Full Title: Transmission Interconnection Roadmap: Transforming Bulk Transmission Interconnection by 2035
Author(s): Will Gorman, Joseph Rand, Julia Matevosyan, and Fredrich Kahrl
Publisher(s): U.S. Department of Energy
Publication Date: April 24, 2024
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
While improvements to the transmission interconnection process have been ongoing in the United States since the 2000s, the backlogs in current queues motivate efforts to develop novel solutions. In addition, innovations in data collection, analysis, and software management systems are creating new opportunities for automating parts of the interconnection process to handle larger interconnection requests while also reducing interconnection study process timelines. This roadmap focuses on high-voltage electric transmission interconnections in the bulk power system (BPS), and compiles solutions that provide a comprehensive set of opportunities for industry collaboration within the interconnection process. At the same time, the interconnection solutions identified in this roadmap are intended to be a collection of strategies rather than a rigid package of prescriptive fixes. Therefore, this document presents multiple paths that stakeholders within the industry may consider when determining the interconnection reform activities that best suit their situations. The solutions developed focus on interconnection challenges. Broader issues of supply chain, permitting, and siting were considered out of scope.