FERC Order 2023 replaces first-come, first-served grid queues with annual cluster studies, deposits that climb to 20% of network upgrade costs, withdrawal penalties, and late fees of $1,000 to $2,500 per business day on transmission providers (FERC, July 2023). Developers now pay for early certainty about upgrade costs, and grid operators pay for faster studies.
Is Order 2023 still in force, and where does compliance stand?
Yes. FERC issued Order 2023 on July 28, 2023, and it took effect on November 6, 2023. Order 2023-A, issued March 21, 2024, kept most of the rule and set the compliance deadline at May 16, 2024. On July 31, 2026, the D.C. Circuit denied the petitions for review from both grid operators and clean energy developers.
Compliance is still moving. MISO filed on May 16, 2024. FERC accepted that filing in part on June 26, 2025, effective July 28, 2025, found a later filing only partly compliant on March 19, 2026, and had MISO's May 18, 2026 filing pending in MISO's July 2026 status report. LBNL's June 2026 report lists CAISO Cluster 16 and ISO-NE's first cluster both opening in October 2026, and NYISO's cluster window opening July 31, 2026. Tariff details differ by region, so read your target operator's own compliance filing before you quote a rule to a buyer.
What do deposits and withdrawal penalties cost a developer?
Each stage of a cluster study now carries more money at risk. The final rule sets these commercial readiness deposits (FERC, July 2023):
- Enter the cluster study: two times the study deposit, in cash or an irrevocable letter of credit.
- Enter the cluster restudy: top up to 5% of the project's network upgrade cost estimate.
- Enter the facilities study: top up to 10%.
- Sign the interconnection agreement: top up to 20%.
Withdrawal penalties track the same ladder. A developer that walks away pays the greater of its study deposit or two times study costs during the cluster study, then 5%, 10% and 20% of network upgrade costs at the later stages. Developers also need 90% site control when they apply and 100% by the facilities study, per LBNL's summary (June 2026).
For a vendor, this moves the developer's pain earlier: a bad upgrade cost estimate now costs cash at restudy. Tools and services that predict upgrade costs, screen points of interconnection and assemble site control evidence before the application window have a new budget line behind them.
What do the study deadlines mean for transmission providers?
Transmission providers lost the "reasonable efforts" standard. The cluster study must finish within 150 calendar days of the customer engagement window, and the facilities study within 90 days (or 180 days for a tighter cost estimate). Late fees are $1,000 per business day for a cluster study, $2,000 for a restudy or an affected system study, and $2,500 for a facilities study (FERC, July 2023).
There are limits. Penalties start only from the third cluster cycle after a provider's compliance takes effect, a 10-business-day grace period applies, and the total is capped at 100% of the study deposits. Non-RTO providers and RTO transmission owners also cannot recover the penalties through transmission rates (FERC, July 2023), so a missed date costs the provider directly. That cost is the opening for study automation. LBNL reports that a MISO pilot of automated study software cut a study timeline by 98%, that SPP is working with Hitachi on AI to shorten study analysis, and that PJM is working with Google on AI tools to automate steps such as readiness review (LBNL, June 2026).
How big is the interconnection queue now?
About 2,061 GW was active at the end of 2025: 1,312 GW of generation and 749 GW of storage (LBNL, June 2026). More than 750 GW withdrew in 2025 while about 600 GW entered. The median project built in 2025 took 61 months from request to commercial operation, against 36 months in 2015. Only 53 GW of the 2,290 GW active at the end of 2024 reached operation in 2025.
The mix is shifting. Gas in queues rose 86% to 253 GW, while storage fell 16%. New fast tracks for resource adequacy, which promise as little as three months from request to agreement, held 29 GW in MISO, 15 GW in SPP and 8 GW in PJM (LBNL, June 2026).
Which vendors gain, and who signs the purchase order?
Use this table to match your product to the rule change and the buyer.
| Rule change | Who feels it | What they will buy |
|---|---|---|
| Cluster studies with 150-day deadlines and late fees | RTO and utility interconnection planning teams | Study automation, power flow and contingency analysis software, outside study capacity |
| Deposits rising to 20% of upgrade costs | Developer interconnection leads and finance teams | Upgrade cost forecasting, point of interconnection screening, letter of credit capacity |
| Withdrawal penalties at every stage | Developer development heads | Pre-application screening and portfolio triage |
| Required review of eight alternative transmission technologies | Transmission planners, with developers pushing for cheaper upgrades | Grid-enhancing technologies: power flow control, advanced conductors, synchronous condensers, tower lifting |
| Shared point of interconnection and earlier surplus interconnection service | Owners of operating plants with signed agreements | Storage added at existing sites, hybrid plant controls |
| Storage studied on its stated charging behaviour | Storage developers | Plant controllers that hold the plant to its submitted operating limits |
The technology review is specific. Providers must evaluate static synchronous compensators, static VAR compensators, advanced power flow control devices, transmission switching, synchronous condensers, voltage source converters, advanced conductors and tower lifting and explain the result for each in the cluster study report (FERC, July 2023). That report is a written record a vendor can cite. For the transmission owner side of that sale, see how grid-enhancing technology vendors sell to transmission owners.
Storage developers gain twice. Storage requests are studied on the charging behaviour the developer submits, with a description of the controls that enforce it. Surplus interconnection service opens once the original customer has a signed agreement, so an operating plant can add a battery behind its existing connection without a new queue position (FERC, July 2023).
What changed for large loads and co-location after Order 2023?
Order 2023 covers generators, and loads follow a separate track. After a Department of Energy directive in October 2025, FERC ordered PJM in December 2025 to set transparent rules for loads co-located with generation, and approved SPP's High Impact Large Load process in January 2026 (FERC, April 2026).
On June 18, 2026, FERC issued show cause orders to all six RTOs and ISOs. Each had 60 days to defend its tariff or file changes across five areas: faster load study processes that consider alternative transmission technologies, cost shifting and transparency, co-location and behind-the-meter generation, new services for flexible loads, and studies of generation that serves nearby or co-located loads. On August 14, 2026, FERC held the PJM proceeding in abeyance for 90 days, so PJM's response falls in November 2026.
For a storage or flexible load vendor, this is a second buyer group with a filing date attached. The RTO responses will define the new load services, and vendors with measured flexibility data can file comments in those dockets and brief the transmission owners who draft them.
How should an energy startup change its sales plan?
Time outreach to the calendar. Sell to developers in the weeks before a cluster window opens, when deposits and site control are being assembled. Sell to transmission providers before their third post-compliance cycle, when late fees begin. Bring the buyer's own filing to the first call, quote the tariff section, and price against the deposit or penalty your product reduces.
If your team needs meetings with interconnection leads and planning managers, Outbound runs that work at $5K a month plus a fee per meeting held.
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