Final report following stakeholder feedback details near- to long-term solutions to add clean energy resources to the transmission grid.
On April 17th, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Interconnection Innovation e-Xchange (i2X) released the final version of a roadmap to address interconnection challenges on the transmission grid. The Transmission Interconnection Roadmap is intended to serve as a guide for implementing near- to long-term solutions to interconnect new energy sources to the transmission grid and to clear the existing backlog of projects seeking to be built. The authors will be hosting a webinar to share details and answer questions on May 14th, 10am PT/1pm ET. Register here: https://events.gcc.teams.microsoft.com/event/6f8b9718-da91-4181-a6d3-16db5effa441@6b183ecc-4b55-4ed5-b3f8-7f64be1c4138.
This roadmap, which was led by the DOE in partnership with researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (Berkeley Lab) and the Energy Systems Integration Group (ESIG), follows the release of Berkeley Lab’s annual “Queued Up” report, which identified nearly 2,600 gigawatts of generation and storage capacity actively seeking grid interconnection, an eight-fold increase since 2014. The high volume of projects and inadequate procedures for interconnection have led to uncertainties, delay, inequities, and added costs for developers, end users, utilities, and regulators. Solving interconnection challenges is critical to clearing the current backlog and meeting growing electricity demand. With a resurgence in U.S. manufacturing alongside demand from new data centers, electric vehicles, and building electrification, connecting new electric generation and storage is urgently needed.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) adopted major interconnection reforms in 2023, though they have yet to take effect in most regions. Order 2023 represents a significant step in the right direction toward addressing interconnection challenges. The roadmap contains some solutions that relate to Order 2023, but it also introduces additional ideas that support longer-term interconnection process evolution. The roadmap provides stakeholders with a set of 35 solutions organized around four goals to improve interconnection and help reduce the backlog of projects:
- Increase data access, transparency, and security for interconnection.
- Improve interconnection process and timeline.
- Promote economic efficiency in interconnection.
- Maintain a reliable, resilient, and secure grid.
Each solution is organized into specific actions that transmission providers, interconnection customers, state agencies, federal regulators, equipment manufacturers, consumer advocates, environmental justice communities, the research community, and other actors can take to contribute to a collaborative improvement process. The roadmap also sets aggressive success targets for interconnection improvement by 2030.
More information on the roadmap and i2X is available here: https://www.energy.gov/eere/i2x/interconnection-innovation-e-xchange. The authors will be hosting a webinar to share details and answer questions on May 14th, 10am PT/1pm ET. Register here: https://events.gcc.teams.microsoft.com/event/6f8b9718-da91-4181-a6d3-16db5effa441@6b183ecc-4b55-4ed5-b3f8-7f64be1c4138
About i2X
DOE launched i2X in June 2022 with funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to enable simpler, faster, and fairer interconnection of clean energy resources while enhancing the reliability, resilience, and security of the electric grid. Since the launch, DOE has convened hundreds of stakeholders including utilities, grid operators, state and local governments, energy justice groups, non-profits, industry, and others for meetings that covered key issues, including queue management, grid engineering practices, data transparency, equity and energy justice, workforce, cost allocation, and electric vehicle charging. Learn more about DOE’s Interconnection Innovation e-Xchange online and consider joining i2X to participate in future stakeholder conversations.
About Berkeley Lab’s Interconnection Work
Berkeley Lab’s work on interconnection focuses on fundamental data collection and analysis that enhances the transparency of outcomes within transmission-level interconnection processes across the U.S. In our flagship Queued Up report, we compile and analyze data from the seven organized electricity markets (RTO / ISOs) in the US and an additional 44 balancing areas outside of RTO / ISOs, which collectively represent over 95% of currently installed U.S. electricity generation. Furthermore, we provide never-before-compiled data and analysis summarizing the cost to interconnect new generation and storage resources across six of the seven RTOs / ISOs in the US and plan to expand that data product to non-ISO/RTO utilities in the future. Berkeley Lab leverages these datasets and wholesale market expertise to facilitate important stakeholder conversations and develop novel ideas that could enhance interconnection processes across the country.
