A ruling by the Oregon Public Utilities Commission aims to improve the state’s interconnection rules by incorporating best practices for the review of renewable and energy storage projects.

The rules, which govern how distributed energy resources (DERs) can connect to the electric distribution grid, are the product of a collaborative working group process and include an array of recommendations proposed by the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). 

The ruling is meant to streamline and modernize how clean energy projects are screened for potential grid impacts when requesting interconnection. It noted that some clean energy projects limit the amount of power they export to the grid, or do not export at all, and tailored the review process and specified the acceptable methods for systems to limit the export. Additionally, it introduced a pathway to incorporate updated standards for the use of smart inverters into Oregon’s interconnection rules, and a deadline by which interconnecting systems will need to use smart inverters.

Many of the adopted practices are based on recommendations developed by IREC and a team of partners under a multi-year project called “BATRIES,” which aimed to reduce cost and time barriers to the interconnection of energy storage with suppo