Feds Aim to Speed Clean Energy Studies, Extreme Weather Defenses

U.S. energy regulators voted unanimously to propose a rule Thursday that aims to lower barriers for renewable energy projects to connect to the country’s power grid and another to protect transmission lines from extreme weather events that cause devastating outages.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission proposed a “first ready, first served” study process that emphasizes clusters of generation projects that are closer to operation. Under the current interconnection process, grid planners issue separate studies for each individual generating facility and can get bogged down by more speculative projects, the commission said.

On extreme weather, the commission proposed directing the North ...