NECA Greater Boston Participates in State Forum on Faster Grid Connections
On September 15, NECA Greater Boston participated in the second Electric Connections Improvements Forum, convened by the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) in Boston. The semiannual forum brings utilities, developers, municipalities, and state agencies into one room to work through the problems customers face in connecting new projects to the grid. This session covered utility communication and timelines, transparency on grid upgrade costs, coordination of new service requests with solar and storage applications at the same site, and the utilities' new tools and flexible interconnection options. The full presentation is posted on EEA's Connecting New Buildings to the Electric Grid page.
Three developments are particularly relevant to electrical contractors because each bears on whether and when a project can move forward. First, all three utilities now offer a “Step Zero” review, given a site address, expected peak load, and timing, the utility will say within three weeks whether capacity is available, before any formal study. Paired with Eversource's new capacity map and National Grid's System Data Portal, this gives project teams an early read on whether a site can be served.
Second, Eversource and National Grid now offer flexible interconnection options, connecting certain projects under agreed operating limits rather than waiting for major grid upgrades. These options are new and still limited in availability, but they have already moved at least one long-stalled solar project to completion, and both utilities described possible options for larger projects and for behind-the-meter solar and storage.
Third, through Power Forward, the Department of Energy Resources will cover the deposit on a utility engineering study, up to $100,000 per municipality per year, for up to three prospective housing sites in about 60 pre-approved municipalities. Members involved in municipal housing discussions may want to make local officials aware of it.
NECA Greater Boston will continue to take part in this forum, as well as related state and utility processes on interconnection, and will keep members informed. Members with interconnection questions or challenges are encouraged to reach out so we can connect them with relevant resources and contacts, and better advocate for our members' priorities.