On May 22, 2019, the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities (DPU) opened an inquiry to review and revise distributed generation (DG) interconnection procedures and requirements. The DPU established the current interconnection standards in 2013, and, in an effort to foster continued growth of the DG marketplace, now seeks to modify those standards.
The initial scope of the inquiry will be limited to these topics:
- Interconnection of energy storage systems
- Methods to manage high volume queues for DG interconnection
- Process related to affected system operator studies conducted during DG interconnection
- Timeline Enforcement Mechanism
- Interconnection process for DG facilities interconnecting to the transmission system
Given the active clean energy policy landscape in Massachusetts, the DPU’s new inquiry is a significant one. All stakeholders, including developers of solar, wind, and battery storage assets are encouraged to play an active role in this proceeding and to assist the DPU in developing regulatory requirements that ensure greater participation in the DG market. Pierce Atwood recommends that developers attend the technical conference scheduled for July 18, 2019.
