The Grid Queue, in Numbers
A synthetic series showing how a backlog of generation projects could grow even as approvals rise. Demonstration data, clearly labeled, standing in for the real figures the production edition would draw from Berkeley Lab.
The Daily Edition1 min read
Illustrative. This article is demonstration content written to show The Daily Edition. It does not report actual events. Historical and scientific facts are attributed to real sources in the Deep Dive.
Quick Read · about 21 seconds
- What happened
- This data story uses a synthetic, clearly labeled series to show the dynamic described in our front-page report: approvals rising while the queue grows faster. In production, the chart would draw on Berkeley Lab's published interconnection-queue data.
- Why it matters
- The shape of the curve, not the exact values, is the point: reform that increases throughput can still fail to shrink a backlog if applications grow faster.
- What remains uncertain
- The real figures. This chart is a demonstration and must not be read as a measurement.
Our front-page report describes grid operators approving more projects than ever while the backlog still grows. The chart below illustrates how that can happen. It uses synthetic data, labeled as such on the chart itself, because The Daily Edition does not publish numbers it cannot source.
In the production edition this chart would be driven by the annual Queued Up reports from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, which publish capacity in interconnection queues by year, technology and region. The one real figure in this story is from that source: roughly 2,600 gigawatts of generation and storage capacity were in U.S. queues at the end of 2023.
Reading a backlog
A queue is a stock; approvals and applications are flows. The stock grows whenever applications exceed approvals, regardless of how high approvals are. Reform aimed at throughput helps only if it also discourages speculative applications, which is why the 2023 federal rules added deposits and withdrawal penalties alongside faster studies.
Our front-page report describes grid operators approving more projects than ever while the backlog still grows. The chart below illustrates how that can happen. It uses synthetic data, labeled as such on the chart itself, because The Daily Edition does not publish numbers it cannot source.
In the production edition this chart would be driven by the annual Queued Up reports from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, which publish capacity in interconnection queues by year, technology and region. The one real figure in this story is from that source: roughly 2,600 gigawatts of generation and storage capacity were in U.S. queues at the end of 2023.
The Living Story
Rebuilding the Electricity Grid
Record volumes of solar, wind and battery projects are waiting to connect to the grid in the United States while transmission lines and interconnection reviews lag. The bottleneck has shifted from building generation to connecting it.
3 milestones · 1 updates · 2 articles
Open the story pageAsk the Newspaper
Put a question to the research desk. Answers draw only on this article’s verified material and its continuing story, and every statement is cited. No language model is configured, so answers are the most relevant verified passages rather than generated prose.
Audio version: not yet available. Listening will use the same verified text as this article. The control will appear here once narration is produced.
Related reading
A Record Queue of Solar and Storage Projects Waits to Connect to the Grid
Grid operators cleared more projects than last year, in this illustrative scenario, but new applications outpaced them. The bottleneck in the energy transition is no longer building generation. It is plugging it in.
2 min read