- energy
- grid
The interconnection queue is the ordered backlog of projects — new generators and, increasingly, large loads like data centers — waiting for the regional transmission organization to study their effect on the grid and approve their connection. Each entrant holds a dated queue position, and its studies determine what network upgrades it must fund before it can energize.
The queue is one of the most reliable early indicators of a hyperscale project. A campus that has said nothing publicly may already sit in PJM's queue with a load figure and a point of interconnection attached, and the studies expose the upgrade cost and timeline the local grid faces. A long queue or a costly upgrade is also what pushes an operator toward behind-the-meter generation to sidestep the wait — so the queue shapes not just when a project connects but how it chooses to power itself.