Western utilities outside an ISO Interconnection Queue, Active Capacity (GW)

## What this measures

The capacity, in gigawatts, of proposed generation and storage projects actively seeking to connect to the transmission grid in Western utilities outside an ISO (outside California), at the end of each year from 2014. It counts projects still in the queue (active), not those withdrawn, suspended or already operating.

## Why it matters

Every new power plant must wait in an interconnection queue for studies before it can connect. The queue is the earliest public read of the power supply that might arrive in the next five years, and of where developers think demand, including data center demand, will be.

## How to read it

Higher means more capacity proposed. Most of it will never be built: of the capacity that entered queues from 2000 to 2020, LBNL finds only about one in eight had reached operation by the end of 2025. A falling queue can mean faster studies and stricter entry rules (FERC Order 2023, cluster studies) as much as weaker interest. Compare the fuel mix (power.queue.lbnl.active_gw.us.gas, .solar, .storage) to see what developers are betting on.

## What it does not say

It is nameplate capacity requested, not energy produced or projects likely to finish. Storage paired with a solar or wind plant is LBNL's estimate and is only included from 2020, so totals before 2020 count standalone storage only. Rules for entering and leaving queues differ by region and changed over time.

## How it's built

LBNL compiles and cleans the queue files of every ISO/RTO and about 50 other balancing authorities. Palanor sums LBNL's capacity by generator type (wind, offshore wind, solar, gas, standalone storage, hybrid storage, other) for the region and year. Values are dated to December 31 of each year.

## Source

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and GridTracker, "Queued Up: 2026 Edition" data file (emp.lbl.gov/queues), tab "09. Active Cap. Region+Type". Licensed CC BY 4.0: "You may use, share, or adapt the dataset as long as you attribute it to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and GridTracker." Updated once a year when LBNL publishes a new edition.