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Witnesses Tell Congress Interconnection, Transmission and Permitting Delays Are Bottlenecks
Summary
Panelists at a House hearing said interconnection queues, permitting complexity and limited transmission planning are delaying generation buildout and that ERCOT’s connect‑and‑manage approach offers lessons for speeding projects into service.
Members of the House Energy Subcommittee heard that projects can stall in interconnection queues for years and that transmission and permitting processes are limiting the nation’s ability to add generation at the pace required by rising demand.
PJM’s Asim Haque said PJM’s generation interconnection queue historically became clogged as it evaluated proliferating, often smaller renewable projects. He described an ongoing multi-year reform effort at PJM and said the operator had cleared about 50 gigawatts through the queue but many projects face financing, supply‑chain and siting barriers to construction.
Duke researcher Tyler Norris said one reason ERCOT has been able to add capacity faster is a different interconnection paradigm that allows developers to connect “at their own risk,” with network upgrades planned separately and impacts managed in real time. Norris said ERCOT’s approach can halve the time from interconnection request to getting online (measured in multi‑year spans) and that other markets can adopt lessons even if wholesale replication is structurally difficult.
Witnesses and members also pointed to permitting complexity. Basin Electric’s Todd Brickhouse described overlapping environmental reviews and multiple agency assessments (for example, separate reviews by the Bureau of Land Management and the Bureau of Indian Affairs for the same transmission project) that add time and cost. Several witnesses urged congressional action to streamline federal permitting — and state regulatory alignment — to accelerate transmission and gas pipeline projects needed for new generating capacity.
Policy levers under discussion included a more proactive, multi‑value transmission planning process, targeted permitting reform for high‑value projects and standardized interconnection rules that would allow willing generators to accept higher curtailment risk in exchange for faster delivery. Witnesses also recommended clearer rules for large new loads — such as colocation arrangements for data centers — so costs for transmission and grid upgrades are allocated transparently.
