The order in which we plug solar farms into the grid is so messed up that we’re accidentally wasting huge amounts of clean energy.
April 13, 2026
Original Paper
Connection Order Matters: Path-Dependent Hosting Capacity in Distributed Generation Interconnection Queues
SSRN · 6561541
The Takeaway
We usually think "first-come, first-served" is the fairest way to connect energy sources. However, researchers found that if the "wrong" farm plugs in first, it can clog the system and waste energy capacity.
From the abstract
Grid access queues for distributed generation (DG) are processed chronologically (FIFO) worldwide, under the implicit assumption that the connection order does not affect total accommodated capacity. This paper shows that this assumption breaks down under high-penetration conditions: because each DG connection alters the feeder voltage profile, the hosting capacity available to subsequent projects is path-dependent, meaning that different orderings of the same project set can yield substantially