last year it announced a freeze on new applications until 2026, so it could process a backlog of thousands of applications, mostly for energy renewable.

It now takes about four years, on average, for developers to get approval, double the time it took ten years ago .

And when companies finally get their projects reviewed, they often face another hurdle: the local network is at capacity and they have to spend a lot more than expected for new transport lines and other upgrades.

Many give up. According to a study by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, less than a fifth of solar and wind proposals pass through the so-called interconnection queue.

"De From our perspective, the interconnect process has become the No. 1 project killer,” said Piper Miller, vice president of market development at Pine Gate Renewables, a leading solar and battery developer. /p>

ImageA building that once housed transformers at Brayton Point Power Station, a coal-fired power station that is being repurposed to connect a wind farm to the Massachusetts power grid.Credit ...Simon Simard for The New York Times

After years of dizzying growth, the facilities large-scale solar, wind and battery farms in the United States fell 16% in 2022, according to the American Clean Power...