Data Source: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
Analysis by CEC Economics
Highlights
- After ballooning in 2023, CAISO the interconnection queue has moderated in 2024.103 As of the end of 2024, 158 GW of total generation and storage capacity were seeking connection to the grid in California, a 44% drop from the 283 GW in 2023. Most of the projects in queue come from energy storage projects (standalone, hybrid, or paired with another technology such as solar), which totaled 135 GW, and of which over half came from solar projects paired with battery storage systems (73 GW).
- There were no projects that entered the active queue in 2024 because CAISO did not have a queue cluster window open in 2024, in response to seeing an unprecedented level of new projects entering the queue in 2023.104 In February 2024, CAISO submitted a tariff amendment to forgo the 2024 interconnection request window, with the intention of focusing on completing existing interconnection requests before adding even more.105 In October 2024, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved CAISO’s interconnection reform plan, which is intended to make the interconnection process more efficient and more closely tied to the state’s long-term integrated resource planning.106 There had also been a notable decrease among projects that entered the queue in 2022, as many of these projects withdrew their interconnection requests in response to CAISO’s queue reforms.107
103 The interconnection queue increases when the pace in which projects are coming online is slower than the pace in which projects are added to the development pipeline.
104 A project can enter the active queue only if CAISO has a cluster window open.
105 See CAISO Docket No. ER24-___-000: https://www.caiso.com/Documents/Feb8-2024-TariffAmendment-Postpone-2024-Interconnection-Request-Window-ER24-1213.pdf
106 Matthew Biss. FERC approves CAISO interconnection queue reforms despite protests from developers. Energy Storage News. October 29, 2024. Accessed November 4, 2024. Available at: https://www.energy-storage.news/ferc-approves-caiso-interconnection-queue-reforms-despite-protests-from-developers/
107 Specifically, comparing the number of cluster 15 interconnection requests before and after implementation of the CAISO queue reforms, of the 541 projects that requested interconnection from the 2023 window, just 255 had completed resubmissions. More information is summarized in CAISO’s cluster 15 intake scoring results: https://www.caiso.com/documents/summary-of-cluster-15-intake-scoring-results.pdf