For Immediate Release:	Contact: Bailey Lawrence
Date: 04/30/2024	908-812-4865

TRENTON – At its April 30 Agenda Meeting, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) announced the Board’s approval of proposed grid modernization rules, which include a streamlined process for utility interconnection applications, clearer and more consistent distribution system information available to potential project applicants, and a pre-application and verification process that will provide interconnection applicants with an early indication of feasibility and costs.

 

“New Jersey’s clean energy future depends on building a grid that is more reliable and adaptive to an increasing amount of distributed clean energy resources, including new solar projects,” said NJBPU President Christine Guhl-Sadovy. “Rising to the challenge of this complex endeavor will require forward-looking vision and continued collaboration with utilities toward implementing our comprehensive strategy. The Board’s approval of the proposed rules today marks a pivotal step toward making the interconnection process more efficient as we prepare to modernize the grid while mitigating impacts on ratepayers.”

 

In November 2022, the NJBPU accepted and released a report outlining short- and long-term recommendations to modernize the state’s electric grid and improve its interconnection rules. The approval of the proposed rules today represents the implementation of the report’s short-term recommendations. Longer-term changes aimed toward hosting capacity expansion and deeper grid modernization will be pursued through recommendations developed in expert workgroups organized under an upcoming Grid Modernization Forum facilitated by the NJBPU.

 

NJBPU staff have opened Docket # QO24030199 for the public to follow the developments of an initial workgroup organized to advance the implementation of a requirement for Electric Distribution Companies (EDCs) to file plans that "publicly roadmap" their intentions to evolve segments of the grid into more adaptive operation and higher hosting capacities. The proposed rules approved by the Board today will be published in the New Jersey Register on June 3 and subject to a 60-day public comment period.

 

About the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU)

NJBPU is a state agency and regulatory authority mandated to ensure safe, adequate and proper utility services at reasonable rates for New Jersey customers. Critical services regulated by NJBPU include natural gas, electricity, water, wastewater, telecommunications, broadband and cable television. The Board has general oversight and responsibility for monitoring utility service, responding to consumer complaints, and investigating utility accidents. To find out more about NJBPU, visit our website at www.nj.gov/bpu.  

 

About New Jersey’s Clean Energy Program (NJCEP)

NJCEP, established on January 22, 2003, in accordance with the Electric Discount and Energy Competition Act (EDECA), provides financial and other incentives to the State's residential customers, businesses and schools that install high-efficiency or renewable energy technologies, thereby reducing energy usage, lowering customers' energy bills and reducing environmental impacts. The program is authorized and overseen by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU), and its website is www.NJCleanEnergy.com.