FERC Extends Order No. 2023 Interconnection Process Reform Compliance Deadlines

On October 25, 2023, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued an order¹ that extended the deadline for electric transmission providers to comply with its Order No. 2023, “Improvements to Generator Interconnection Procedures and Agreements” (the Final Rule²). The new compliance filing deadline is Wednesday, April 3, 2024, or 210 calendar days from the Final Rule’s publication in the Federal Register on September 6, 2023. The previous deadline had been December 5, 2023, or 90 days from the publication date. The revised deadline applies to “all transmission providers, except for those with wholesale distribution access tariffs,” whose compliance filings are now due “within 90 calendar days of the date on which their relevant regional transmission organization or independent systems operator submits its compliance filing.”³ FERC clarified that the Extension Order “does not change or modify any other determination or other deadlines established by Order No. 2023, including the deadline for eligibility for interconnection customers to opt to proceed with a transitional serial study (for those interconnection customers tendered a facilities study agreement) or transitional cluster study (for those interconnection customers assigned a queue position) or to withdraw their interconnection requests without penalty (i.e., 30 calendar days after the transmission provider submits its initial compliance filing).”⁴

Under the Final Rule, transmission providers must speed up the processing of requests in their interconnection queues, adopt a “first-ready, first-served” cluster study process and integrate technological advancements in generation and transmission into the interconnection process. More information about the Final Rule, which was released on July 28, 2023, can be found in a previous Akin Speaking Energy Blog post and in a webinar hosted by Akin on August 3, 2023.

^{1 Improvements to Generator Interconnection Procs. & Agreements, 185 FERC ¶ 61,063 (2023) (Extension Order).}

^{2 Improvements to Generator Interconnection Procs. & Agreements, Order No. 2023, 184 FERC ¶ 61,054 (2023).}

^{3 Extension Order at PP 3, 9-10.}

^{4 Id. at P 11.}