Only one state earns an ‘A’ in IREC’s latest report card

Depending on where you live, connecting distributed energy resources (DERs) like solar panels and energy storage systems to the local electric grid is probably* more difficult than it should be. State interconnection policies play a significant role in determining how seamlessly someone can bring small-scale systems online, and those rules are attracting increased scrutiny as energy demand rises and electricity prices climb across the United States. *New Mexicans, this may not apply to you.

This month, the national clean energy nonprofit, the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC), released its latest Freeing the Grid report, a joint initiative with fellow DER advocate Vote Solar, which assigns letter grades to evaluate the quality of each state’s interconnection rules.

The A-to-F grades are intended to assist regulators, legislators, and other stakeholders in identifying interconnection best practices and comparing progress among states. They’re based on 10 categories of criteria that evaluate the cost, efficiency, and transparency of the interconnection process, eligible technologies, and other factors. Each state’s report card assesses how its policies perform across those criteria and even identifies priority recommendations for improvement.

How Did My State Perform?

This year’s results continue to demonstrate that the vast majority of states (plus Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico) have significant room for improvement in their interconnection rules, IREC and Vote Solar suggest. Only one state, New Mexico, earned an ‘A’ grade; eight were given a ‘B.’

However, there has been progress worth noting: Eight states improved their policies since the last Freeing the Grid report in 2023, and four states did enough to move up a full letter grade or more. Oregon and New Jersey made the most significant jumps, both going from a ‘D’ to a ‘B.’ Maine also earned a ‘B,’ up from a ‘C’ in 2023. Wisconsin improved from a ‘D’ to a ‘C.’ An additional four states, California, Connecticut, Minnesota, and Vermont, made their interconnection policies better, but haven’t done enough to improve their overall grades from 2023.

“We’re thrilled to see improvements in eight states this year, but with over 80% of states scoring a ‘C’ or below and a quarter of all states lacking statewide interconnection rules altogether, there is significantly more work to be done to ensure consistent, transparent, and efficient processes,” summarized IREC CEO Chris Nichols. “This report, and its state-specific policy recommendations, is particularly timely given the current pressure on regulators to rein in electric rate hikes and deliver more energy to meet growing demand.”

“We’re encouraged to see states making meaningful progress toward faster and more transparent interconnection processes,” added Sachu Constantine, Vote Solar’s executive director. “But this year’s grades also make clear that many states still have substantial work ahead to ensure community power resources like solar can connect to the grid efficiently and fairly. Strong interconnection policy is foundational to achieving affordable, reliable, and equitable clean energy for all communities to benefit from.”

39 U.S. states and territories have statewide interconnection procedures, and 13 do not. Those without established rules received ‘F’ grades; New Mexico’s ‘A’, conversely, was awarded because IREC and Vote Solar deemed the state to have adopted a majority of current interconnection best practices. Here’s the grade-by-grade breakdown:

A: New Mexico

B: Arizona, California, Illinois, Maine, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, and Oregon

C: Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, D.C., Wisconsin

D: Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, West Virginia

F: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Wyoming

IREC’s grades are based only on policies and practices explicitly included or referenced in a state’s interconnection rules, and therefore applicable to all jurisdictional utilities. They do not reflect interconnection provisions included in non-statewide interconnection rules, such as public utility commission orders that have not been formally adopted in the rules or individual utility technical documents. In some instances, the on-the-ground implementation of a state’s interconnection rules differs from what the rules require; these differences are not captured in the grades.

Explore the map and learn more about your state’s interconnection grade here. Interested stakeholders can also sign up to be notified about a future IREC webinar that will explore the 2026 state grades in detail.

Why Distribution Interconnection Matters

Because interconnection rules govern how energy projects are reviewed and approved for connection to the distribution grid, such policies have a heavy hand in the efficiency (and cost-effectiveness) with which new clean energy projects can be developed. States with rules requiring a transparent and expedited review process are more likely to avoid backlogs, but in those without such characteristics, projects are more likely to experience delays that can span months or years, clean energy advocates point out.

Efficient interconnection has become even more important in recent years as a means of combatting rising electricity prices. Distributed solar and storage offer some of the most affordable and readily deployable generation sources, and states that adopting interconnection best practices can accelerate the deployment of clean, local energy sources to meet growing demand while keeping costs down.