U.S. grid interconnection agreements surged 33% year-over-year in 2024, reaching a record 75 gigawatts (GW), driven largely by solar and energy storage projects, according to a report by Wood Mackenzie.
The report said solar and energy storage captured 75% of the total, securing 58 GW of interconnection agreements. Wood Mackenzie noted that while connection processes have become more streamlined and efficient, regional differences remain pronounced.
“It’s clear that these reforms are showing early signs of promise in accelerating the pace of interconnection studies,” said Kaitlin Fung, research analyst for North America Utility-Scale Solar at Wood Mackenzie.
The firm said the number of new project entries across regional grid operators declined by 9% in 2024, while withdrawals of non-viable projects increased 51% since 2022.
Wood Mackenzie expects solar to maintain its leading share of interconnection agreements in 2025, noting that solar has accounted for roughly half of all signed agreements since 2019. “Interconnection success rates and queue processing times vary dramatically for different grid operators across regions,” Fung added.
Among operators, Texas’ ERCOT led in both approval success rates and processing speed, attributed to its streamlined queue process and “connect-and-manage” approach. New England’s ISO-NE ranked second with high application success rates but the longest processing times due to delays in transitioning to cluster-based applications. California’s CAISO ranked third but had one of the lowest success rates, a result of a high volume of speculative projects in the state.
Natural gas interconnection requests have increased since 2022, adding 121 GW of capacity, but successful approvals have declined 25% due to challenges in PJM, MISO, and ERCOT regions, the report said.
“While we’re seeing positive momentum, significant challenges remain,” Fung said. “Regional disparities in processing times highlight the need for continued reform efforts.”
