On May 31, 2022, the Biden-Harris administration, through the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), announced the Interconnection Innovation e-Xchange (i2X), “a new partnership funded by President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that brings together grid operators, utilities, state and tribal governments, clean energy developers, energy justice organizations, and other stakeholders to connect more clean energy to America’s power grid.” Among i2X’s goals are to “help reduce wait times for clean energy sources in interconnection queues and lower costs to connect to the grid” by “develop[ing] solutions for faster, simpler, and fairer interconnection . . . through better data, roadmap development, and technical assistance.”

DOE states that “both solar and wind energy resources will need to dramatically expand to meet the Administration’s [clean energy] goals.” However, “current rules, costs, and procedures for connecting to the grid cannot handle the rapid increase in clean energy projects and require more efficient processes to bring the projects online.” DOE also states that “interconnection queue waiting times for the [many] clean energy generation and storage projects slated to be added onto the grid [are] growing,” driven by demand for electricity generated from renewable resources, with even more clean energy investments to come following the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

i2X “aims to solve these challenges by addressing the core issues surrounding grid interconnection, such as a lack of data, shortage of human resources, and more complicated grid impact assessments.” To do that, i2X will, among other things, “develop a 5-year roadmap that sets goals and identifies research gaps and benchmarks for success.” DOE recognizes some of the principal challenges, including that “[i]nterconnection is dictated by a complex network of laws, regulations, and administrative processes that have been developed at the regional, state, [and] utility-territory level.” In addition, while advancing clean energy infrastructure, “it is important to be sure that adding new resources to the grid will not result in safety issues, equipment problems, or power outages.” And “[b]ecause interconnection is inherently a local, state, [and] regional process involving many stakeholder groups[,] . . . challenges vary depending on location.” These challenges are also “multi-disciplinary and require expertise in electrical engineering, economics, regulation, and technology,” all of which DOE hopes i2X will help bring to bear in “an open, inclusive, and collaborative ‘all hands on deck’ approach.” (Source.)

DOE plans to “kick off the partnership” at a virtual event with Energy Secretary Jennifer M. Granholm on Tuesday, June 7, 2022. More details are available here.