[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4190 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 4190

   To require the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to promulgate 
regulations that accelerate the interconnection of electric generation 
and storage resources to the transmission system through more efficient 
               and effective interconnection procedures.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 18, 2024

 Ms. Cortez Masto introduced the following bill; which was read twice 
     and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To require the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to promulgate 
regulations that accelerate the interconnection of electric generation 
and storage resources to the transmission system through more efficient 
               and effective interconnection procedures.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Expediting Generator Interconnection 
Procedures Act of 2024''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Commission.--The term ``Commission'' means the Federal 
        Energy Regulatory Commission.
            (2) Energy storage project.--The term ``energy storage 
        project'' means--
                    (A) any equipment that receives, stores, and 
                delivers energy using batteries, compressed air, pumped 
                hydropower, hydrogen storage (including hydrolysis), 
                thermal energy storage, regenerative fuel cells, 
                flywheels, capacitors, superconducting magnets, or 
                other technologies identified by the Commission; and
                    (B) any project for the construction or 
                modification of equipment described in subparagraph (A) 
                as part of an effort to build-out transmission 
                interconnection opportunities.
            (3) Generation project.--The term ``generation project'' 
        means--
                    (A) any facility--
                            (i) that generates or injects electricity; 
                        and
                            (ii) for which an interconnection request 
                        is subject to the jurisdiction of the 
                        Commission; and
                    (B) any project for the construction or 
                modification of a facility described in subparagraph 
                (A).
            (4) Interconnection customer.--The term ``interconnection 
        customer'' means a person or entity that has submitted an 
        interconnection request.
            (5) Interconnection request.--The term ``interconnection 
        request'' means a request submitted to a public utility to 
        interconnect a new generation project or energy storage project 
        to the electric system of a public utility for the purposes of 
        transmission of electric energy in interstate commerce or the 
        sale of electric energy at wholesale.
            (6) Public utility.--The term ``public utility'' has the 
        meaning given the term in section 201(e) of the Federal Power 
        Act (16 U.S.C. 824(e)).
            (7) Transmission facility.--The term ``transmission 
        facility'' means a facility that is used for the transmission 
        of electric energy in interstate commerce.
            (8) Transmission provider.--The term ``transmission 
        provider'' means a public utility that owns, operates, or 
        controls 1 or more transmission facilities.
            (9) Transmission system.--The term ``transmission system'' 
        means a network of transmission facilities used for the 
        transmission of electric energy in interstate commerce.

SEC. 3. RULEMAKING TO EXPEDITE GENERATOR INTERCONNECTION PROCEDURES.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Commission shall initiate a rulemaking--
            (1) to address the inefficiencies and ineffectiveness of 
        existing procedures for processing interconnection requests to 
        ensure that new generation projects and energy storage projects 
        can interconnect quickly, cost-effectively, and reliably; and
            (2) to revise the pro forma Large Generator Interconnection 
        Procedures and, as appropriate, the pro forma Large Generator 
        Interconnection Agreement, promulgated pursuant to section 
        35.28(f) of title 18, Code of Federal Regulations (or successor 
        regulations), to require transmission providers--
                    (A) to develop and employ modeling assumptions for 
                each resource type based on actual operating abilities 
                and practices, for the purposes of studying an 
                interconnection request;
                    (B) to study interconnection requests in a manner 
                consistent with the risk tolerance of the 
                interconnection customer;
                    (C) to select, as appropriate, 1 or more cost-
                effective solutions to address network reliability 
                needs that may be identified while studying an 
                interconnection request;
                    (D) to provide sufficient information to 
                interconnection customers for the interconnection 
                customers to understand how a transmission provider has 
                implemented the assumptions and solutions described in 
                subparagraphs (A) and (C);
                    (E) to share and employ, as appropriate, queue 
                management best practices, including with respect to 
                the use of advanced computing technologies, automation, 
                and standardized study criteria, in evaluating 
                interconnection requests, in order to expedite study 
                results; and
                    (F) to implement transparency and performance-
                enhancing measures to ensure timely and cost-conscious 
                construction of necessary network upgrades once an 
                interconnection agreement has been executed.
    (b) Deadline for Final Rule.--Not later than 18 months after the 
date of enactment of this Act, the Commission shall promulgate a final 
rule to complete the rulemaking initiated under subsection (a).
    (c) Savings Clause.--Nothing in this section alters, or may be 
construed to alter, the allocation of costs of the transmission system 
pursuant to the ratemaking authority of the Commission under section 
205 of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 824d).
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