This $452,000 project grant from the National Science Foundation's Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences program (CFDA 47.075) will fund research on improving the interconnection process for renewable energy generators to connect to the U.S. power grid. The University of Wisconsin-Madison will analyze how the current interconnection queue design acts as a bottleneck to renewable deployment and quantify the costs and benefits of potential policy reforms. It will construct new datasets on interconnection costs, queue wait times and transmission planning to estimate factors affecting generators' decisions to withdraw from the queue. A queuing model will be developed to simulate the effects of alternative queue designs or an interconnection cost subsidy. The project may also analyze proactively planning transmission projects in renewable energy growth regions. The University of Maryland, College Park will receive a sub-award to focus on the interconnection process challenges facing new generators seeking to connect to existing transmission infrastructure. Research is to be completed by July 2025.