Contact: Christine Ho, christine.ho@sierraclub.org
Washington, D.C. - On Tuesday, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued a decision that allows PJM to prioritize adding gas-fired power plants to its grid while keeping renewable energy projects in its long interconnection queue.
Last year, PJM proposed its Reliability Resource Initiative, which the grid operator claims would address rapidly increasing capacity demands. However, this plan only fast-tracks gas-fired power plants and may increase costs for renewable energy sources that have been waiting in PJM’s interconnection queue for more than 6 years in some cases.
Following the decision, Commissioners Phillips and Rosner issued a concurrence to criticize the pace of PJM’s interconnection reforms and to make clear that the approval is only a “one-time emergency measure” and that it was “not a substitute for a well-functioning interconnection process.” Commissioner Chang dissented, agreeing with Sierra Club that RRI “prioritizes the size of the new interconnecting resources over speed” and is “poorly designed” to address what PJM claims is the need for the proposal.
As of September 2022, 95 percent of all projects in the interconnection queue are renewable resources.
In response, Sierra Club Staff Attorney Megan Wachspress issued the following statement:
“The Sierra Club has advocated tirelessly for PJM to expedite its interconnection process to get more renewable energy online, which would lower energy costs for its millions of customers and reduce pollution across 13 states. PJM is still resisting reforms and has legally challenged a FERC order that would speed up the interconnection process.
“It is deeply disappointing that despite the problems identified by Commissioner Chang and acknowledged by Commissioners Phillips and Rosner, FERC would green-light PJM’s misguided effort to improve its interconnection process, knowing that adding more toxic gas plants will cause long-term environmental and public health issues across the Mid-Atlantic region. Additionally, there’s no reason to believe this proposal will even address PJM’s short-term capacity problem since it does not require any of the chosen resources to be online by 2030 or even 2035.
“We will continue to push back against PJM’s favoritism towards costly and unreliable gas, and advocate on behalf of PJM's 10 million customers that deserve the most affordable, healthy, and reliable energy.”
About the Sierra Club: The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.