Interconnection Queue

The interconnection queue is the formal waitlist of projects — both new generation and large new loads — applying for permission to connect to the electric grid. Before any plant or facility can energize, the grid operator must study how it will affect system reliability and what network upgrades it will require. Projects enter the queue, undergo these studies in sequence, and proceed only once their interconnection agreement and any required upgrades are settled.

The backlog problem

Demand to connect has outpaced the studies. By the end of 2022 there were on the order of 1,350 GW of generation and roughly 680 GW of storage waiting in U.S. interconnection queues, and projects faced average timelines of several years to reach commercial operation. Regulators have responded with reforms — in the U.S., FERC Order 2023 moved to a "first-ready, first-served" cluster-study approach — to clear the congestion, but multi-year waits remain common.

Why miners care

There are two queues that matter to mining. A generator interconnection covers a power plant joining the grid; a load interconnection covers a large consumer — a data center or mining facility — plugging in. A new mine of meaningful size cannot simply switch on; it must clear the load-interconnection process, and that timeline is a real project risk. The queue backlog is also why behind-the-meter siting is attractive: by co-locating directly with generation, a miner can sidestep much of the grid-interconnection wait.

The interconnection queue is the gateway to grid interconnection, and clearing it is a prerequisite for selling into a capacity market or contracting power under a power purchase agreement.