This past week, PJM submitted a request to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), asking for permission to prioritize gas plants in the interconnection queue ahead of other resources. In response, Evergreen Action Deputy State Policy Director Julia Kortrey released the following statement: 

"PJM’s request to let gas plants cut in the interconnection queue is nothing but a bad-faith solution that would extend the existing problems with the grid. For years, PJM has failed to unclog its queue—which is 95 percent renewables—and listen to the market by interconnecting new affordable clean energy and storage resources. And now, PJM is attempting to shoehorn new gas plants to the front of the line. Gas plants and pipelines have proven unreliable time and again during extreme weather events and cold snaps across the country—overreliance on gas will only exacerbate reliability issues in the region. If PJM truly wants to improve the grid’s resiliency and reliability, it should diversify its energy mix and focus on fixing the regular interconnection process. This proposal puts a thumb on the scale for gas, and lets cheaper resources that have been waiting in the queue for years languish. FERC should reject it.”