S4190-118

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Expediting Generator Interconnection Procedures Act of 2024.

2. Definitions In this Act: The term Commission means the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The term energy storage project means— any equipment that receives, stores, and delivers energy using batteries, compressed air, pumped hydropower, hydrogen storage (including hydrolysis), thermal energy storage, regenerative fuel cells, flywheels, capacitors, superconducting magnets, or other technologies identified by the Commission; and any project for the construction or modification of equipment described in subparagraph (A) as part of an effort to build-out transmission interconnection opportunities. The term generation project means— any facility— that generates or injects electricity; and for which an interconnection request is subject to the jurisdiction of the Commission; and any project for the construction or modification of a facility described in subparagraph (A). The term interconnection customer means a person or entity that has submitted an interconnection request. The term interconnection request means a request submitted to a public utility to interconnect a new generation project or energy storage project to the electric system of a public utility for the purposes of transmission of electric energy in interstate commerce or the sale of electric energy at wholesale. The term public utility has the meaning given the term in section 201(e) of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 824(e)). The term transmission facility means a facility that is used for the transmission of electric energy in interstate commerce. The term transmission provider means a public utility that owns, operates, or controls 1 or more transmission facilities. The term transmission system means a network of transmission facilities used for the transmission of electric energy in interstate commerce.

3. Rulemaking to expedite generator interconnection procedures Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Commission shall initiate a rulemaking— to address the inefficiencies and ineffectiveness of existing procedures for processing interconnection requests to ensure that new generation projects and energy storage projects can interconnect quickly, cost-effectively, and reliably; and to revise the pro forma Large Generator Interconnection Procedures and, as appropriate, the pro forma Large Generator Interconnection Agreement, promulgated pursuant to section 35.28(f) of title 18, Code of Federal Regulations (or successor regulations), to require transmission providers— to develop and employ modeling assumptions for each resource type based on actual operating abilities and practices, for the purposes of studying an interconnection request; to study interconnection requests in a manner consistent with the risk tolerance of the interconnection customer; to select, as appropriate, 1 or more cost-effective solutions to address network reliability needs that may be identified while studying an interconnection request; to provide sufficient information to interconnection customers for the interconnection customers to understand how a transmission provider has implemented the assumptions and solutions described in subparagraphs (A) and (C); to share and employ, as appropriate, queue management best practices, including with respect to the use of advanced computing technologies, automation, and standardized study criteria, in evaluating interconnection requests, in order to expedite study results; and to implement transparency and performance-enhancing measures to ensure timely and cost-conscious construction of necessary network upgrades once an interconnection agreement has been executed. Not later than 18 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Commission shall promulgate a final rule to complete the rulemaking initiated under subsection (a). Nothing in this section alters, or may be construed to alter, the allocation of costs of the transmission system pursuant to the ratemaking authority of the Commission under section 205 of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 824d).