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World desk5 min

The U.S. Power-Grid Logjam Could Ease—but It Hasn’t Broken

The U.S. power-grid queue declined in 2025, but more than 2,060 GW of proposed generation and storage remained active. Here’s what’s improving, what is still slow, and why a shorter queue does not automatically mean more electricity.
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The U.S. power-grid interconnection queue shrank in 2025, but the backlog remains enormous and projects still take years to connect. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory reported more than 2,060 gigawatts (GW) of generation and storage capacity in active queues at the end of 2025, 10% less than a year earlier. For projects that reached commercial operation in 2025, the median time from interconnection request to operation was still more than five years in regions with available data. The figures suggest progress—not a solved grid bottleneck.

What the power-grid “queue” actually measures

When a developer proposes a power plant or storage project, the transmission provider generally studies how connecting it could affect the grid. The studies identify necessary equipment or network upgrades and determine how their costs would be assigned. Projects awaiting or moving through that process make up an interconnection queue.

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Queue capacity is proposed capacity, not power already available to households and businesses. A project in a queue is not necessarily approved, financed, under construction, or certain to be built. The queue also concerns generators and storage seeking transmission access; requests from data centers and other large electricity customers to connect and consume power are a related but separate issue.

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What has improved—and what has not

Measure Reported figure How to read it
Active U.S. generator and storage queues at the end of 2025 More than 2,060 GW; 10% below the prior year (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 2026) A large proposed-project backlog, not a tally of operating or committed supply.
Projects reaching commercial operation in 2025, in regions with available data Median request-to-operation time: more than five years (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 2026) A measure of elapsed time for completed projects, not a guaranteed timetable for a new application.
Projects in the queues at the end of 2024 About 10,300 projects: 1,400 GW of generation and approximately 890 GW of storage (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 2025) A separate year-end snapshot with generation and storage reported separately.
Requests submitted from 2000 through 2019, assessed by the end of 2024 13% of capacity had reached commercial operation, 77% had been withdrawn, and 10% remained active (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 2025) A historical cohort outcome, not a prediction for any particular project or for the current queue.

The 2025 decline is encouraging, but a queue can get shorter because projects advance—or because developers withdraw them. Berkeley Lab’s historical cohort illustrates why queue totals should not be read as a forecast of future electricity supply: most of the capacity in requests filed from 2000 to 2019 had been withdrawn by the end of 2024. The active queue is a snapshot of proposals still in the process, not a pipeline in which every project will eventually become a power plant.

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How long does it take to connect a power plant?

There is no single connection timetable that applies to every project. Berkeley Lab’s 2026 report found that the median time from request to commercial operation exceeded five years for projects built in 2025 in regions with data. That elapsed time includes a complex process, and the median describes completed projects in those regions; it does not tell an applicant exactly when its own project will connect.

Before construction can proceed, a project may need impact studies, an agreement covering connection terms and costs, and any required network upgrades. Study backlogs, study methods, upgrade requirements, cost allocation, permitting, and construction can all affect the path. A quicker study alone cannot guarantee that the equipment or transmission capacity a project needs will be ready sooner.

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What reforms could help projects move through studies?

FERC’s generator-interconnection reforms

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Order No. 2023 reforms generator interconnection procedures, including the use of cluster studies, which assess groups of projects rather than processing every request only in sequence. FERC’s explainer says providers conducting cluster studies must evaluate alternative transmission technologies as part of the process.

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The listed options include advanced conductors, advanced power-flow control, transmission switching, voltage-source converters, static synchronous compensators, static VAR compensators, and tower lifting. These are technologies for providers to assess—not a requirement to install every option, nor a promise that any one choice will resolve a particular constraint. The right option depends on the system and the studies; the material does not establish a universal cost, capacity gain, or deployment timeline for each.

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Automation and limited fast tracks

Berkeley Lab reports that grid operators are adopting automation, advanced computing, and AI software resources to speed interconnection procedures and studies. MISO, SPP, and PJM have also used limited-term fast-track programs. These are process responses that may help in particular settings; they are not evidence that study timelines have improved uniformly across the country or that the underlying network upgrades have been built.

Why transmission construction and permitting still matter

Some projects need changes to the transmission network, not merely a faster review of their application. Transmission lines and related equipment must be planned, authorized, sited, and built. Those steps take time and involve decisions beyond a generator’s interconnection study.

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In its 2026 draft National Transmission Needs Study announcement, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) pointed to demand from data centers, manufacturing, large industry, and broader economic growth as reasons for additional transmission infrastructure. DOE’s coordinated permitting program aims to coordinate federal authorizations through a two-year process target. That is a program target for coordination, not a guarantee that any particular line will be sited, permitted, funded, and constructed within two years.

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Large customers raise a separate connection and cost question

Connecting a power plant to deliver electricity and connecting a large customer to take electricity are distinct processes. The latter has gained regulatory attention as data centers and other large loads seek access to the grid. FERC’s RM26-4 proceeding began after an October 2025 direction to consider timely, orderly large-load interconnection.

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In June 2026, FERC issued show-cause orders to the six regional grid operators under its jurisdiction. The orders require each operator to justify its existing tariffs or propose changes within 60 days. The issue includes who should bear the cost of infrastructure built for a large customer if that customer’s demand does not fully materialize. FERC said its action did not intrude on state authority to select, site, and permit generation or to set retail rates. The proceeding is not a completed national rule that has already settled how large loads connect or pay.

What would show that the logjam is genuinely breaking?

A falling queue total is one signal, but it is not enough on its own. A clearer improvement would mean more projects progressing from study to agreements and construction, shorter connection timelines, and needed transmission upgrades becoming available. Those outcomes should be assessed using comparable regions, definitions, and reporting periods; queue capacity, completed projects, and operating supply are different measures.

For now, the evidence supports a measured conclusion: the active queue declined in 2025, and regulators and grid operators are pursuing process changes. But the remaining backlog, long timelines for completed projects, historical withdrawals, and need for transmission construction all argue against calling the bottleneck solved.

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