FERC Rejects Proposal to Fast Track Connection of New Methane Gas Plants

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a decision rejecting a plan to fast-track connection of methane gas plants to the Midwest power grid. The proposal by Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) is known as the Expedited Resource Addition Study (ERAS).

“FERC rightly rejected the proposal from MISO to fast track connection of utility-owned methane gas projects over the queue of clean energy projects that have been waiting years to connect to the grid, said Christine Powell, Deputy Managing Attorney for Earthjustice’s Clean Energy program. “FERC’s role as an independent agency is to protect consumers, and ensure reliable affordable energy. The best way to do that is let clean energy compete fairly and openly.”

The typical wait for new energy projects to connect to the MISO grid has recently been several years. ERAS would have offered a 90-day timeline, but the flawed policy favored incumbent utilities over independent power producers. The proposal threatened to further delay MISO’s standard interconnection process, where low-cost clean energy makes up the majority of projects in the queue. Earthjustice filed comments on the flawed proposal detailing how:

• The ERAS process would have sidelined generation projects that have been waiting years to connect, and sent everyday consumers the bill for fast tracking projects hand-picked by special interests.
• The proposed ERAS process illegally discriminates against competitive power generation that would bring online clean, affordable energy, allowing utilities to favor their own projects at the expense of consumers and state clean energy goals.
• ERAS threatened the very reforms to the interconnection process that FERC finalized in Order No. 2023 after years of back and forth with stakeholders. Picking and choosing winners and backsliding to inefficient serial interconnection studies is the opposite of progress.