Market Signal: the queue is a hiring problem

Berkeley Lab put more than 2,060GW of generation and storage in the US interconnection queue at the end of 2025, down from around 2,290GW a year earlier, a second straight annual decline that still leaves more capacity in line than every power plant now operating in the US.

The signal Most people read the queue as a transmission problem. It is also a hiring problem. Last year 89% of construction employers in transmission, distribution, and storage told the US Department of Energy they had at least some difficulty finding qualified workers.

Hiring Getting a project from interconnection agreement to energization takes Interconnection Managers, Transmission and Grid Engineers, and EPC Leaders who have done it before. The binding constraint is senior people, not capital or equipment.