The ISO New England Interconnection Queue lists the current status of requests for the interconnection of new or uprated (increased capacity) generating facilities in New England, including elective transmission upgrades (ETUs) and transmission service requests.
Information in the IRTT
The IRTT provides information on proposed projects including the following:
- QP = Queue position, which determines order for the purposes of interconnection study and cost allocation
- Type = Project type, whether generation or ETU
- Unit, Fuel Type = The kind of generator and fuel type(s) associated with the project, including renewable sources
- Net MW = The proposed net change in megawatts of electricity the project will supply
- Summer MW, Winter MW = The Network Resource Capability for summer (highest megawatt rating at ≥50°F) and winter (highest megawatt rating at ≥0°F)
- County, ST = Location by county and state
- Op Date = Expected date of commercial operation
- Sync Date = Expected date of initial synchronization
- W/D Date = Date project withdrew from the Queue, if applicable
- POI = Point of interconnection
- Serv = Type of interconnection service requested
- SIS = If a System Impact Study has been completed
- I39 = If the project has an approved I.3.9 application
- TO Report =Which transmission owner to contact for the study report
- Dev = If the project’s study timeline deviates from the Tariff timing due to project dependency, backlog of work, or customer delays
- Zone = Location by system planning subarea
- FS, SIS, OS, FAC, IA = The status of the various phases of the ISO interconnection process
How to Read the Public Queue
Among other things, Queue data represents the possible future mix of power resources in New England, as illustrated in Tomorrow’s Energy Mix and reported in the ISO Chief Operating Officer’s monthly reports to the Participants Committee. However, the Queue is a dynamic database that can change from day to day as projects submit or withdraw interconnection requests or commence operation.
To learn how to view the Queue online, how to download a printable, .pdf version, and how to download and use the Excel spreadsheet (.xlsx) see the How do I read the public version of the ISO Queue Video.
Stakeholders and the media attempting to export and interpret the latest Queue data should keep the following important points in mind:
Perspective
- Not all proposed projects are built. Historically, almost 70% of proposed new megawatts in the Queue have ultimately been withdrawn.
- Not all projects in the region are listed in the Queue. These include:
- Projects that are interconnecting to a distribution system outside the jurisdiction of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)
- Projects proposed by a retail customer interconnecting a new generating facility that will produce electric energy to be consumed only on the retail customer’s site
- New generating facilities that will not be used to make wholesale sales of electricity in interstate commerce
- Qualifying facilities (as defined by the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act, as amended by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and the regulations thereto), where the qualifying facility owner’s intent is to sell 100% of output to its interconnected electric utility
- New demand resources
You can learn more about future projections for projects like these in the Distributed Generation Forecast or in reports from the Demand Resources Working Group. Projects listed in the Non-FERC Jurisdictional/Affected System part of the Queue may also be listed in interconnection queues maintained by distribution companies or neighboring control areas.
Before You Export Data
- Select Active in the menu Filter by Queue Status to exclude projects that have withdrawn or already become operational. If you don’t, your calculations or counts of currently proposed new projects will be skewed.
- You can also use the Filter by Jurisdiction menu if you only want FERC projects (i.e., FERC-jurisdictional projects requesting service under the ISO-NE Open Access Transmission Tariff) or non-FERC projects (i.e., projects requesting service under state or neighboring control area tariffs).
Filtering and Counting
Before you try to count megawatts or projects for New England:
- Filter out any non-New England states in the state (ST) column. The Queue can include projects the ISO must be aware of that are interconnecting to neighboring grids.
- If you’re only interested in power resources, use the Type column to filter out elective transmission upgrades (ETUs), or vice versa.
- If counting the number of projects, disregard those with project names or descriptions that say “see Qxxx” (which are associated with another queue project) or “CNR only” (which are administrative).
- Use the Fuel Type filter to divide projects into categories. Unit and fuel type abbreviations are defined in the Seasonal Claimed Capability Report.
- To view only offshore wind projects, deselect all but NA in the County column.
- Be aware that the public Queue does not reveal how megawatts are divided between battery and generator for co-located projects (e.g., WND BAT and SUN BAT).
- Use the Net MW column to see or sum project megawatts. Note that a Net MW value of 0 means no change in output because the project is a modification to an existing project or a modification or variation of previously Queued project.
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