Republicans in Congress have introduced a bill that would boost gas, coal and nuclear projects by pushing them toward the front of a line of new electricity capacity waiting to be brought onto regional grids.
The average wait time in the “interconnection queue” — where new generation waits for approval from a transmission grid — has ballooned from less than two years in 2008 to five years in 2023. Roughly three-quarters of projects will be abandoned while waiting in the queue.
The “GRID Power Act” — proposed by Rep. Troy Balderson (R-Ohio) and Sens. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) and Todd Young (R-Ind.) — pitches a partial fix by directing the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to allow electric grid operators to push “dispatchable” power plants through a backlog of mostly wind, solar and energy storage projects. With an eye toward improving grid reliability, project approval could happen in months instead of years under the legislation.
The bill defines “dispatchable power” as generation that provides a “known and forecastable electric supply.”
