Grid 2.0 proposal targets faster connections for loads and generators

A new large electricity customer may not need to wait for the grid to be rebuilt around its worst moments. An AES-led team has proposed Grid 2.0, a voluntary protocol designed to connect and manage both electricity demand and new generation through flexible service.

The mechanism is straightforward. Each interconnection customer would receive some firm service, then three additional amounts of service with progressively lower assurance. In practice, a utility or transmission operator could connect a project sooner if the customer accepts that part of its access may be managed when the network is under greater strain. The protocol also treats new storage projects as network-directed buffers, reducing the need for other flexibility.

The proposal draws on the “connect and manage” approach used for new generators on the ERCOT transmission grid in Texas. Its authors argue that traditional planning can lead the industry to overbuild for critical peaks that occur for as little as 30 hours per year. Grid 2.0 would try to keep interconnection moving while preserving automatic protection for the wider system.

So what changes, concretely? A large electricity user could be the first beneficiary, gaining a path to connection without waiting for every peak-demand upgrade to be completed. AJ Hall of AES said Version 1 will likely start with a large load because current interconnection and transmission policies make that the easier route. The same model is intended to support solar, wind and storage.

The work is still at the proposal stage. The five authors, from AES and Fluence, have formed the Grid 2.0 Task Force and are inviting comments in a process modeled on the Internet Engineering Task Force’s request-for-comments system. Two planned companion documents will cover expedited renewable interconnections and network-directed storage, but no deployment timetable is given.