Sierra Club successfully opposed modifications to a proposal from Southwest Power Pool (SPP) that would have further delayed the interconnection of more than 65 GW of clean energy and storage resources that have been waiting for years to connect to the grid. By avoiding this needless delay, Sierra Club has ensured that these 65 GW of new resources (capable of providing electricity to millions of households) are able to take advantage of federal clean energy tax credits before they expire.
SPP's proposed Surplus+ interconnection fast-track, which FERC recently approved, will give every existing generator a one-time fast track to increase their maximum power output by 20%. We did not oppose this proposal as a whole, but we did oppose two of the amendments that SPP proposed. The first amendment could have allowed new gas plants to take advantage of the fast track at the sites of recently retired generators (i.e. mostly coal and some gas sites); and the second would have prioritized Surplus+ projects over projects that have already been waiting to connect to the grid in the standard interconnection queue. The latter amendment in particular would have prevented several wind, solar, and battery storage projects from starting construction in time to take advantage of the federal tax credits before they disappear next year.
This unanimous ruling from the FERC commissioners, which approved the underlying proposal but rejected both modifications that we opposed, is an incredible win for clean energy. Sierra Club led the opposition to these two amendments and filed the only replies in both dockets. FERC cited these filings in its order. Sierra Club was represented in these cases by Senior Attorney Greg Wannier.