[House Report 119-295]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
119th Congress } { Report
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
1st Session } { 119-295
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GUARANTEEING RELIABILITY THROUGH THE
INTERCONNECTION OF DISPATCHABLE POWER ACT
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September 15, 2025.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on
the State of the Union and ordered to be printed
----------------
Mr. Guthrie, from the Committee on Energy and Commerce,
submitted the following
R E P O R T
together with
MINORITY VIEWS
[To accompany H.R. 1047]
The Committee on Energy and Commerce, to whom was referred
the bill (H.R. 1047) to require the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission to reform the interconnection queue process for the
prioritization and approval of certain projects, and for other
purposes, having considered the same, reports favorably thereon
without amendment and recommends that the bill do pass.
CONTENTS
Page
Purpose and Summary.............................................. 2
Background and Need for Legislation.............................. 2
Committee Action................................................. 4
Committee Votes.................................................. 4
Oversight Findings and Recommendations........................... 7
New Budget Authority, Entitlement Authority, and Tax Expenditures 7
Congressional Budget Office Estimate............................. 7
Federal Mandates Statement....................................... 7
Statement of General Performance Goals and Objectives............ 7
Duplication of Federal Programs.................................. 7
Related Committee and Subcommittee Hearings...................... 7
Committee Cost Estimate.......................................... 9
Earmark, Limited Tax Benefits, and Limited Tariff Benefits....... 9
Advisory Committee Statement..................................... 9
Applicability to Legislative Branch.............................. 9
Section-by-Section Analysis of the Legislation................... 9
Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported............ 9
Minority, Additional, or Dissenting Views........................ 10
PURPOSE AND SUMMARY
H.R. 1047 the ``Guaranteeing Reliable Interconnection of
Dispatchable (GRID) Power Act'' was introduced by
Representative Troy Balderson (R-OH) on February 6, 2025. This
legislation would direct FERC to issue a rulemaking authorizing
transmission providers to prioritize and expedite
interconnection queue requests for dispatchable generation
projects and projects that enhance grid resilience and
reliability. The legislation would require FERC to conduct
periodic review and updates of regulations promulgated under
this rulemaking to ensure interconnection regulations remain
effective and relevant to grid reliability and resilience
challenges.
BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION
Generator interconnection agreements are the formal process
for generating units to connect to high voltage transmission
lines of the bulk power system. Interconnection agreements
require studies and analyses to assess the impact that new
generation units may have on the bulk-power system. In 2003,
FERC finalized Order 2003, its first formal standardization of
interconnection agreements and procedures for all public
utilities that operate facilities that transmit electricity in
interstate commerce.\1\ The commission stated in Order 2003
that the intent of standardizing the interconnection process
was to prevent undue discrimination, increase energy supply,
and lower wholesale prices for customers by increasing the
variety of generating resources.\2\
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\1\U.S. Fed. Energy Regul. Comm'n (FERC), Standardization of
Generator Interconnection Agreements and Procedures, Docket No. RM02-1-
001; Order No. 2003-A, (Issued Mar. 5, 2004), https://www.ferc.gov/
sites/default/files/2020-06/order-2003.pdf.
\2\Id.
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Since Order 2003, the electricity sector has changed
dramatically, presenting new challenges to the existing and a
growing prevalence of interconnection backlogs and approval
delays. Further complicating these challenges is the historic
increases of projected electricity demands, largely driven by
new data centers, domestic manufacturing, and general economy-
wide electrification that is occurring while record levels of
baseload power are seeking to retire. The North American
Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) projects peak demand to
grow by 151 GW by 2034.\3\ At the same time, NERC reports that
as much as 115 GW of thermal generation has announced to retire
within the same time period.\4\
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\3\North American Reliability Corporation (NERC), 2024 Long-Term
Reliability Assessment (December 2024), https://www.nerc.com/pa/RAPA/
ra/Reliability%20Assessments%20DL/
NERC_Long%20Term%20Reliability%20Assessment_2024.pdf.
\4\Id.
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It is estimated that 95 percent of current interconnection
requests come from wind, solar, or battery storage
resources.\5\ This is driven by a confluence of factors,
including federal and state subsidies for intermittent energy
resources, state policies that require utilities to deploy
intermittent energy resources, and state and federal
regulations that discourage the continued operation of, or new
investments into, baseload generating resources, such as
natural gas, oil, and coal. The growing presence of variable
energy resources on the bulk power system creates significant
challenges for grid operators to properly plan and protect
reliability and stability of the grid while also creating
approval backlogs for new resources seeking interconnection.
Much of these resources remain speculative and are not
considered shovel ready. As an example, PJM finds that the
historical completion rate for renewable energy projects is 5
percent.\6\
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\5\Joseph Rand et al., Queued Up: 2024 Edition, Characteristics of
Power Plants Seeking Transmission Interconnection as of the End of
2023, Lawrence Berkely National Laboratory, funded by the U.S. Dep't.
of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231 (April 2024), https://
emp.lbl.gov/sites/default/files/2024-04/
Queued%20Up%202024%20Edition_R2.pdf.
\6\PJM, Energy Transitions in PJM: Resource Retirements,
Replacements & Risks (Feb. 24, 2023), https://www.pjm.com/-/media/
DotCom/library/reports-notices/special-reports/2023/energy-transition-
in-pjm-resource-retirements-replacements-and-risks.ashx.
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In 2023, FERC finalized Order 2023, its next most
comprehensive alterations to the interconnection process.\7\
Among other things, Order 2023 changed the interconnection
queue from a ``first come first serve'' model to a ``first
ready first serve'' model, required the use of cluster studies
to study multiple projects simultaneously, and required
generating customers to provide readiness deposits to secure a
spot in the interconnection queue. These reforms are seeking to
ensure project viability and remove speculators from taking up
valuable space on the interconnection queue. At the time of
this report, FERC continues evaluating grid operator filings to
comply with requirements from Order 2023, which has not been
fully implemented.
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\7\FERC, Improvements to Generator Interconnection Procedures and
Agreements, Docket No. RM22-14-000; Order No. 2023 (Issued Jul. 28,
2023), https://www.ferc.gov/media/order-no-2023.
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During the Energy Subcommittee's hearing on March 25th,
2025, with regional grid operators, witness testimony
identified the challenges of maintaining reliability amidst
growing reliance on variable energy resources and the need for
baseload, dispatchable, and on-demand generating units to
maintain sufficient frequency and voltage support.\8\ In
recognition of the growing imbalance of generating resources on
the bulk power system, growing backlog of interconnection queue
requests, rapid pace of baseload retirements, and historic
increases in projected demand, PJM, MISO, CAISO, and SPP have
implemented, or put forward proposals, to expedite the approval
of generation projects that can meaningfully contribute to
resource adequacy.
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\8\Keeping the Lights On: Examining the State of Regional Grid
Reliability: Hearing before the H. Comm. on Energy and Commerce
Subcommittee on Energy, 119th Cong. (Mar. 25, 2025), https://
energycommerce.house.gov/events/energy-subcommittee-keeping-the-lights-
on-examining-the-state-of-regional-grid-reliability.
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To ensure the reliability and stability of the bulk power
system, the Committee finds there is a need to bring
dispatchable and on-demand generating resources onto the system
that can balance the growing presence of variable resources,
such as wind and solar. During our Energy Subcommittee's
hearing on March 25th, 2025, with regional grid operators,
Southwest Power Pool (SPP) noted a recent weather event where
the region lost 12,000 MW of available wind resources in a 2-
hour timeframe and replaced the lost power supplies with
readily available natural gas generating units.\9\
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\9\Id.
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To that end, the GRID Power Act would provide grid
operators additional tools to methodically advance resources
through the interconnection queue to protect the reliability
and stability of the electric grid.
COMMITTEE ACTION
On April 30, 2025, the Subcommittee on Energy held a
legislative hearing on 14 bills, including H.R. 1047. The
Subcommittee received testimony from:
Mike Goff, Acting Undersecretary of Energy,
U.S. Department of Energy;
David L. Morenoff, Acting General Counsel,
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission;
Terry Turpin, Director, Office of Energy
Projects, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission;
Jim Matheson, Chief Executive Officer,
National Rural Electric Cooperative Association;
Amy Andryszak, President and Chief Executive
Officer, Interstate Natural Gas Association of America;
Todd A. Snitchler, President and Chief
Executive Officer, Electric Power Supply Association
and;
Kim Smaczniak, Partner, Roselle LLP.
On June 5, 2025, the Subcommittee on Energy met in open
markup session and forwarded H.R. 1047, without amendment, to
the full Committee by a record vote of 16 yeas and 14 nays. On
June 25, 2025, the full Committee on Energy and Commerce met in
open markup session and ordered H.R. 1047, without amendment,
favorably reported to the House by a record vote of 28 yeas and
23 nays.
COMMITTEE VOTES
Clause 3(b) of rule XIII requires the Committee to list the
record votes on the motion to report legislation and amendments
thereto. The following reflects the record votes taken during
the Committee consideration:
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
OVERSIGHT FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Pursuant to clause 2(b)(1) of rule X and clause 3(c)(1) of
rule XIII, the Committee held hearings and made findings that
are reflected in this report.
NEW BUDGET AUTHORITY, ENTITLEMENT AUTHORITY, AND TAX EXPENDITURES
Pursuant to clause 3(c)(2) of rule XIII, the Committee
finds that H.R. 1047 would result in no new or increased budget
authority, entitlement authority, or tax expenditures or
revenues.
CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE ESTIMATE
Pursuant to clause 3(c)(3) of rule XIII, at the time this
report was filed, the cost estimate prepared by the Director of
the Congressional Budget Office pursuant to section 402 of the
Congressional Budget Act of 1974 was not available.
FEDERAL MANDATES STATEMENT
The Committee adopts as its own the estimate of Federal
mandates prepared by the Director of the Congressional Budget
Office pursuant to section 423 of the Unfunded Mandates Reform
Act.
STATEMENT OF GENERAL PERFORMANCE GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
Pursuant to clause 3(c)(4) of rule XIII, the general
performance goal or objective of this legislation is to direct
FERC to initiate a rulemaking to authorize transmission
providers to adjust interconnection queue schedules for
resources that meaningfully contribute to the stability and
resource adequacy of the bulk power system.
DUPLICATION OF FEDERAL PROGRAMS
Pursuant to clause 3(c)(5) of rule XIII, no provision of
H.R. 1047 is known to be duplicative of another Federal
program, including any program that was included in a report to
Congress pursuant to section 21 of Public Law 111-139 or the
most recent Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance.
RELATED COMMITTEE AND SUBCOMMITTEE HEARINGS
Pursuant to clause 3(c)(6) of rule XIII, the following
related hearings were used to develop or consider H.R. 1047:
On February 5, 2025, the Subcommittee on Energy held a
hearing on H.R. 1047, titled ``Powering America's Future:
Unleashing American Energy.'' The Subcommittee received
testimony from:
Amanda Eversole, Executive Vice President
and Chief Advocacy Officer, American Petroleum
Institute;
Brigham McCown, Senior Fellow and Director,
Initiative on American Energy Security, The Hudson
Institute;
Gary Arnold, Business Manager, Denver
Pipefitters Local 208 and;
Tyler O'Connor, Partner, Crowell & Moring
LLP.
On March 5, 2025, the Subcommittee on Energy held a hearing
on H.R. 1047, titled ``Scaling for Growth: Meeting the Demand
for Reliable, Affordable Electricity.'' The Subcommittee
received testimony from:
Todd Brickhouse, CEO and General Manager,
Basin Electric Power Cooperative;
Asim Haque, Senior Vice President for
Governmental and Member Services, PJM;
Noel W. Black, Senior VP of Regulatory
Affairs, Southern Company and;
Tyler H. Norris, James B. Duke Fellow, Duke
University.
On March 25, 2025, the Subcommittee on Energy held a
hearing on H.R. 1047, titled ``Keeping the Lights On: Examining
the State of Regional Grid Reliability.'' The Subcommittee
received testimony from:
Gordon van Welie, President and Chief
Executive Officer, ISO New England;
Richard J. Dewey, President and Chief
Executive Officer, New York Independent System
Operator;
Manu Asthana, President and Chief Executive
Officer, PJM Interconnection LLC;
Jennifer Curran, Senior Vice President for
Planning and Operations, Midcontinent ISO;
Lanny Nickell, Chief Operating Officer,
Southwest Power Pool;
Elliot Mainzer, President and Chief
Executive Officer, California Independent System
Operator and;
Pablo Vegas President and Chief Executive
Officer, Electric Reliability Council of Texas, Inc.
On April 9, 2025, the Committee on Energy and Commerce held
a hearing on H.R. 1047, titled ``Converting Energy into
Intelligence: The Future of AI Technology, Human Discovery, and
American Global Competitiveness.'' The Committee received
testimony from:
Eric Schmidt, Chair, Special Competitive
Studies Project;
Manish Bhatia, Executive Vice President of
Global Operations, Micron Technology;
Alexander Wang, Founder and Chief Executive
Officer, Scale AI, and;
David Turk, Distinguished Visiting Fellow,
Center on Global Energy Policy, Columbia University.
On April 30, 2025, the Subcommittee on Energy held a
legislative hearing on H.R. 1047, titled ``Assuring Abundant,
Reliable American Energy to Power Innovation''. The
Subcommittee received testimony from:
Mike Goff, Acting Undersecretary of Energy,
U.S. Department of Energy;
David L. Morenoff, Acting General Counsel,
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission;
Terry Turpin, Director, Office of Energy
Projects, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission;
Jim Matheson, Chief Executive Officer,
National Rural Electric Cooperative Association;
Amy Andryszak, President and Chief
Executive Officer, Interstate Natural Gas Association
of America;
Todd A. Snitchler, President and Chief
Executive Officer, Electric Power Supply Association
and;
Kim Smaczniak, Partner, Roselle LLP.
COMMITTEE COST ESTIMATE
Pursuant to clause 3(d)(1) of rule XIII, the Committee
adopts as its own the cost estimate prepared by the Director of
the Congressional Budget Office pursuant to section 402 of the
Congressional Budget Act of 1974. At the time this report was
filed, the estimate was not available.
EARMARK, LIMITED TAX BENEFITS, AND LIMITED TARIFF BENEFITS
Pursuant to clause 9(e), 9(f), and 9(g) of rule XXI, the
Committee finds that H.R. 1047 contains no earmarks, limited
tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits.
ADVISORY COMMITTEE STATEMENT
No advisory committees within the meaning of section 5(b)
of the Federal Advisory Committee Act were created by this
legislation.
APPLICABILITY TO LEGISLATIVE BRANCH
The Committee finds that the legislation does not relate to
the terms and conditions of employment or access to public
services or accommodations within the meaning of section
102(b)(3) of the Congressional Accountability Act.
SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS OF THE LEGISLATION
Section 1. Short title
Section 1 provides that the Act may be cited as the
``Guaranteeing Reliability through the Interconnection of
Dispatchable Power Act'' or the ``GRID Power Act.''
Section 2. Definitions
Section 2 defines terms included in the Act.
Section 3. Rulemaking to improve interconnection queue flexibility
Section 3 directs FERC to initiate a rulemaking to address
the inefficiencies and ineffectiveness of existing procedures
for generation interconnection requests by authorizing
transmission providers to submit proposals that adjust
interconnection queue schedules that prioritize projects which
improve grid reliability and resource adequacy. Proposals
submitted pursuant to this rulemaking must demonstrate a need
for prioritization, reporting requirements, and opportunity for
public comment before being submitted to the commission.
CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW MADE BY THE BILL, AS REPORTED
This legislation does not amend any existing Federal
statute.
MINORITY VIEWS
H.R. 1047, the GRID Power Act H.R. 1047, the GRID Power
Act, would require the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
(FERC) to initiate a rulemaking allowing grid operators to
submit filings to FERC to prioritize certain types of
electricity generation resources, namely, fossil fuels. This
legislation is another component of Republicans' plan to wage
all-out war on zero-carbon sources of electricity. Instead of
focusing on technology-neutral improvements to the generation
interconnection process, the bill arbitrarily picks winners and
losers.
The main ostensible concept of the legislation--allowing
grid operators to prioritize certain resources--is duplicative
because it is already allowed under section 205 of the Federal
Power Act. Remarkably, the majority's report fails to mention
three major initiatives from grid operators that have
successfully sought permission from FERC for a one-time
intervention in their generation interconnection queues to
prioritize dispatchable resources in the last year.\1\ If the
bill was only aimed at allowing technology-agnostic
interventions into the generation interconnection queue to
stave off reliability concerns, it would merely be duplicative
of existing authorities.
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\1\PJM Interconnection, L.L.C., 190 FERC 61,084 (Feb. 11, 2025);
Southwest Power Pool, Inc., 192 FERC 61,062 (July 21, 2025);
Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Inc., 192 FERC 61,064 (July
21, 2025).
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However, there are significant differences between the
process imagined by the legislation and FERC's existing
process--all of which mean that the bill would make the status
quo significantly worse. The Committee received testimony
earlier this year that FERC's current approvals of
interconnection queue interventions, such as those proposed by
PJM, the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), and
the Southwest Power Pool (SPP), must satisfy just and
reasonable criteria under the Federal Power Act, and must not
be unduly discriminatory or preferential.\2\ H.R. 1047,
however, includes no such requirement of grid operator filings,
meaning the bill could open up power markets to blatant
resource discrimination. This is evident in the initial results
from MISO's Expedited Resource Addition Study process, which
included one battery storage project, one wind project, and
three solar projects out of ten total projects.\3\ Grid
operators would likely be barred from considering these types
of projects under the bill's flawed definition of
``dispatchable power,'' meaning the bill would restrict grid
operators' ability to accelerate the resources their grids most
acutely need.
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\2\House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Testimony of Kim
Smaczniak, Partner, Roselle LLP, Hearing on Assuring Abundant, Reliable
American Energy to Power Innovation, 119th Cong. (Apr. 30, 2024).
\3\Midcontinent Independent System Operator, MISO Announces First
10 ERAS Projects (Sep. 4, 2025) (https://www.misoenergy.org/meet-miso/
media-center/2025--news-releases/miso-
announces-first-10-eras-project/) (press release).
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The importance of guardrails to ensure that proposed queue
interventions are just and reasonable and not unduly
discriminatory or preferential is not merely hypothetical.
Earlier this year, FERC rejected MISO's initial attempt to
intervene in its interconnection queue because it lacked limits
on the number of projects that could be considered.\4\ Had MISO
instead made its proposal under the regime envisioned by this
bill, it likely would have been approved, transforming a one-
time, emergency queue intervention into an open-ended
preference for particular resources. When Energy Subcommittee
Ranking Member Kathy Castor (D-FL) proposed an amendment that
would have required FERC to deny any grid operator queue
proposal under the bill that was not just or reasonable or was
unduly discriminatory or preferential, Republicans rejected the
amendment.\5\
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\4\FERC Rejects MISO Plan to Speed Generation Interconnection,
Utility Dive (May 20, 2025).
\5\House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Subcommittee on Energy,
Markup of 13 Bills, 119th Cong. (June 5, 2025).
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The bill also lacks basic, commonsense protections to
ensure it can be used to target the lack of generation projects
the majority's report is concerned about. The bill contains no
requirements that projects accelerated by a grid operator's
intervention come online in a specific timeframe, nor does it
do anything to help alleviate severe supply chain constraints
that seem to be limiting how quickly natural gas-fired power
plants can come online.\6\ As Kim Smaczniak, Partner at
Roselle, LLP, noted in her testimony to the Committee earlier
this year, these inadequacies in the bill could mean that it
might harm electric reliability and would put affordability at
risk.\7\
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\6\US Gas-Fired Turbine Wait Times as Much as Seven Years; Costs Up
Sharply, S&P Global (May 20, 2025).
\7\See note 2.
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The Committee received testimony that ``it would be a
terrible mistake to only fix the interconnection process for
certain types of generators, rather than advance broad-based
solutions that benefit all commercially viable projects seeking
to interconnect.''\8\ If the majority was truly interested in
hastening the process of getting power generation online they
should have advanced H.R. 2986, the Expediting Generator
Interconnection Procedures Act of 2025, introduced by Ranking
Member Castor. That bill would have built on the progress made
by FERC's Order 2023, speeding up generation interconnection
for all types of projects.
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\8\Id.
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For the reasons stated above, I oppose this legislation.
Frank Pallone, Jr.,
Ranking Member.
[all]