Ohio and Pennsylvania Could Unlock 37.5 GW of New Energy with Surplus Interconnection Service

WASHINGTON, Nov. 10, 2026 /CourierPR/ -- After decades of flat demand, U.S. electricity usage has seen a steady climb over the past five years, with no signs of slowing down. This growth in demand is driving the need for new energy resources, but the complex interconnection process has been a bottleneck, delaying the deployment of more than 2,060 gigawatts (GW) of generation and storage capacity across the country.

In Ohio and Pennsylvania, the interconnection process has been particularly problematic. Any new energy resource, such as a solar farm or a natural gas plant, typically takes more than five years to move from application to operation. This delay has led to rising generation costs, which are set to surge from $29 to $333 daily per megawatt of capacity.

However, a promising solution is emerging in the form of Surplus Interconnection Service (SIS), a mechanism that allows new energy resources to connect to the grid by utilizing the "surplus" capacity of existing power plants. This approach can significantly reduce the time and cost associated with interconnection, making it a viable solution for states looking to unlock new energy resources quickly and affordably.

The Pew Charitable Trusts, in collaboration with Roselle LLP and Umed Paliwal from the University of California at Berkeley, has conducted a study that highlights the potential of SIS in Ohio and Pennsylvania. The research shows that SIS has the potential to unleash up to 37.5 GW of new energy across the two states, with 14.8 GW of that potential in Ohio alone.

In Ohio, many power plants are designed for peak demand or backup generation, and roughly 35% of the state's facilities run less than a third of the year. This leaves large amounts of approved but unused interconnection capacity. According to the study, these sites alone could host more than 8.3 GW of new generation or storage. When researchers expanded their parameters to Ohio's entire generation fleet, they found the state could host up to 21 GW of new resources through SIS, roughly matching the state's projected demand growth through 2035. SIS could save ratepayers an estimated $1.8 billion in interconnection costs, or about $367 per Ohio household, and cut the time needed to bring new energy online to as little as 12 to 18 months.

Pennsylvania also stands to benefit significantly from SIS. More than 30% of Pennsylvania's thermal generation capacity sits idle for at least nine months of the year, and many thermal plants are located on large tracts of land that could host additional SIS resources. At these sites alone, Pennsylvania could realize 6.5 GW of new energy through SIS. In total, researchers found that SIS could unlock up to 16.5 GW of new resources in Pennsylvania across existing thermal and renewable generation sites while improving reliability and insulating consumers against rising energy costs. With the state slated to add only 1 GW of new generation in 2026 through the traditional interconnection process, new SIS resources have the potential to exponentially increase new generation while saving consumers more than $1.4 billion dollars in averted interconnection costs.

The reports from Ohio and Pennsylvania reach the same fundamental conclusion: existing infrastructure is capable of hosting far more energy than it does today. Policymakers can take steps to encourage the development of quickly available, low-cost SIS resources and ensure that states capture their full potential. Legislators and regulators can require utilities to evaluate adding SIS to their generation fleet, either through existing utility processes such as integrated resource plans or through other processes created expressly to identify SIS potential. Streamlining the siting and permitting processes used for SIS projects, which are generally located at or near already-permitted power plants, is also crucial. State agencies can also align existing state economic and workforce development programs to promote SIS projects.

The gigawatts of potential available in Ohio and Pennsylvania through SIS can help alleviate long timelines for new power plants while driving affordability. Policymakers can act now to help their states benefit fully from the reliability, savings, and economic growth that SIS can support.