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As the solar PV capacity in the U.S. continues to grow and more regions reach high levels of renewable energy integration, grid congestion has become a critical concern for large-scale projects. For stakeholders without experience or who fail to conduct thorough due diligence early on, unexpected grid interconnection challenges—such as power limitations or stability issues—can lead to costly delays and project setbacks.
At Pure Power, we serve as both an owner’s engineer and independent engineer, helping EPCs and developers identify, analyze, and quantify potential grid congestion impacts. In this post, I’ll explain how we support fast and predictable project development, even in areas with constrained or potentially constrained grids, through proper planning and insight.
**Interconnection Technical Studies**
At the beginning of any large-scale project, developers typically engage with regional grid operators to initiate site-specific studies that assess the impact of new generation capacity. These studies help determine what upgrades may be needed before interconnection can occur. However, without proper planning, especially when selecting sites for solar assets, developers may end up acquiring a location that is not ideal for interconnection until after the study is complete.
Key aspects of interconnection studies include:
- **Power capacity limitations:** Regional transmission systems may already be at or near capacity, making it expensive or impractical to add new solar projects. Developers often bear the cost of necessary upgrades, which can affect project economics.
- **Grid stability considerations:** Older or overburdened grids may struggle with the variability of renewables like solar and wind, leading to power quality issues. With careful planning and enough time, these concerns can be mitigated using smart inverters and on-site energy storage.
To avoid costly mistakes, project stakeholders must conduct early due diligence on site characteristics related to grid capacity and interconnection requirements. Without this, project timelines can become compressed, and critical findings from interconnection studies may not be properly incorporated into design and cost estimates.
*Courtesy: National Association of Home Builders*
**Utility-to-Utility Experience and Perspective**
The level of experience utilities have with integrating bulk renewable power varies significantly across the U.S., and so do their interconnection requirements. In some regions, such as California and Florida, utilities are well-versed in handling renewable integration and have established processes for reviewing interconnection applications.
In contrast, in areas with limited experience in large-scale renewable projects, interconnection requirements may be less developed or even absent. This doesn’t mean they aren’t needed—it just means developers must take the initiative to understand and address them early.
**Looking Toward the Future**
As the energy transition accelerates, future-proofing your project portfolio becomes increasingly important. Developers planning 3- to 5-year project pipelines are now considering the role of solar PV and on-site energy storage in managing grid constraints.
While power electronics alone won’t solve all grid stability issues, energy storage can play a key role in maintaining frequency and voltage stability. Even if energy storage isn’t currently required for new projects, including it can make a project more attractive to utilities, especially in areas with grid limitations.
Additionally, the scale at which interconnection requirements apply is likely to shift. What once applied only to MW-scale systems may soon extend to smaller, distributed systems. From a utility perspective, aggregated and controlled small-scale assets can behave similarly to larger ones, meaning that even residential solar could face similar scrutiny in the future.