Led by U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Integrated Energy Systems Office within the Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation, the Interconnection Innovation e-Xchange (i2X™) convenes diverse stakeholders involved in the interconnection of energy projects– generators, storage, large loads, and hybrid facilities–to support peer-learning and knowledge exchange and inspire new interconnection ideas and capabilities. i2X is supported by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR), and Idaho National Laboratory (INL).
Interconnecting generators, storage, large loads, and hybrid energy projects to the grid requires navigating complex regulatory structures and technical impact assessments, which vary by jurisdictional authorities of the distribution or transmission grid systems. Current interconnection procedures are not designed to accommodate the rapidly growing energy demand due to the rise of large commercial and industrial loads (e.g., data centers) and electrification, which is compounded by Americans facing rising electricity prices across the country.
i2X Program Activities
Stakeholder Engagement – The first-of-its-kind national interconnection stakeholder engagement center brings together stakeholders—like utilities, grid operators, state and local governments, energy justice groups, non-profits, industry, and others—to identify interconnection barriers, share best practices and lessons learned, and test innovative solutions to address specific interconnection challenges. Learn more about the i2X Forum for the Implementation of Reliability Standards for Transmission (FIRST).
Data and Analytics – Data on interconnection queues, timelines, costs, disapprovals, and other factors help to identify where and how interconnection barriers can be addressed. i2X leads data collection efforts and in-depth analyses to provide the baseline information to set interconnection metrics, track progress, and identify successful strategies.
Strategic Roadmaps of Interconnection Solutions – Leveraging input from stakeholders, i2X has developed two interconnection roadmaps to identify solutions to address current challenges transmission interconnection solution center (coming soon) and distributed energy project interconnection solution center (coming soon).
Research and Innovation – After identifying feasible innovations and solutions to major technical and process challenges, stakeholders can receive funding and peer-learning, and support from national lab interconnection experts to implement interconnection solutions.
Collaborative thinking amongst stakeholders will enable the broader energy community to better understand the interconnection landscape, map out challenges, and find creative and implementable solutions. Similar collaboration efforts at the state level have led to major successes; DOE is bringing this collaborative approach to stakeholders across the country with i2X. Join i2X today.
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