NYISO filing replaces Class Year with a cluster study process

NYISO historically allocated interconnection facility and system upgrade costs through its Class Year process, in which a defined group of projects accepted or declined cost allocations together. Its compliance with Order No. 2023 moves the study framework toward clusters.

The two constructs share a premise, that costs are shared among a group, but differ in how the group is formed and when a project can leave without disturbing the others. The practical difference is felt in restudy exposure: the more permeable the group, the more often surviving projects see revised numbers.

New York's siting and permitting regime interacts with this. A project that clears study but cannot clear local approval within the applicable window imposes its exit on the rest of the group.

For a developer, the transitional cycles are the ones to read closely, because they contain positions formed under both sets of expectations.

What to watch: how the compliance tariff treats projects that accepted Class Year allocations and are still constructing.