29,000+ projects. 1,500+ GW. 3,000+ utilities. The US grid interconnection queue is the largest infrastructure bottleneck in the energy transition — and the software to manage it is barely penetrated.
Sources: DOE GRIP filings, ISO/RTO public budgets, FERC filings, LBNL Queued Up 2025, utility press releases
Projects wait 3-5 years in queue. 70%+ are withdrawn before completion. The system is broken.
Interconnection software spans transmission (7 ISOs) and distribution (3,000+ utilities)
Three expansion vectors ordered by near-term revenue potential
Southern Co | Duke Energy (3 territories) | TVA | FPL | Santee Cooper
The Southeast is the only major US region with no RTO/ISO oversight — each utility runs its own interconnection process independently. Duke Energy Carolinas has 50+ GW in queue (larger than NYISO and ISO-NE combined), managed through PDFs posted on OASIS. Southern Company's 240 active requests are tracked via a Power BI dashboard we scraped with Puppeteer — that's their "queue management system." FERC Order 2023 (issued July 2023, compliance deadlines rolling through 2025-2026) requires all transmission providers — including non-ISO utilities — to adopt cluster study processes, first-ready first-served rules, and commercial readiness deposits. These utilities have never had software to support any of this.
9,251 entries | 13 states + DC | $400M annual operating budget
PJM is the largest electricity market in the world by peak load (165 GW) and has the deepest interconnection queue (9,251 entries per our scraper). In June 2024, PJM implemented a "transition period" under FERC Order 2023 — pausing new queue intake while redesigning their study process. This means PJM is actively evaluating new queue management tools right now. They currently use a homegrown "New Services Queue" portal. The AEP transmission zone alone has 30 GW / 500 projects in backlog. Northern Virginia's data center corridor (Loudoun County) is driving 10+ GW of new load interconnection requests that require the same queue infrastructure. PJM's $400M/yr operating budget (2025 public filing) means a $1-2M software contract is <1% of their spend.
3,000+ utilities | ~80% of all IC applications by count
The EIA reports 800K+ residential solar systems installed in 2023 alone — each requires an interconnection application at the distribution utility level. Add community solar, commercial rooftop, battery storage, and EV charging, and distribution IC volume dwarfs transmission. Most of the 3,000+ distribution utilities in the US handle these applications via email, PDFs, and spreadsheets. PowerClerk (Clean Power Research) serves 80+ of them and has processed 2M+ applications over 20+ years. FERC Order 2222, issued September 2020, requires ISOs/RTOs to allow distributed energy resource (DER) aggregations as small as 100 kW to participate in wholesale electricity markets. Implementation has been slow (compliance deadlines extended multiple times), but as states adopt it, every rooftop solar + battery system becomes a potential wholesale market participant — requiring more rigorous interconnection studies than a simple net metering application. This transforms distribution IC from paperwork into engineering workflow.
Fragmented market — no player owns both transmission and distribution
| Company | Focus | Customers | Data Moat | Key Strength | Key Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GridUnity | Transmission queue workflow | CAISO, SPP, MISO, ISO-NE, SCE, Xcel | Very High | Only vendor processing ISO-scale cluster studies; $49.5M DOE grant | 3 ISOs + 50 non-ISO utilities + distribution |
| PowerClerk (CPR) | Distribution DER workflow | 80+ utilities (14 of top 15 IOUs) | High | 2M+ DER apps processed; bootstrapped; 20+ yr utility relationships | No ISO/RTO contracts; FERC transmission is new territory |
| Paces | Developer siting AI | ~100 devs (EDF, AES) | None | $13M+ raised (YC S22); AI feasibility for developers | Serves developers, not utilities; no queue workflow |
| GridCARE | DC load interconnection | PGE, PG&E, National Grid | Low | $13.5M seed; Stanford founders; unlocked 80+ MW at PGE | Consulting model; data center niche only |
| Emerald AI | DC demand flexibility | NVIDIA, AES, Constellation | Low | $42.5M raised; NVIDIA integration; demand-side load shifting | Not IC software — makes DCs flexible, doesn't manage queues |
| Interconnection.fyi | Queue data product | Developers, investors | Low | 50k projects aggregated; daily updates; clean UI | Public data repackaged; no utility workflow; no switching cost |
| Gridsight | Distribution digital twin | AU utilities, Xcel, SMUD | Medium | $7.5M Series A; AI powerflow; 4.2+ GW DER modeled | Australia-first; analytics layer, not queue management |
Three moves that would materially expand GridUnity's addressable market
PowerClerk is the only other company with deep, multi-decade utility relationships in interconnection software. They own distribution (80+ utilities, 14 of top 15 IOUs, 2M+ applications processed). GridUnity owns transmission (4+ ISOs). No other combination creates a platform that manages interconnection end-to-end — from a homeowner's rooftop solar application to a 500 MW wind farm's cluster study. Both companies are already expanding into each other's territory (PowerClerk added FERC generator IC at APS; GridUnity launched GridInterConnect for Distribution in 2025). An acquisition preempts the collision and captures both sides of a ~$100M market.
The Southeast non-ISO market (Southern Co, Duke, TVA, FPL) represents ~$30M in TAM but has zero modern IC software adoption. These utilities don't respond to cold outreach from SaaS vendors — they work through established engineering and consulting relationships (Burns & McDonnell, Black & Veatch, Quanta, etc.). A channel partnership with a firm that already has procurement relationships at Duke and Southern Company would bypass the 18-24 month enterprise sales cycle. The FERC Order 2023 compliance deadline creates urgency — these utilities must implement cluster study processes by 2025-2026 and have no software to do it.
Every trend accelerates interconnection queue volume and the need for software
Mandates queue reform at every transmission provider. Creates compliance urgency for non-ISO utilities that have never used modern IC software.
$369B in clean energy incentives driving unprecedented project development. Solar + storage queue submissions up 4x since 2020.
AI/cloud driving 10+ GW of new load interconnection requests. Northern Virginia alone has more queue pressure than most ISOs.
Opens wholesale markets to distributed energy resources. Every rooftop solar + battery becomes a potential queue entry.