Glossary

Interconnection agreement

Also: IA, GIA, LGIA, interconnection service agreement

The contract that settles how and when a project connects to the grid, and who pays for the upgrades; the strongest queue signal that a site will be built.

Once the grid studies are done, the developer, the grid operator and the utility that owns the wires sign an interconnection agreement. Different operators call it a generator interconnection agreement (GIA), a large generator interconnection agreement (LGIA) or an interconnection service agreement, but it does the same thing: it fixes the connection point, the upgrades the project pays for and the schedule.

Signing commits real money, so a signed agreement is the queue milestone most closely tied to a project going ahead. It is still months to years before construction: the site's local permits, its financing and its builder usually come after.