California Leads Charge for Flexible Interconnections in Community Solar, Paving Way for Expanded Renewable Energy Access.

Efforts are being made to address obstacles to interconnecting large distribution system resources such as community solar and rooftop rooftop solar arrays. These resources, particularly those in the 1 MW to 5 MW range, can offer flexibility to meet electricity demand spikes without significant power system upgrades. However, current interconnection practices make many projects that require system upgrades uneconomic. California’s limited generation profile, or LGP, option, approved March 24, will be the first state-wide implementation of these innovations for distribution systems. The LGP option allows developers to schedule export limits during periods of power system congestion to protect against overloads, but losses from curtailed exports will be less than costs to upgrade power system carrying capacity. New York, Illinois, and Colorado are also moving towards even more flexible interconnections for these large distribution systems, according to advocates. The Department of Energy’s 2021 Solar Futures Study showed the potential for up to 200 GW of distributed U.S. solar by 2050.