Software upgrade intended to speed interconnection could receive $49 million grant

Software firm GridUnity aims to reduce interconnection times for utility-scale solar by at least a year through its real-time communication platform that brings transparency to interconnection stakeholders. Three grid operators use an early version of the software.

November 4, 2024 William Driscoll

Image: South Atlantic Division (SAD) USACE, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

GridUnity, whose interconnection lifecycle management software is used by three regional grid operators, has been selected by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for award negotiations for a $49.5 million grant to improve the software, to be matched by the firm in an equal amount.

The three grid operators using an early version of GridUnity’s software are MISO and SPP, serving the central U.S., and CAISO, serving California.

GridUnity‘s cloud-based software provides a common real-time communication platform across all stakeholders in the interconnection process: project developers, transmission providers, transmission owners, and community groups.

DOE said in a project description that the software “can replace the current fragmented communication methods and disparate technologies” used by regional grid operators and transmission owners “with a centralized solution.”

GridUnity CEO Brian Fitzsimons said “we will compress” the interconnection timeline for transmission-connected generation, which historically has averaged 30 months, “to 18 months initially, with the goal of a 12-month process through further efficiencies over time.”

DOE said the software platform “can facilitate real-time communication and collaboration, establish standardized data-sharing protocols, and automate feature updates to enable rapid adaptation to regulatory and market changes.”

A GridUnity spokesperson said that efficiencies enabled by real-time communication across stakeholder parties include reducing the “waiting for response” and “waiting for data” times. Further efficiencies are expected to result as real-time validations throughout the interconnection process will reduce the need for human intervention and “cut large chunks of time and latency” from the process.

GridUnity plans to upgrade the software by integrating additional data sources and developing new machine learning capabilities. The company said those capabilities would provide stakeholders with pre-application and post-application interconnection insights that would “dramatically reduce the number of applications submitted for interconnection, and sharpen the makeup of applications that are submitted.”

DOE elaborated on GridUnity’s planned new machine-learning AI engine, saying it would “transform cost estimation by providing more accurate, transparent, and timely analyses.”

GridUnity’s software, first released in 2016, originally served distribution utilities, and it continues to do so, streamlining interconnection applications for distributed solar and storage as well as interconnection applications for new loads. At least four distribution utilities use the software, as shown on GridUnity’s website: Pacific Gas and Electric, Southern California Edison, Entergy and Hawaiian Electric.

Upgraded software would be expected to aid customers interconnecting at the distribution level as well as customers interconnecting at the transmission level.

GridUnity said its software is customizable, giving customers flexibility to “configure their flows and backend integrations.” The company “white labels” the software, enabling each customer to choose its own name, with grid operator CAISO, for example, using the public name “Grid Resource Interconnection Portal.”

The potential DOE grant of $49.5 million would be awarded through DOE’s Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships program.

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