Workflow and Process Automation of Residential DER Interconnection Review

Distributed Energy Resources (DER) are revolutionizing how utilities plan and operate the grid, which ultimately influences the customer experience. Partially driven by increasing federal and state incentives for DERs, there is an increased interest to integrate solar generation facilities with the grid. To put this into perspective, interconnection applications in ComEd's territory increased more than 1,500% in the last three years and the accelerating trend continues. Most interconnection applications are for solar facilities that are less than 25kW in capacity (“Level 1” applications). The potential adverse impacts of each interconnection needs to be evaluated. Traditionally, a Level 1 technical screening is a manual process that involves reviewing the application against predetermined criteria set forth in the Illinois Administrative Code. ComEd has developed and deployed innovative solutions to automate such reviews by integrating data from multiple legacy ComEd systems and analyzing Level 1 applications to verify, that the applications meet the criteria to pass the technical screens. The automated technical screening process for most Level 1 application has facilitated improved management of complex utility scale commercial and industrial interconnection applications. This automation initiative has also enhanced customer service by significantly decreasing interconnection application turnaround time and ensuring a premier customer experience.