DOE developed the roadmap through its “i2X” process involving regulators, utilities and other stakeholders. The acronym stands for Interconnection Innovation e-Exchange.
The draft roadmap offers 37 “possible strategies, not prescriptive fixes” to resolve four broad challenges: timeline and process delays, high grid upgrade costs, lack of grid transparency, and incomplete or outdated technical standards.
The roadmap’s goal is to serve as a guide “to key actions the interconnection community can take within the next five years and beyond” to address the current challenges.
The proposed solutions would:
· Streamline the interconnection process so it can handle “large and growing volumes” of interconnection requests.
· Improve analysis of interconnection studies through better data sharing and automation.
· Achieve fair interconnection outcomes at lower costs to ratepayers by improving cost allocation, coordination between interconnection and grid planning, and interconnection studies.
· Ensure strong performance of distributed resources during normal operation and outage conditions through widespread adoption of existing standards and improved interconnection models.
Interconnection study automation by 2030 would allow distributed resources smaller than 50 kW to receive an interconnection agreement instantly upon request, under a roadmap target. Other systems up to 80 MW would receive an interconnection agreement within 90 days. The draft roadmap defines systems up to 80 MW in size as distributed systems.
Smart inverters
Among the proposed solutions, the roadmap suggests that state regulators establish working groups to support the adoption of smart inverters that meet the latest IEEE Standard 1547, and suggests that utilities determine which smart inverter settings should be used.
Those suggestions compare with a Sunrun executive’s call for faster adoption of smart inverters using default settings, along with related consumer protections, leading to a plug-and-play experience for customers buying rooftop solar.
Flexible interconnection
The roadmap says that with flexible interconnection, which enables distributed resources to be curtailed when necessary, distributed generation capacity can exceed the available hosting capacity without grid upgrades, or with fewer upgrades.
Hosting capacity
At higher levels of distributed resource deployment, “it may be useful to shift to dynamic hosting capacity analysis,” the roadmap says.
As an example, it notes that California utilities must produce detailed, hourly hosting capacity models of the distribution system, and must assess distributed resource interconnection applications according to their expected operating profile rather than a static, “worst-case scenario” based on total nameplate or export capacity.
Looking ahead
DOE told pv magazine USA that it will continue “to support innovation in activities within the roadmap.” A spokesperson said DOE could potentially convene stakeholders, facilitate the adoption of solutions, offer technical support, provide loans, and support research, pilot projects and standards development.
DOE previously issued a roadmap for transmission interconnection under the i2X process.
