Interconnection queue: how a generator gets in line for the grid
The ordered list of proposed generators and storage projects awaiting study for connection to the transmission system, and the procedural rules that govern position in it.
An interconnection queue is the ordered record of requests to connect generation or storage to the transmission system. A developer files an interconnection request with the transmission provider, the request receives a queue position, and that position governs when the project is studied and how the cost of shared network upgrades is apportioned among the projects that require them.
The queue exists because connecting a generator is rarely a matter of building a single line to the nearest substation. Adding power at one point changes flows across the network, and the transmission provider must determine what reinforcement the addition requires. That determination is made through a sequence of studies set out in the transmission provider's tariff.
Under the pro forma Large Generator Interconnection Procedures as revised by FERC Order No. 2023, requests are grouped into clusters that open and close on a published schedule rather than being processed one at a time in the order received. A request must satisfy site control and deposit requirements to enter and to remain in the cluster; requests that withdraw before study completion may incur a withdrawal penalty, and the studies are restudied for those that remain.
Questions
- Who administers an interconnection queue?
- The transmission provider, which in most of the United States is an independent system operator or regional transmission organisation acting under its open access transmission tariff. Outside organised markets the utility that owns the transmission facilities administers its own queue.
- Does a higher queue position guarantee an earlier connection?
- No. Position determines study order and the allocation of costs for shared upgrades. Under the cluster process introduced by FERC Order No. 2023, projects entering the same window are studied together rather than serially, so position within a cluster affects cost allocation more than sequence.
Sources
- 01
Improvements to Generator Interconnection Procedures and Agreements, Order No. 2023
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission · RM22-14-000 · retrieved 2026-08-09
- 02
Pro forma Large Generator Interconnection Procedures and Large Generator Interconnection Agreement
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission · pro-forma-LGIP-LGIA · retrieved 2026-08-09