CRI leads successful effort to prepare Maryland for the widespread use of smart inverters

CRI’s leadership of the smart inverter work group in Maryland’s grid modernization docket has resulted in the adoption of important new interconnection regulations in the State.  Regulations adopted on March 31, 2020 require Maryland’s utilities to propose standard approaches to voltage control and ride-through for smart inverters, and require all inverters installed after January 1, 2022 to comply with the new IEEE 1547-2018 standard.  The new requirements will boost distribution system hosting capacity, help assure the safe and stable operation of the distribution grid, and allow PJM to operate more reliably as distributed generation expands. 

Read more about CRI’s efforts and the new Maryland regulations here, and download CRI’s comments summarizing the new smart inverter requirements here.

CRI’s white paper, It’s Time for States to Get Smart About Smart Inverters, with recommendations for state regulators, can be downloaded free here.

Webinar recording link: The Electron Superhighway: Modernizing the US Transmission Infrastructure

CRI thanks NARUC for organizing a webinar to discuss solutions for improving the US transmission infrastructure that can be implemented quicker and cheaper than traditional poles and wires. Some technologies have been called “Waze for the transmission grid” while others are the equivalent to reversible traffic lanes. As Congress considers economic recovery and infrastructure investments, solutions to improve our electricity infrastructure and enable clean, low cost renewable generation should be at the top of the list. This webinar discusses the technologies, regulatory barriers, and actions that FERC as well as state regulators can take to enable these solutions.

https://www.naruc.org/cpi/cpi-past-events/

The following is a reprint from the NARUC Website:

March 19, 2020: The Electron Superhighway: Modernizing U.S. Transmission Infrastructure

Increasing the capacity and performance of electric transmission is key to achieving state goals, from increased resilience to integrating renewables. On this webinar, experts discussed improvements in advanced transmission technologies and regulatory options for deploying these solutions.

Moderator: Chairman Sally Talberg, Michigan Public Service Commission

Speakers: 

• Jennie Chen, Senior Counsel, Federal Energy Policy, Duke University Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions

• Bruce Tsuchida, Principal, The Brattle Group

• Kerinia Cusick, Co-Founder, Center for Renewables Integration

• Jon Wellinghoff, CEO, GridPolicy Inc., and former Chairman, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission 

Link to slides

Link to recording

CRI Provides Expert Witness Testimony in Smart Inverter Docket

The Center for Renewables Integration is supporting the Natural Resources Defense Council, providing expert testimony in Pennsylvania on smart inverter deployment. PPL Electric Utilities filed a petition with the Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission in 2019, requesting authorization to require all new DERs equipped with inverters to install communications equipment linked to PPL’s distributed energy resource management system (DERMS). PPL’s request would also authorize the utility to control the inverters remotely at its discretion. CRI witness educates the Commission on risks of that approach and recommends establishing a statewide stakeholder process to determine new smart inverter standards, in line with the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners’ recent resolution, and advocates taking maximum advantage of IEEE-1547-2018 compliant inverters’ autonomous capabilities. Link to the NARUC resolution here, and to CRI’s white paper “It’s Time for States to Get Smart About Smart Inverters” here.