I 119THCONGRESS 1 STSESSION H. R. 1047 To require the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to reform the inter- connection queue process for the prioritization and approval of certain projects, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY6, 2025 Mr. B ALDERSONintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL 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. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Guaranteeing Reli-4 ability through the Interconnection of Dispatchable Power 5 Act’’ or the ‘‘GRID Power Act’’. 6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 7 In this Act: 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:55 Mar 05, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1047.IH H1047 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1047 IH (1) BULK-POWER SYSTEM.—The term ‘‘bulk- 1 power system’’ has the meaning given the term in 2 section 215(a) of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 3 824o(a)). 4 (2) C OMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 5 means the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. 6 (3) D ISPATCHABLE POWER .—The term 7 ‘‘dispatchable power’’ means an electric energy gen-8 eration resource capable of providing known and 9 forecastable electric supply in time intervals nec-10 essary to ensure grid reliability. 11 (4) G RID RELIABILITY.—The term ‘‘grid reli-12 ability’’ means the ability of the electric grid to de-13 liver an adequate, secure, and stable flow of elec-14 tricity in the quantity and with the quality de-15 manded by users, taking into account the ability of 16 the bulk-power system to withstand sudden disturb-17 ances. 18 (5) G RID RESILIENCE.—The term ‘‘grid resil-19 ience’’ means the ability of the electric grid to adapt 20 to changing physical conditions and withstand and 21 rapidly recover from significant disturbances, includ-22 ing natural disasters, cyber-attacks, and other un-23 foreseen events. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:55 Mar 05, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1047.IH H1047 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1047 IH (6) INDEPENDENT SYSTEM OPERATOR .—The 1 term ‘‘Independent System Operator’’ has the mean-2 ing given the term in section 3 of the Federal Power 3 Act (16 U.S.C. 796). 4 (7) R EGIONAL TRANSMISSION ORGANIZATION .— 5 The term ‘‘Regional Transmission Organization’’ 6 has the meaning given the term in section 3 of the 7 Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 796). 8 (8) R ESOURCE ADEQUACY .—The term ‘‘re-9 source adequacy’’ means the ability of the electric 10 system to meet the aggregate electrical demand and 11 energy requirements of end-use customers at all 12 times, accounting for scheduled and reasonably ex-13 pected unscheduled outages of bulk-power system 14 components. 15 (9) T RANSMISSION PROVIDER .—The term 16 ‘‘transmission provider’’ means— 17 (A) a public utility (as defined in section 18 201(e) of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 19 824(e))) that owns, operates, or controls 1 or 20 more transmission facilities; 21 (B) an Independent System Operator; and 22 (C) a Regional Transmission Organization. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:55 Mar 05, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1047.IH H1047 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1047 IH SEC. 3. RULEMAKING TO IMPROVE INTERCONNECTION 1 QUEUE FLEXIBILITY. 2 (a) I NGENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 3 date of enactment of this Act, the Commission shall ini-4 tiate a rulemaking— 5 (1) to address the inefficiencies and ineffective-6 ness of existing procedures for processing inter-7 connection requests to ensure that new dispatchable 8 power projects that improve grid reliability and re-9 source adequacy can interconnect to the electric grid 10 quickly, cost-effectively, and reliably; and 11 (2) to amend the pro forma Large Generator 12 Interconnection Procedures and, as appropriate, the 13 pro forma Large Generator Interconnection Agree-14 ment, promulgated pursuant to section 35.28(f) of 15 title 18, Code of Federal Regulations (or successor 16 regulations)— 17 (A) to authorize transmission providers to 18 submit proposals to the Commission to adjust 19 the interconnection queue of the transmission 20 provider to prioritize new dispatchable power 21 projects that will improve grid reliability and 22 resource adequacy by assigning those projects 23 higher positions in the interconnection queue; 24 and 25 (B) to require transmission providers— 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:55 Mar 05, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1047.IH H1047 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 1047 IH (i) to provide in any proposal de-1 scribed in subparagraph (A)— 2 (I) a demonstration of need for 3 prioritization of the relevant projects; 4 and 5 (II) a description of how the 6 prioritization of those projects will im-7 prove grid reliability or grid resilience; 8 (ii) to provide a process for public 9 comment and stakeholder engagement be-10 fore a proposal described in subparagraph 11 (A) is submitted to the Commission; and 12 (iii) to provide regular reporting to 13 the Commission on the state of grid reli-14 ability and grid resilience, including report-15 ing on any actions taken pursuant to this 16 Act. 17 (b) C OMMISSIONAPPROVAL.—To ensure timely re-18 sponses to grid reliability concerns, not later than 60 days 19 after a proposal is submitted pursuant to subsection 20 (a)(2), the Commission shall— 21 (1) review the proposal; and 22 (2) approve or deny the proposal. 23 (c) D EADLINE FORFINALRULE.—Not later than 24 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Com-25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:55 Mar 05, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1047.IH H1047 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 1047 IH mission shall promulgate final regulations to complete the 1 rulemaking initiated under subsection (a). 2 (d) P ERIODICREVIEW.—Not less frequently than 3 once every 5 years, the Commission shall review and, if 4 necessary, update the regulations promulgated under this 5 section to ensure that those regulations remain effective 6 and relevant to evolving grid reliability and grid resilience 7 challenges. 8 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:55 Mar 05, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1047.IH H1047 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS