ISO-NE Interconnection Issues
Note:
ISO-NE has initiated two Work Groups pursuant to the LICAP Settlement Agreement:
- Information on the treatment of Distributed Resources for new capacity payments under ISO-New England market rules is available at the ISO Market Rules page.
What's New
- For guidance as of June 2006 as to which types of DG projects are expected to fall under the jurisdiction of the ISO-NE rules or the Massachusetts Tariff, see:
- Section 3.3 of the 2006 Report, "Relationship Between the Tariff and the Other Processes"
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Note: ISO-NE has initiated two Work Groups pursuant to the LICAP Settlement Agreement:
- Information on the treatment of Distributed Resources for new capacity payments under ISO-New England market rules is available at the ISO Market Rules page.
ISO-NE Interconnection Arrangements
- For a DG project smaller than 20 MW in Massachusetts, if the the owner or developer is planning to sell power to a non-utility power marketer or other third party, the interconnection application would be submitted to ISO-NE (not to the local Massachusetts Distribution Company and not necessarily subject to the DTE Model Interconnection Tariff that was developed by the DG Collaborative), unless the feeder is not yet FERC-jurisdictional. For details and explanation, see:
- See ISO-NE and FERC websites for status of compliance filing(s) and approval(s) of ISO-NE's Small Gen rules:
- FERC materials related to the rulemaking regarding standarization of small generator interconnection agreements & procedures may be found at by entering Docket Number "RM05-4" at the FERC eLibrary Docket Search page.
- Materials from other FERC dockets can be found at the FERC eLibrary General Search page.
- FERC has partially approved ISO-NE's proposed Small Gen rules:
- FERC Order of April 14, 2006 on ISO-NE SMALL GENERATOR INTERCONNECTION COMPLIANCE FILING AND MODIFICATIONS TO LARGE GENERATOR INTERCONNECTION PROCEDURES AND AGREEMENT, Docket Nos. ER06-191-000, ER06-191-001, ER06-193-000 and ER06-193-001 (word file)
- FERC has accepted in part and rejected in part New England's small generator interconnection compliance filing and large generator amendments filing. A partial summary of some of FERC's findings is shown below:
- FERC rejected New England's proposal to extend timelines for study completion so they would more closely match state jurisdictional timelines.
- FERC rejected New England's proposal to give the TOs an overall coordinating role over FERC jurisdictional interconnections to low voltage (distribution ) level facilities.
- FERC rejected the proposed SGIA insurance requirements.
- FERC Order of Feb. 22, 2006 clarifying limited FERC jurisdiction, including for "a QF sell[ing] its total electric output to the host utility ... at the point of interconnection....", based in part on a 1992 case in which WMECo was involved (Dockets ER06-407 and ER06-408)
Proposed and Draft ISO Interconnection Rules
- The following drafts and proposals are presented for reference, but may have been superceded. See other sections of this web page or ISO-NE's website for more current materials.
- January 18, 2006 -- NE rules for interconnection of large WIND generation, proposed by ISO-NE for FERC approval (pusuant to FERC Order 661)
- November 6, 2005 -- Small gen interconnection rules proposed by ISO-NE for FERC approval (see provisions related to 2 MW threshold)
- October 14, 2005 -- Working drafts before approval by NEPOOL:
ISO Notification in MA Interconnection Tariff
A change was proposed to the DTE by the Massachusetts DG Collaborative in its May, 2005 Annual Report to explicitly indicate that a separate period of time may be required if an ISO-NE review is required for a project's interconnection. This change is still pending puruant to the DTE's June 8, 2005 Request for Comments. Specifically, an additional sentence was proposed for Section 3.3 of the Tariff (under D.T.E. 02-38) indicating that the Massachusetts timelines will be affected by ISO-NE study requirements if the project is over 5 MW, and that an ISO-NE study may be required for projects over 1 MW. The attached extract of 2 pages from the May 2005 Report includes this proposed sentence in red-line form, along with another page from the same Report which includes the explanation that "new ISO-NE procedures require distribution companies to inform the ISO of applications > 1 MW that may have an impact on the transmission system. The ISO-NE has also expressed a more general desire to be informed of the extent of DG throughout its system."
Other Materials on ISO-NE Website
January 18, 2006 -- NE rules for interconnection of large WIND generation, proposed by ISO-NE for FERC approval (pusuant to FERC Order 661)
November 6, 2005 -- Small gen interconnection rules proposed by ISO-NE for FERC approval (see provisions related to 2 MW threshold)
The ISO-NE Generator Interconnection Working Group (see below) addressing issues during 2005 related to:
- the small generator interconnection order (FERC Order 2006),
- modifications to schedule 22 ( the large generator interconnection procedures and agreement) and the ISO Tariff, and
- the recently granted extension concerning wind generator interconnections (FERC Order 661).
Feb 01, 2005 -- ISO-NE Procedure for Reporting Notice of Intent to Construct, Retire or Change Facilities in Accordance with Section I.3.9 of the ISO-NE Tariff (Proposed Plan Application Procedure, PP5-0)
ISO-NE scope of study for system impact studies under the minimum interconnection standard (planning procedure no. 5-6)
ISO-NE Regional System Plans (RSP) -- identify system needs, provide market information, and identify needed regulated transmission solutions to system needs
Planning Advisory Committee -- Open forum for interested parties to make recommendations regarding the annual Regional Systems Plan
FERC Orders
November 22, 2005 -- FERC Order on Rehearing: Small Generator Interconnection
May 12, 2005 -- FERC Order 2006 -- Small Generator Interconnection
June 2, 2005 -- Order 661 -- Final Rule re Interconnection for Wind Energy under FERC Docket RM05-4.
Other FERC materials related to the rulemaking regarding standarization of small generator interconnection agreements & procedures may be found at by entering Docket Number "RM05-4" at the FERC eLibrary Docket Search page.
Materials from other FERC dockets can be found at the FERC eLibrary General Search page.
Related Activities in Other Regions
MADRI: Mid-Atlantic Distributed Resources Initiative Working Group
PJM Small Generation Interconnection Working Group
ISO-NE Generator Interconnection Working Group (2005)
NEPOOL has formed a working group to examine the rules and criteria for how generators can connect to the bulk power system, particularly in the context of several related FERC orders on the issue. The Group submitted its recommendations to the NEPOOL Transmission Committee in September/October 2005 for the compliance filing submitted to FERC on 11/6/05, including proposed changes to the proforma interconnection agreement from the recent FERC order (see drafts of SGIA and SGIP and Schedule 22 below). The status at that time was summarized in a 9/30/05 Presentation to the TC, which can be downloaded here.
Materials Developed by Working Group:
Some of the materials under development by the ISO-NE Generator Interconnection Working Group are posted here in the following files:
Materials for September 1 meeting.
Materials for September 15 meeting:
Materials for October 12 meeting: