House and Senate Agree: IEEE Interconnection Standard Facilitates Electric Power Reliability

by Patrick Meyer

For more than two decades, the IEEE has been addressing and recommending the introduction of distributed energy resources through its local and national technical meetings, and through its expert panel discussions. In 1998, the IEEE began to work on a uniform standard for the interconnection of distributed resources to the electric power grid and requirements relevant to the performance, operation, testing, safety and maintenance of the interconnection. The IEEE Standards Board approved IEEE Standard 1547 in June 2003.

In a 2001 position statement, entitled “Standards For Interconnection of Distributed Energy Resources,” IEEE-USA's Energy Policy Committee recommended that all states and jurisdictions adopt IEEE 1547 (then in development) as the best course of action for encouraging the use of distributed resources. IEEE-USA argued that the adoption of the IEEE 1547 would offer a means to more efficiently manage American energy resources, ensure the reliability of the electric power system, and help meet energy needs during possible crisis situations.

On 29 July, the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (H.R.6) cleared its final obstacle, passing easily in the Senate by a vote of 74 to 26. Many of the contentious issues that threatened to derail the legislation were omitted from the final version, but it does include provisions to establish IEEE 1547 as the standard for electricity interconnection on a nationwide basis.

H.R. 6 authorizes direct amendments to the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA), calling for each electric utility to make interconnection service available to any electric consumer that the utility serves. As it applies to electric consumers who own a generating facility on their property, each utility must establish means for the privately owned facility to be interconnected to the local distribution facilities.

Utilities will go about this task by implementing IEEE 1547 (or successor standards). IEEE 1547 is a “technology-neutral” standard and does not specify specific types of equipment needed to meet the requirements. Instead, the standard focuses on ensuring the ability for interconnection of any on-site facility. In doing so, it addresses both operational and safety issues while focusing on the functional requirements of the interconnection and not on the specific types of equipment to meet the functional requirements.

Moreover, H.R. 6 agrees with IEEE-USA’s stance that the development of interconnection rules at the state level provide useful input to the national IEEE 1547 development and implementation process. Those states who have established “interim” interconnection standards are expected to adopt IEEE 1547 so as to base their requirements on a recognized national industry consensus standard.

H.R. 6 requires commencing the adoption of IEEE 1547 within one year after passage of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. The standard must be fully implemented within two years after passage. Developed over the course of three years by an open consensus of professional societies, IEEE 1547 is ready to be implemented in the timeframe specified by H.R. 6. Doing so will increase the diversity of the electricity supply by facilitating development of fuel cells, photovoltaics and other distributed energy generation technologies, and help ensure the reliability and safety of the nation’s electric power system for decades to come.

Patrick Meyer holds a Bachelors of Science degree in Public Policy with a concentration in Energy Policy from the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). He is currently working as a summer 2005 intern with IEEE-USA's Energy Policy Committee.  As part of the internship, he will be attending all energy-, electricity-, and resource-related hearings on Capitol Hill and will provide summaries of each hearing on the IEEE-USA Web site. Patrick will be returning to RIT in September to obtain his Masters of Science in Science Technology and Public Policy. Comments may be submitted to todaysengineer@ieee.org.