Interconnection Due Diligence Checklist for Energy Developers

Before an energy developer commits another study dollar, engineering hour, or development milestone, the decision should show what is supported, what is assumed, and what remains unknown.

evidence groups

evidence layers

traceable decision record

The six evidence groups

Decision and alternatives

Name the project, decision owner, deadline, candidate POIs, and the pathways being compared.

Project evidence

Record market, utility territory, requested capacity, target date, site control, permitting status, and queue identifier.

Network model

Record topology source, model version, ratings, base-case injections, exact POI mapping, units, and as-of dates.

Queue evidence

Capture the source, request status, study milestone, retrieval time, coverage limits, and any unavailable fields.

Schedule and commercial assumptions

Separate supplied estimates from verified commitments. Record dependencies, exclusions, and what could change the date or cost.

Unknowns and next diligence

List the evidence that could change the comparison and assign the next question to its source owner.

A queue position is not a decision record

A queue record can be useful evidence, but it does not by itself establish deliverable capacity, a final upgrade scope, a commercial-operation date, or a management recommendation. Keep source, retrieval time, version, and coverage visible. If a required field is missing, record the gap instead of filling it with a plausible value.

GridVision AI structures authorized project and market evidence into a traceable Decision Record. Conditional deterministic screening is available only when the required authorized network evidence is present. Formal utility determinations and engineering studies remain authoritative.

How to use the checklist

Freeze the decision date and the evidence cutoff. Do not mix later facts into an earlier recommendation without labeling the change.
For every material claim, store the source, retrieval time, market, project identifier, and the exact field or passage supporting it.
Keep facts, project inputs, assumptions, and unknowns in separate columns. A missing value is a diligence task, not permission to estimate.
Score each pathway only after defining the same comparison boundary: requested MW, POI, target date, operating profile, upgrade scope, and commercial constraints.
End with an owner and next action for every unknown that could change cost, schedule, deliverability, or the go/no-go recommendation.

Why process context matters

FERC Order No. 2023 introduced a first-ready, first-served cluster-study framework with site-control and financial requirements, study deadlines, affected-system procedures, and storage modeling provisions. The exact process still depends on the applicable transmission provider and tariff. PJM, for example, separates application and study agreements across its current platforms. Treat the governing tariff and current provider documents as the controlling source for a live project.

Authoritative starting points

Sources were checked September 2026. Process rules and queue data can change; verify the current tariff, provider portal, and study documents before relying on a project conclusion.

Apply this to one live decision

Bring one project, two pathways, and the evidence boundary your team is authorized to use.

Discuss a decision with GridVision AI →