![]() The inflexibility of these conventional reinforcements can exacerbate the issue, particularly if the network requirements change during the interconnection process. This often leads to significant delays in the interconnection of the new generation or, even worse, the withdrawal of projects. These grid upgrades are also subject to the possibility of further delays due to permitting issues and the availability of a suitable outage window, creating a high level of uncertainty and risk for the project developer. So, how will including ATTs in interconnection studies accelerate the queue? Conventional grid reinforcements for interconnection projects, such as new lines and reconductoring, typically take many years to construct, are expensive, and are sized to meet the entire network’s needs from day one. ![]() The cluster study report must provide an assessment of the feasibility, cost, and time-savings potential of ATTs as alternatives to traditional network upgrades to increase transparency for project developers and other stakeholders. The decision should be made in line with good utility practice and any reliability standards or other regulatory requirements that may apply. Based on this, each transmission provider will decide whether it should be used as the whole or part of the grid reinforcement to interconnect that cluster of generation projects. Under the new mandate, transmission providers must consider these ATTs as possible grid reinforcements during the cluster study, a crucial part of the generator interconnection process. After extensive consultations, FERC determined that these technologies have “the most potential to be useful to reduce interconnection costs by providing lower cost network upgrades to interconnect new generating facilities.” What are ATTs and what do they have to do with the interconnection queue? ATTs include static synchronous compensators, static volt-ampere reactive (VAR) compensators, advanced power flow control devices (which I’ll touch on later), transmission switching, synchronous condensers, voltage source converters, advanced conductors, and tower lifting. Since it’s not possible to cover all of these in one article, I’ll focus on the requirement to consider ATTs.
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