Interconnection queue hampers U.S. competitiveness; reforming grid interconnection urgently

The U.S. Department of Energy directed FERC to initiate a rulemaking for load interconnection, and the authors (RMI) call for expanded, nationwide reforms to generator interconnection to speed studies and reduce costs.

• Main action & proposed reforms: The article urges scaling existing reforms nationally (building on FERC Order 2023, issued summer 2023) and advancing additional measures that speed study processing and reduce network upgrade costs (e.g., advanced software automation, evaluation of grid-enhancing technologies (GETs), transparency on network upgrade timelines, co-located load/generation planning, and fair competitive fast-tracks).
• Key facts & context: The piece cites >2.2 terawatts in interconnection queues, an average interconnection timeline of nearly five years in 2024 (vs under two years in 2008), that only 19% of projects requesting interconnection between 2000–2019 had reached commercial operation by end of 2024, and an RMI analysis that incorporating GETs in PJM could enable 6.6 GW of new generation and yield ~$1 billion annually in production-cost savings at a $0.1 billion installation cost.