The past year has seen many milestones in the development of streamlined, standardized requirements for utility interconnection of small-scale renewable generating facilities, particularly solar photovoltaic (PV) systems. Long-awaited technical standards from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE 929) and the Underwriters Laboratories (UL 1741) were approved. State-level enactment and implementation of interconnection requirements was at an all-time high, and for the first time a bill was introduced in the U.S. Congress calling for the development and adoption of national uniform interconnection requirements for certain small-scale generators. Also, interconnection-related activity moved beyond the realm of small-scale PV to encompass larger-scale PV systems and other distributed generating technologies. This paper reviews the key interconnection-related activity and describes the issues that are drawing the attention of policymakers, utilities, end-users, and the renewable energy industries.
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