The PJM Interconnection filed proposed reforms with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Oct. 1 to simplify its rules for connecting generation resources at the distribution level across PJM’s footprint, a move that would enable PJM staff to reallocate time and resources to their work on transmission-level interconnections and provide greater clarity to project developers earlier in the interconnection process, it said.
The PJM Members Committee unanimously endorsed the proposed Tariff changes Sept. 25.
If accepted by FERC, PJM said these amendments to PJM’s Tariff would:
• Create significant time-savings and efficiencies for PJM staff, allowing them to devote greater resources to the processing of transmission-level interconnection projects.
• Provide greater clarity on cost and scope for developers and transmission owners much earlier in the interconnection process.
• Affirm the important role of PJM’s state and local regulatory authority partners in setting the rules that govern the physical interconnection of resources to the distribution facilities that they regulate.
The modifications involve eliminating “First Use,” a legal test created by FERC in 2003 that causes certain distribution-level interconnections to be processed under federal interconnection rules, as opposed to the interconnection rules of the applicable state or local authority that regulate the distribution facility.
This practice has required these projects, some of them very small, to go through PJM’s full interconnection process and acquire a FERC-jurisdictional Generation Interconnection Agreement.
PJM’s proposed reforms would instead require distribution-level connections to participate in a simpler state/local-jurisdictional interconnection agreement process and receive a Wholesale Market Participation Agreement (WMPA) from PJM.
If accepted by FERC, the reforms would be implemented on April 28, 2026.
