Heinrich Applauds FERC Action Heeding His Calls to Fix Interconnection Backlog, Accelerate the Transition to Clean Energy

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) issued the following statement applauding the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) adoption of a final rule that aims to accelerate the transition to clean energy by unclogging interconnection queues and making the energy grid more resilient and reliable.  

The announcement follows a recent letter led by Senator Heinrich urging FERC to improve transmission planning, optimize cost allocation, unclog interconnection queues, and adopt advanced transmission technologies.   

“This is an important step forward in tackling the climate crisis and accelerating our clean energy transition. Right now, we have more than 2,000 gigawatts of proposed solar, storage, and wind projects waiting in interconnection queues. As we continue to experience the dangerous consequences of our worsening climate crisis, this new rule will help clear a major backlog to finally get more of these crucial clean energy projects online. I’m grateful to FERC for heeding our calls to get this done.”

In May and June, Heinrich introduced legislation to improve the way that we permit, plan, and pay for transmission infrastructure to meet our decarbonization goals and support the energy transition, while building the clean energy workforce of tomorrow. 

Read more on Heinrich’s legislative priorities pertaining to transmission infrastructure here.