New Hampshire Public Radio reports that the state’s process for connecting power to the grid is impeding the progress of renewable energy projects. According to Eversource’s latest report, about 470 megawatts of distributed energy projects, mostly solar, are awaiting interconnection. If these projects were built, they would more than double New Hampshire’s current solar power capacity.

Despite numerous solar projects being in development across the state, many are stuck waiting for interconnection studies. These studies assess how new energy projects will integrate into the existing power system and determine if upgrades to poles, wires, substations, and power transformers are necessary to handle the increased electricity. The queue for these studies at Eversource, New Hampshire’s largest utility company, has become a significant bottleneck, likened to I-93 traffic on a holiday weekend.

Three developers - Rewild Renewables, Lodestar Energy, and Kearsarge Solar - have filed a complaint with New Hampshire’s Department of Energy, alleging that Eversource’s delays are stalling their projects and violating state laws meant to support small-scale energy initiatives. They claim that none of the 28 projects submitted for interconnection over 19 months have received approval, with only one project progressing to an interconnection agreement as of May. Matthew Doubleday, director of interconnection at Rewild Renewables, asserts that there is no technical reason for the holdup, suggesting that resource allocation or other issues are to blame.

Source: concordmonitor.com