As one of the world’s largest power markets, PJM Interconnection, LLC (PJM) plans and operates the transmission system and wholesale power markets in a nearly 370,000-mile service territory spanning some or all thirteen states and the District of Columbia. However, PJM has acknowledged the risk of its capacity market failing to address regional needs as soon as 2030. Despite recognizing the need to encourage the entry of new resources, including and specifically storage resources, PJM has in practice effectively prevented battery energy storage systems (BESS) from using a tool that could expedite BESS entry: Surplus Interconnection Service (SIS).
This report “ReSISting a Resource Shortfall: Fixing PJM’s Surplus Interconnection Service (SIS) to Enable Battery Storage” by ACORE concludes that PJM’s current implementation of SIS unnecessarily constrains this vital option to address the region’s reliability puzzle. PJM needs more storage resources to support the system as it transitions to include more intermittent resources, yet it limits BESS’s ability to participate in SIS. Instead of summarily denying BESS’s SIS applications for de minimis impacts on the existing transmission system, PJM should follow FERC’s requirements and allow SIS as long as approving the request would not require new system upgrades. PJM can achieve this result by adopting best practices for SIS implementation from other jurisdictions like MISO and SPP.
Access the report here
