Grid Operators Make 'Significant Progress' on
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- Advanced Energy United report finds grid operators have made "significant progress" on generator interconnection queues in the last two years, partly through FERC-mandated reforms, with drafting by Grid Strategies and the Brattle Group.
- SPP and CAISO showed "promising improvements" in interconnection reform, while MISO made only "incomplete progress" and ERCOT "incremental progress"; PJM, ISO-NE, and NYISO met "expected progress" benchmarks.
- Fast-track interconnection policies at MISO, PJM, and SPP are consuming limited system headroom with resources that are "overly utility-affiliated and fossil-heavy compared to average queue resources," AEU said.
- There is "not yet evidence that interconnection requests are being processed more quickly," and AEU warned fast-track review "can create tension and potential for discrimination" between utility and independent power producer projects and between fuel types.
- Grid operators adopted cluster study approaches and enforceable study timelines under FERC Order 2023, along with new tools, clarified alternative pathways, and cluster process adjustments.
- AEU recommended entry fees for interconnecting to pre-planned transmission (modeled on SPP's Consolidated Planning Process and CAISO's zonal scoring), updated repowering processes, automation of interconnection studies, and improved network-upgrade reporting.
- Even with improved processes, AEU noted network upgrades, supply chain, and permitting "may delay or prevent generating projects from coming online," echoing bottlenecks flagged in AEU's 2022 scorecard.
Why it matters: Interconnection queues are the bottleneck for new generation coming onto the U.S. grid, and the report's central tension — operators are clearing FERC compliance hurdles but still aren't moving projects faster — means FERC Order 2023's promise of speedier approvals hasn't yet translated into faster build-out. The discrimination concern matters because fast-track lanes at MISO, PJM, and SPP are channeling scarce grid capacity to utility-owned fossil units rather than the independent clean energy projects the reform was meant to accelerate.
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