Section 466.100  Level 2 Expedited Review

An EDC shall use the Level 2 review procedure for interconnection requests that meet the Level 2 criteria in Section 466.80(b).  An EDC may not impose additional requirements for Level 2 reviews that are not specifically authorized under this Section unless the applicant agrees.

a)         The EDC shall evaluate the potential for adverse system impacts using the following screens, which shall be satisfied:

1)         Until December 31, 2023, for interconnection of a proposed DER facility to a radial distribution circuit, the aggregate export capacity of the DER facilities connected to the distribution circuit, including the proposed DER facility, may not exceed 100% of the minimum load (or 15% of the maximum load if minimum data are unavailable) normally supplied by the distribution circuit or line section. After December 31, 2023, for interconnection of a proposed DER facility to a radial distribution circuit, the aggregate export capacity of the DER facilities connected to the distribution circuit, including the proposed DER facility, may not exceed 100% of the minimum load normally supplied by the distribution circuit or line section.

2)         For interconnection of a proposed DER facility to the load side of spot network protectors, the proposed DER facility shall utilize an inverter-based equipment package.  The customer interconnection equipment proposed for the DER facility must be lab-certified and, when aggregated with other generation, the nameplate capacity may not exceed 5% of a spot network's maximum load.

3)         The proposed DER facility, in aggregate with other generation on the distribution circuit, may not contribute more than 10% to the distribution circuit's maximum fault current at the point on the primary line nearest the point of interconnection.

4)         The proposed DER facility, in aggregate with other generation on the distribution circuit, shall not cause any distribution protective devices and equipment including substation breakers, fuse cutouts, and line reclosers, or other customer equipment on the electric distribution system to be exposed to fault currents exceeding 90% of their short circuit interrupting capability.  However, if fault currents exceed 100% of the EDC's equipment short circuit interrupting capability even without the DER being interconnected, the EDC shall replace the equipment at its own expense, and interconnection may proceed under Level 2.

5)         When a customer-generator facility is to be connected to 3-phase, 3-wire primary EDC distribution lines, a 3-phase or single-phase generator shall use a phase-to-phase primary connection.  This screen does not apply to DER facilities with a nameplate capacity below 11 kVA.

6)         When a customer-generator facility is to be connected to 3-phase, 4-wire primary EDC distribution lines, a 3-phase or single-phase generator shall use a grounded line-to-neutral primary connection.  This screen does not apply to DER facilities with a nameplate capacity below 11 kVA.

7)         When the proposed DER facility is to be interconnected on single-phase shared secondary line, the aggregate export capacity on the shared secondary line, including the proposed DER facility, may not exceed 20 kVA.  In the instance where the proposed DER facility is below 100 kVA and uses acceptable means for controlling export as set forth in Section 466.75, the export capacity of the proposed DER facility will be used.

8)         When a proposed DER facility is single-phase and is to be interconnected on a center tap neutral of a 240 volt service, its addition may not create an imbalance between the two sides of the 240 volt service of more than 20% of the nameplate kVA rating of the service transformer.

9)         The nameplate capacity of a DER facility, in aggregate with other DER facilities' nameplate capacity interconnected to the distribution side of a substation transformer feeding the circuit where the DER facility proposes to interconnect, may not exceed 10 MVA in an area where there are known or posted transient stability limitations to generating units located in the general electrical vicinity.

b)         The Level 2 interconnection shall use the following procedures:

1)         The applicant submits an interconnection request using the appropriate form and the Level 2 application fee (see Appendix C).

2)         Within 10 business days after receiving the interconnection request, the EDC shall inform the applicant as to whether the interconnection request is complete.  If the request is incomplete, the EDC shall specify what materials are missing and the applicant has 10 business days to provide the missing information or the interconnection request shall be deemed withdrawn.

3)         After an interconnection request is deemed complete, the EDC shall assign a queue position based upon the date that the interconnection request is determined to be complete.  The EDC shall then inform the applicant of its queue position.

4)         If, after determining that the interconnection request is complete, the EDC determines that it needs additional information to evaluate the DER facility's adverse system impact, it shall request this information.  The EDC may not restart the review process or alter the applicant's queue position because it requires the additional information.  The EDC can extend the time to finish its evaluation only to the extent of the delay required for receipt of the additional information.  In order to withdraw an interconnection request, the EDC must first send a notification to the applicant of its intent to withdraw, and the applicant must not have sent the information requested by the EDC within 5 business days after receipt of the notice.

5)         Within 20 business days after the EDC notifies the applicant it has received a completed interconnection request, the EDC shall:

A)        Evaluate the interconnection request using the Level 2 screening criteria.

B)        Provide the applicant with the EDC's evaluation, including a written technical explanation.  If one or more screens are not passed, the EDC shall provide, in writing, the specific screens that the application failed, including the technical reason for failure. The EDC shall provide information and detail about the specific system threshold or limitation causing the application to fail the screen.  If an EDC does not have a record of receipt of the interconnection request and the applicant can demonstrate that the original interconnection request was delivered, the EDC shall expedite its review to complete the evaluation of the interconnection request within 20 business days after the applicant's demonstration.

c)         When an EDC determines that the interconnection request passes the Level 2 screening criteria contained in subsection (a), the interconnection request passes the Supplemental Review contained in subsection (f), or the EDC determines that the DER facility can be interconnected safely and will not cause adverse system impacts, even if it fails one or more of the Level 2 screening criteria, it shall provide the applicant with a standard DER interconnection agreement (see Appendix D) within the following timeframes:

1)         If the proposed interconnection requires no construction of facilities by the EDC on its own system, the interconnection agreement shall be provided within 5 business days after the notification of Level 2 review results.

2)         If the proposed interconnection requires only minor system modifications, the EDC shall notify the applicant of the required minor system modifications when it provides the Level 2 results. The applicant must inform the EDC if the applicant elects to continue the application and pay the fee specified in the EDC's tariff. If the applicant makes such an election, the EDC shall provide to the applicant the interconnection agreement, along with a non-binding good faith cost estimate and construction schedule for the required upgrades within 30 business days after the EDC receives such an election and the payment of the fee.

3)         If the proposed interconnection requires more than minor system modifications, the EDC shall notify the applicant of that requirement when it provides the Level 2 or supplemental review results. The applicant must inform the EDC if the applicant elects to continue the application. If the applicant makes such an election, the EDC may elect to:

A)        provide a standard DER interconnection agreement (see Appendix D), along with a non-binding good faith cost estimate and construction schedule for the required upgrades within 45 business days after the EDC receives such an election and the applicant pays the fee specified in the EDC's tariff; or

B)        notify the applicant that an interconnection facilities study under Section 466.120(e)(3) must be performed to determine the necessary upgrades. If the applicant elects to proceed with an interconnection facilities study, the EDC shall proceed with the interconnection facilities study according to the timeframes and process in Section 466.120(e)(3).

d)         Within 30 business days after receipt of the standard DER interconnection agreement, the applicant shall sign and return the agreement to the EDC.  If the applicant does not sign and return the agreement within 30 business days, the interconnection request shall be deemed withdrawn unless the applicant requests a 15-business-day extension in writing.  The initial request for extension may not be denied by the EDC.  When the EDC constructs an additional review under the provisions of subsection (f), the interconnection of the DER facility shall proceed according to milestones agreed to by the parties in the standard DER interconnection agreement.

e)         The DER facility is not permitted to operate until:

1)         All requirements in the standard DER interconnection agreement are satisfied;

2)         The DER facility is approved by the electric code officials with jurisdiction over the interconnection;

3)         The applicant provides a certificate of completion (see Appendix B) to the EDC. Completion of local inspections may be designated on inspection forms used by local inspecting authorities; and

4)         The witness test is successfully completed if required by the EDC or if the witness test is waived according to Article 2.1.1 of Appendix D.

f)         When a DER facility fails to meet one or more of the Level 2 screens contained in subsection (a), the EDC shall provide the applicant the opportunity to amend its application one time to address the screen failure and offer to perform a supplemental review in accordance with the following subsections and provide the applicant with a non-binding estimate for the costs of the supplemental review.  If the applicant chooses to amend the application to address the specific screens that failed, the applicant must submit updated application materials demonstrating the redesign within 10 business days after receiving the screen results from the EDC. If the applicant chooses to have a supplemental review performed, the EDC shall undertake the supplemental review only after the applicant pays for the supplemental review.

1)         If the applicant accepts the offer of a supplemental review, the applicant shall agree in writing and pay the amount of the EDC's good faith estimate of the costs of that review, both within 15 business days after the offer. If the written agreement and payment have not been received by the EDC within that timeframe, the interconnection request shall be considered withdrawn by the applicant.

2)         The applicant may specify the order in which the EDC will complete the screens in this Section.

3)         The applicant shall be responsible for the EDC's actual costs for conducting the supplemental review. The applicant must pay any additional costs that exceed the good faith estimate within 20 business days after receipt of the invoice or resolution of any dispute. If the initial payment exceeds the invoiced actual costs, the EDC will return that excess within 20 business days after the invoice without interest.

4)         Within 30 business days following receipt of the payment for a supplemental review, the EDC shall perform a supplemental review using the screens set forth in this subsection (f)(4); notify in writing the applicant of the results; and include with the notification copies of the analysis and data underlying the EDC's determinations under the screens.

A)        Minimum Load Screen

When 12 months of line section minimum load data (including onsite load but not station service load served by the proposed DER facility) are available, the aggregate export capacity of the generating facility on the line section is less than 100% of the minimum load for all line sections bounded by automatic sectionalizing devices upstream of the proposed DER facility. If minimum load data is not available, the EDC shall include the reasons that it is unable to determine minimum load in its supplemental review results notification under this Section.  This screen does not apply to non-exporting systems or those that are proposing to add no new export capacity.

i)          The type of generation used by the proposed DER facility will be taken into account when determining circuit or line section minimum load relevant to the application of this screen.  Solar PV generation systems with no energy storage use daytime minimum load (i.e., 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. for fixed panel systems and 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. for PV systems utilizing tracking systems), while all other generation uses absolute minimum load.  The EDC shall apply this screen using the operating profile and system design designated in the interconnection request and accompanying attachments.  For example, the EDC shall evaluate the maximum export capacity during the hours of the day designated by the customer as operational and shall take into account any export controls.

ii)          Only the net injection into the EDC's electric system will be considered as part of the aggregate export capacity.  In the instance where the proposed DER facility uses acceptable means for controlling export as set forth in Section 466.75, only the net power injection into the EDC's electric system will be considered as part of the aggregate export capacity.

iii)         For evaluating this screen, the EDC will not include as part of the aggregate export capacity any existing DER facility export capacity already reflected in the minimum load data.

B)       Voltage and Power Quality Screen

The project, considered in aggregate with existing generation, must meet the following requirements:  the voltage regulation can be maintained in compliance with relevant requirements under all system conditions; the voltage fluctuation is within the EDC's acceptable limits; and the harmonic levels meet limits recommended by IEEE Standard 519-2014: Recommended Practice and Requirements for Harmonic Control in Electric Power Systems.

C)        Safety and Reliability Screen

The location of the proposed DER facility and the aggregate generation capacity on the line section do not create impacts to safety or reliability that cannot be adequately addressed without application of the Level 4 process. The EDC shall give due consideration to the following and other factors in determining potential impacts to safety and reliability in applying this screen:

i)          whether the line section has significant minimum loading levels dominated by a small number of customers (e.g., several large commercial customers);

ii)          whether the loading along the line section is uniform or even;

iii)         whether the proposed DER facility is located in close proximity to the substation (i.e., less than 2.5 electrical circuit miles), and whether the line section from the substation to the point of interconnection is a main line rated for normal and emergency ampacity;

iv)         whether the proposed DER facility incorporates a time delay function to prevent reconnection of the generator to the system until system voltage and frequency are within normal limits for a prescribed time;

v)          whether operational flexibility is reduced by the proposed DER facility, such that transfer of the line section of the DER facility to a neighboring distribution circuit/substation may trigger overloads or voltage issues; and

vi)         whether the proposed DER facility employs equipment or systems certified by a nationally recognized testing laboratory (NRTL) to address technical issues such as, but not limited to, islanding, reverse power flow or voltage quality.

5)         If the proposed interconnection passes the supplemental review screening in this Section, the EDC shall provide the applicant with an executable interconnection agreement pursuant to subsections (c), (d) and (e).

g)         If the DER facility is not approved under a Level 2 review, the EDC shall provide the applicant with written notification explaining its reasons for denying the interconnection request.  The EDC shall specify which screens the application failed, including the technical reason for failure, and the data and the analysis supporting the supplemental review. The EDC shall provide information and detail about the specific system threshold or limitation, preventing determination of required system modification without further study. If the applicant chooses to revise the application to address the specific screens that failed, the customer must submit updated application materials demonstrating the redesign within 10 business days after receiving the review results from the EDC and pay an additional review cost. However, this redesign shall not include an increase in export capacity and shall not include a change in the proposed location of the DER facility. Increases in export capacity or changes in facility location shall require a new interconnection request and associated fees. The EDC will evaluate whether the redesign addresses the screen failure and provide the applicant the results of this evaluation in 10 business days. This option shall only be available one time during the screening phase of the Level 2 process.

h)         If the applicant chooses not to redesign the project or the redesign does not result in passage of the screens, the applicant may submit a new interconnection request for consideration under a Level 4 interconnection review.  The queue position assigned to the Level 2 interconnection request shall be retained, provided that the new interconnection request is made by the applicant within 15 business days after notification that the current interconnection request is denied.

(Source:  Amended at 46 Ill. Reg. 9666, effective May 26, 2022)