Queuing Up

The interconnection queue is the mechanism for grouping and ordering prospective generation projects for evaluating impacts on the bulk system. These days, with record-setting installations of wind generation capacity in the United States, it is difficult to find an interconnection queue that does not contain at least some wind generation projects; in the areas of the country with good or better wind resources, there may be dozens of prospective projects awaiting study. The result has been a much broader exposure within the electric power engineering community to the technical issues and challenges associated with wind generation.