I am pleased that we are affirming all of the core reforms of Order No. 2023. We are requiring greater stringency on both interconnection customers and transmission providers; an appropriate approach given how pervasive and consequential interconnection backlogs are. Electric demand is surging - driven by a domestic manufacturing resurgence, the demand for data storage and processing power, and the growth of artificial intelligence. Getting new generation online more quickly is imperative, not only because it fosters competition and access to low-cost power, but because it is now critical to powering our nation’s economic growth. I am happy to say with this rule the past is no longer prologue for the time it will take interconnection resources to hook up to the system.
As I said when 2023 was issued last year, this rule isn’t the end of our work on interconnection, but it is a major step forward. Special thanks go to the staff team that has lived and breathed interconnection for the last couple of years. Of course, no major rule can please everyone, but with our staff’s meticulous work I can say that we carefully considered every request for clarification and rehearing. I am pleased that today’s order offers numerous helpful clarifications that will improve the suite of reforms and will facilitate timely implementation. I want to also thank my own advisor, Kris Fitzpatrick, who led our team’s work and has been working really hard on this.
Looking forward, in addition to our intent focus on a transmission planning rule, I am also excited for the interconnection workshops that the Chairman announced will be held later this year. I have been following with keen interest the innovative ideas CAISO and SPP have been workshopping to more closely integrate transmission planning and interconnection processes. I am hopeful that the workshops will provide a forum for advancing the conversation on creative interconnection solutions to build on the good work that has been done to date.
I support the Commission’s issuance of a Notice of Inquiry to consider a rulemaking that would restrict a practice sometimes referred to as “junk and jewel.” This is the packaging of desirable pipeline capacity segments with undesirable ones as a means to increase the rate a pipeline could otherwise collect for the capacity. I was struck by the wide range of organizations—from natural gas shippers, to industrial customers, to a bipartisan group of NARUC commissioners—who have all expressed concern and support the Commission digging in on this issue. I encourage, as the Chairman did, that you all submit comments on the NOI to develop this record more fully.