U.S. DOE Announces Roadmap and $18 Million Investment to Improve Clean Energy Interconnection Processes

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More than 1,000 stakeholders over two years contributed to developing solutions and targets

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Interconnection Innovation e-Xchange (i2X) released a new roadmap that can lead to shorter timelines and better outcomes for connecting clean energy resources to the distribution and sub-transmission grids. The Distributed Energy Resource Interconnection Roadmap also sets ambitious targets and strategies to improve interconnection processes and maintain reliability of the electric grid. DOE also announced $16 million in upcoming funding to support stakeholder engagement and technical assistance to adopt interconnection strategies on the distribution and transmission grids. Additionally, DOE and the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation announced $2.1 million for selected distribution utilities to pilot interconnection software solutions. And to encourage collaboration, DOE launched i2X Connect, an online platform that provides a space for interconnection stakeholders to exchange ideas and know-how. Improving interconnection processes will reduce costs, shorten timelines, and support a reliable, resilient electric grid.

“As more people and businesses choose to buy solar energy, wind turbines, batteries, and electric vehicles, they are facing significant delays and roadblocks connecting to the grid,” said Jeff Marootian, principal deputy assistant secretary for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. “The solutions in this roadmap tackle interconnection challenges from all angles to help communities across the country connect these resources faster, while increasing the resilience and reliability of the grid.”

Distributed energy resources (DERs) produce and supply electricity on a small scale and are distributed over a wide area. They primarily provide electricity to local consumers in homes and businesses. They include a diverse set of technologies, such as residential solar systems, community solar systems, distributed wind systems, battery energy storage, and electric vehicle (EV) charging equipment.

Deployment of these resources is accelerating rapidly; for example, from 2010 to 2023, the number of residential rooftop photovoltaic (PV) systems grew from 89,000 to 4.7 million. DER interconnection processes at the distribution and sub-transmission system levels need to evolve to handle the growing volume of customer demand. The complexity of this challenge calls for solutions that are customized for local market conditions and availability of distributed energy resources.

Roadmap To Improve Distributed Energy Resource Interconnection

The DOE roadmap provides the broad range of interconnection stakeholders—including utilities, state agencies, regulators, equipment manufacturers, consumer advocates, equity and energy justice groups, researchers, interconnection customers, and other actors—with 39 solutions organized around four goals:

• Increasing data access, transparency, and security
• Improving interconnection processes and timelines
• Promoting economic efficiency in interconnection
• Maintaining a reliable, resilient, and secure grid

The roadmap provides specific actions that the interconnection community can take in the next five years and beyond to address current DER interconnection challenges. It was developed through extensive engagement with more than 1,000 interconnection stakeholders. The roadmap solutions offer innovative strategies rather than prescriptive fixes and are categorized to help stakeholders in different states or regions identify those that best meet their needs and priorities.

The roadmap also identifies five measurable targets for interconnection improvement by 2030. These include ambitious targets for shorter interconnection times and higher interconnection completion rates based on the size of the new system. The roadmap targets also aim for all 50 U.S. states, as well as the District of Columbia and U.S. territories, to have public, detailed, and current interconnection queue data available. Additionally, the roadmap sets goals for grid resilience and reliability: ensuring zero DER-related grid disturbances and decreasing the time to restore service after a power outage by 25%.

Join i2X for a kickoff and overview webinar on the roadmap on January 30, at 2 p.m. ET. This webinar will be the first in a series of webinars discussing the roadmap’s goals and solutions. You can find upcoming i2X events, including our ongoing i2X Forum for the Implementation of Reliability Standards webinar series, on the i2X events webpage.

This roadmap complements DOE’s Transmission Interconnection Roadmap, published in April 2024, which identifies solutions for challenges in transmission system interconnection.

Join the Interconnection Conversation

To speed implementation of the solutions identified in the two i2X roadmaps, DOE announced the launch of i2X Connect, an online platform that provides a space for utilities, grid operators, state and local governments, clean energy industry, energy justice groups, non-profits, interconnection customers and other stakeholders to connect. The goal of the platform is to enable the implementation of solutions to improve interconnection processes through engagement and collaboration.

The DOE-moderated i2X Connect platform allows professionals representing their organizations to discuss key interconnection topics, including data transparency, equity and energy justice, grid engineering practices and standards, interconnection workforce and training, queue management and cost allocation, and electric vehicle grid integration. Interested professionals can sign up for an i2X Connect account with their organization email address to join the conversation.

Pilot Demonstrations To Manage Interconnection Requests

DOE and the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation selected twelve projects across ten utilities whose collective service territories span 24 states to receive $2.1 million through the i2X Innovative Queue Management Solutions (iQMS) for Clean Energy Interconnection and Energization Partnership Intermediary Agreement (PIA) program. Many distribution utilities lack the tools and internal capabilities to adequately manage the large volume of interconnection requests for mid-scale clean energy (100 kilowatt to 5 megawatt) and flexible demand (e.g., EV charging) projects without delays or high costs. These projects will fund distribution utilities to pilot innovative solutions for managing renewable energy and EV charging interconnection and energization queues. The selected distribution utilities are:

• American Electric Power and Appalachian Power (Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia): $200,000
• Duquesne Light Company (Pennsylvania): $200,000
• Eversource Energy (Connecticut): $200,000
• La Plata Electric Association (Colorado): $200,000
• LeapTran, Inc. and Guadalupe Valley Electric Cooperative (Texas): $200,000
• National Grid USA (Massachusetts and New York): $300,000
• NetMeterGO.com and Paducah Power Systems (Kentucky): $100,000
• Puget Sound Energy (Washington): $300,000
• Warren Rural Electric Co-Op Corporation (Kentucky): $200,000
• Xcel Energy Services, Inc. (Colorado): $200,000

New Funding for Stakeholder Collaboration and Technical Assistance

DOE also announced two upcoming interconnection funding opportunities expected to open for applications in spring 2025. The i2X Distributed Energy Resources Interconnection Solutions Collaboratives (DERISC) PIA will provide up to $8 million to support local, state, or regional collaborative teams to prioritize and tailor solutions in the DER Interconnection Roadmap. The i2X Accelerating Transmission System Interconnection Strategies (ATSIS) voucher program PIA will provide up to $8 million to offer specialized technical assistance to transmission owners and providers. The assistance will help evaluate cost-saving interconnection solutions using grid-enhancing technologies and other advanced capabilities, ultimately accelerating grid interconnection timelines and reducing overall cost. Subscribe to the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) funding email list to find out when applications open.

The iQMS, DERISC, and ATSIS PIA programs are all administered by ENERGYWERX. This funding mechanism is made possible through the innovative Partnership Intermediary Agreement set up by DOE’s Office of Technology Transitions.

About i2X

DOE launched the i2X initiative in June 2022 to enable simpler, faster, and fairer interconnection of clean energy resources while enhancing the reliability, resilience, and security of the electric grid. Since then, 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 and join upcoming i2X events.