AI’s energy demand is threatening grid reliability and affordability. But AI tools can also speed up interconnection studies and get much-needed power projects approved faster.
Grid operators have substantial opportunities to incorporate automation into the interconnection process, including both in initial application screening and in the studies themselves. But many grid operators, like PJM, are slow-walking its adoption, have not yet announced partnerships with software companies, or are ignoring large parts of the interconnection process.
We describe in this piece the specific opportunities brought by queue automation and the status of automation in each grid region. To take full advantage of the opportunity, grid operators should:
Commit to a faster one-year timeline for the entire interconnection process
Pilot automation for the cluster studies themselves, not just application screening
Set public deadlines to conduct benchmark studies of all tools
Move quickly from partnerships and pilots to full deployment, within one year
Release public RFPs for additional automation solution
There is high potential to automate most steps of the interconnection study process, including application screening, cluster studies, and restudies. This can cut interconnection timelines for new power projects from four years to less than one.
Only one region, MISO, has automated the study process itself.
Other regions like PJM, SPP, ISO-NE, and CAISO have only automated initial application screening (less than 15% of the timeline), or have not yet deployed automation at scale.
Two regions, NYISO and ERCOT, have made no automation announcements at all. Failing to use new software tools will lead to higher energy bills, failure to keep up with rising energy demand, and lost economic development.
How Grid Operators Can Cut Energy Costs by Automating Interconnection Studies
Electricity demand is surging. To meet it, we need to get more power online fast. But in many regions, prolonged, clunky processes to connect new power sources to the grid are holding back growth and driving up customer utility bills.
One of the worst offenders is PJM Interconnection, the grid operator that covers 65 million customers in the Mid-Atlantic and Midwest. Over the last few years, PJM has already had over an 800 percent increase in capacity market prices. The reason why is simple economics: when demand skyrockets because of AI data centers but new supply is stuck in approval backlogs, prices go up. According to a 2025 analysis from Synapse Energy Economics, PJM households could save $505 per year through 2040 if PJM speeds up its broken interconnection processes.
Nationwide, most new power plants wait four to five years from interconnection application to actually delivering electricity, with timelines of nearly 9 years in PJM. That includes the grid operator’s interconnection study process, where they analyze the project’s impact on the grid and what grid upgrades might be required to handle the new power, as well as the physical construction process itself. In PJM, the interconnection studies alone take 40 months. These long timelines are causing thousands of proposed projects to drop out of the queue—causing states to lose out on billions in economic development.
Under the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Order No. 2023, grid operators must meet much faster deadlines to complete studies and get to an interconnection agreement—540 days to be precise, or about 18 months. Artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced software tools are key to meeting faster interconnection deadlines. But grid operators around the country are slow-walking their adoption.
After closing applications for most new projects in 2022, PJM recently kicked off a new interconnection process, named Cycle 1, soliciting applications for generation resources seeking to connect to the grid.
For this next cycle of projects, PJM has an opportunity to use AI and advanced modeling tools to get projects online faster. But without near-term change to incorporate these tools into this cycle, PJM is poised to miss this chance for more clean energy and lower utility bills across the region. Other RTOs, too, should adopt automation tools in a hurry.
We describe here the specific phases of the interconnection process, which phases have advanced software tools that can expedite timelines, and which grid operators have made progress in adopting these new solutions.
State of Play on Interconnection Reform
A 2023 rule issued by FERC, Order No. 2023, required grid operators (commonly called regional transmission operators, or RTOs) to update their processes to shorten the queue and bring projects online faster. The rule set mandatory timelines for RTOs to complete needed studies faster and switch from outdated serial processes—where projects are considered one by one—to cluster processes that analyze a set of projects at once, based on project readiness. Order No. 2023 requires RTOs to conduct initial interconnection studies within 150 days, with a deadline of 540 days for the entire process.
While Order 2023 is helpful—and deadlines are essential—it is the bare minimum for reform. There are numerous ways grid operators can go beyond the rule to further improve interconnection.
For example, Order No. 2023 did not require RTOs to modernize how they study the grid and achieve faster timelines. It is vital that RTOs replace manual analysis with advanced automation technologies to speed up application processing and interconnection studies. To encourage progress to that effect, FERC Commissioner Rosner sent a letter last year calling for grid operators to explore opportunities to use automation.
With skyrocketing electricity demand from data centers and record-high power prices, it is clear we need to get new, low-cost power studied, approved, and built quickly. Study automation is essential in speeding up those timelines.
Status of Study Automation
Automation and AI tools can significantly reduce the time and capacity required to screen and process applications, collect important information, and conduct studies of the grid to determine which transmission upgrades are required to connect new resources. Advanced software tools can be especially helpful in the first few steps of the process, including Application Screening and initial Cluster Studies. One pilot, by neighboring grid operator MISO, found that automation technology replicated a manual study that took two years in just ten days, with very similar results.
Where New Technologies Can Help in the Interconnection Study Process
Pre-Study: Application Screening
Duration under FERC Order 2023* = 60 days
How the step works today:
Pre-study screening and customer engagement. After developers submit applications for interconnection, engineers and other technical staff at the RTO screen the applications for completeness and to verify the developer controls 90% of the land needed to build the project.
Opportunities for advanced technologies: RTOs can use AI tools to scrape information from applications and quickly identify any issues that can be flagged for the applicants, including failure to meet 90% site control requirements. AI tools can conduct initial review of the applicants to make full review easier for the engineers and other technical staff. Companies like Tapestry and GridUnity have developed tools for this phase.
Phase 1: Cluster Study
Duration under FERC Order 2023* = 150 days
How the step works today: Phase 1 of the interconnection study. RTOs conduct studies of a cluster of projects to evaluate the capability of the grid to handle the new capacity. These studies include power-flow analysis, stability analysis, short-circuit analysis, and affected system studies. RTOs also determine what network upgrades will be needed and allocate their costs.
Opportunities for advanced technologies: Advanced tools can automate the studies—including assumption development, power-flow analysis, grid constraint identification, network upgrade assessment, and cost allocation—replacing manual processes for each of these steps. Automated processes must be paired with review and testing by engineers. Pearl Street’s SUGAR tool has been used in MISO for this phase (excluding the stability and short-circuit analyses that MISO conducts in Phase 2).
Phase 2: Cluster Restudy
Duration under FERC Order 2023* = 150 days
How the step works today: Phase 2 of the interconnection study. RTOs restudy the cluster if any projects have dropped out of the queue during the process.
Opportunities for advanced technologies: Advanced tools that expedite initial Cluster Studies could be used for restudies. Developers have used AI tools like Pearl Street’s INTERCONNECT on their own to estimate network upgrade costs in the restudy phase.
Phase 3: Facilities Study
Duration under FERC Order 2023* = 90 (or 180) days
How the step works today: Phase 3 of the interconnection study. RTOs conduct a final engineering analysis for specific upgrades, to determine the exact costs of network upgrades and cost allocation across projects. (Phase takes 180 days instead of 90 if the developer requests a more precise cost estimate.)
Opportunities for advanced technologies: Advanced tools are still being developed for this phase. Given the intensive engineering analysis required, it’s possible that advanced tools will be harder to adopt.
Interconnection Agreement
Duration under FERC Order 2023* = 90 days
How the step works today: RTO drafts an interconnection agreement (30 days) that specifies network upgrade costs allocated to the project and timeline for interconnection. RTO and developer negotiate and finalize agreement (60 days).
No opportunities for advanced technologies identified thus far.
Despite recent technology advancements, grid operators have been slow to incorporate AI and automation into interconnection. To date, the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) is the only one to have incorporated automation into interconnection studies themselves. The full spectrum of software tools aimed at grid applications is large (and growing) and encompasses both planning and operational use cases, of which interconnection studies are one example.
The California Independent System Operator (CAISO) has deployed tools from GridUnity since 2024 to simplify data sharing and Application Screening, although traditional tools are still used to conduct Cluster Studies themselves.
PJM, ISO New England (ISO-NE), and the Southwest Power Pool (SPP) have all announced partnerships to explore automation opportunities, but only PJM has announced a timeline for implementation. Furthermore, PJM and ISO-NE’s partnerships (like CAISO’s) are focused only on the pre-study Application Screening process and have so far neglected the study process itself, which makes up the vast majority of the timeline.
No other grid operator has announced plans to pilot or deploy these technologies. That list of laggards includes NYISO, ERCOT, and most of the utilities in non-RTO regions. The next section shows the commitments made by each grid operator.
Status of Interconnection Study Automation by RTO
MISO
Plans for Study Automation:
In 2024, the Midcontinent ISO (MISO) announced a partnership with Pearl Street Technologies to use an AI tool called SUGAR to fully automate its Phase 1 Cluster Study process, including Power-Flow modeling, assessment of grid constraints and network upgrades, and cost allocation.
MISO conducted a benchmark study that showed the SUGAR tool identified >99% of the grid constraints identified by traditional study processes in a fraction of the time. MISO used SUGAR in the Definitive Planning Phase (DPP) 2022 Phase 1 analysis, whose results were released in July 2025.
MISO has not announced plans to expedite Phases 2 or 3 of the process.
Plans for Study Automation: In June 2025, the Southwest Power Pool (SPP) announced a partnership with Hitachi to use AI and advanced computing tools to speed up modeling and analysis underpinning interconnection studies. Few details have been announced.
In April 2025, PJM in the mid-Atlantic announced a collaboration with Google and Tapestry to develop AI tools to manage the interconnection process. In December 2025, Tapestry released HyperQ, an AI tool to analyze interconnection applications for key information and any deficiencies, intended to speed up the Application Screening process before modeling begins.
In April 2026, PJM announced that it would use HyperQ to review applications and validate applicants’ site control claims for the next interconnection application cycle.
PJM and Tapestry, however, have not yet announced any tools to speed up the Interconnection Study phases of the queue process. The Application Screening phase in PJM is only 90 days out of the total 660-day timeline—just 14 percent. That means PJM is leaving significant opportunity on the table to speed up the other 86 percent of the process.
Target Study length: None
Timeline for launch: Possibly 2026
CAISO
Plans for Study Automation: CAISO in California has partnered with GridUnity since 2024 to improve data gathering and validation in the interconnection process through improved software—although traditional tools are still used to conduct the interconnection studies themselves once data is populated. CAISO and GridUnity deployed new software 5 months after project launch.
Target Study length: None
Timeline for launch: 2024
ISO-NE
Plans for Study Automation: In December 2025, ISO New England announced a partnership with GridUnity to improve the grid operator’s interconnection process. GridUnity is working toward integration of AI tools to aid in application review and management. ISO-NE has not announced any plans to use advanced software to conduct Cluster Studies themselves.
Target Study length: None
Timeline for launch: None
NYISO
Plans for Study Automation: New York ISO has not made any public announcements related to study automation.
Target Study length: None
Timeline for launch: None
ERCOT
Plans for Study Automation: ERCOT in Texas has not made any public announcements related to study automation, though ERCOT’s “connect-and-manage” approach means that the interconnection process requires less intensive modeling than in other regions.
Target Study length: None
Timeline for launch: None
Non-RTO Regions
Plans for Study Automation: Some utilities in non-RTO regions in the southeast and west, such as Southern Company, Duke, Dominion, and TVA, have announced automation partnerships and are beginning to explore automation tools. However, the vast majority of utilities in these regions have not.
Target Study length: N/A
Timeline for launch: N/A
To take advantage of this opportunity to deploy more cheap clean energy and reduce energy costs, grid operators should:
Pledge to complete interconnection studies within one year, faster than required by FERC Order 2023, by using automation tools.
Commit to piloting automation tools for the Application Screening, Cluster Study, and Cluster Restudy steps of the process.
Set a public deadline to conduct benchmark studies for all tools.
Move rapidly from study/pilot phase into full incorporation into the interconnection process, within one year or less.
Release public Requests for Proposals (RFPs) for all phases of the interconnection study process with no partnerships in place. This step is especially important if current partnerships have focused only on Application Screening, or if no partnerships have yet been announced.
MISO has led the way on this front, taking about a year from initial partnership announcement to incorporating automation into a real interconnection study. MISO also conducted a benchmark study and released information publicly to increase trust that automated studies can achieve similar outcomes. Now MISO needs to achieve the 1-year study timelines it has pledged to meet.
“PJM’s partnership with Tapestry automates only 90 days out of the total 660 day process—just 14 percent. That means PJM is leaving significant opportunity on the table to speed up the other 86 percent of the timeline.”
Charles Harper
Deputy Policy Director, Power
Evergreen Action
SPP should provide more transparency on which elements of the process it is working on automating and actually meet its 1-year study target.
PJM, CAISO, and ISO New England must expand their automation efforts into the interconnection studies themselves. The Application Screening process is only 11 percent of the total timeline (or 14 percent in PJM). They are leaving the majority of benefits on the table.
NYISO, ERCOT, and utilities in non-RTO regions that have made no progress on automation need to catch up and announce RFPs and partnerships quickly.
Fixing the interconnection queue is critical to meeting rising energy demand affordably, maintaining reliability, and curbing bill spikes that are squeezing families and small businesses. That requires grid operators to meet the faster deadlines in FERC Order No. 2023, and to go even further. To keep energy bills from increasing even more, we need more power and quickly. Incorporating automation and advanced technologies into the interconnection process is an affordability imperative.
