How Provisional Interconnection Service Lets Generators Deliver Power Before Network Upgrades Are Finished

Provisional Interconnection Service (PIS) addresses a specific mismatch in the interconnection process: a generator can be physically ready to deliver energy before every network upgrade identified in its interconnection study has been completed. Rather than force that generator to wait until the last upgrade is finished, PIS lets it begin operating in the interim, as long as an interim study confirms doing so won't cause a transmission violation.

The generators that benefit most are those that don't yet hold full Capacity Interconnection Rights — the formal right to inject a defined amount of capacity at a location — but can still offer energy on an interim basis. PJM's expansion of PIS widened eligibility for exactly this category, giving more projects a path to start delivering value before their full interconnection package is complete.

It's worth being precise about what PIS is and isn't. It is a regulatory and study mechanism — it changes when a generator is allowed to inject energy under PJM's rules. It is not a mechanism for getting equipment built or delivered faster. A project still has to have generation capacity physically ready to operate before Provisional Interconnection Service can do anything for it. That's the practical link between PIS and equipment sourcing: the tool only pays off for projects that have already solved the equipment side of the timeline.

PIS sits alongside two other PJM mechanisms that developers sometimes conflate. Surplus Interconnection Service is different in kind — it lets a project use interconnection capacity that an existing facility at the same site isn't using around the clock (pairing storage with an existing generator, for example), rather than granting new interim rights to a new generator. The Expedited Interconnection Track is different in scope — it's a separate, capped-volume review pathway for large, advanced-stage projects, not a rule about when a studied generator can start injecting energy. PIS is the narrowest of the three, but often the most directly useful for a project that already has equipment lined up and is simply waiting on the last piece of paperwork.

For developers evaluating a bridge power plan, the practical takeaway is this: PIS can shorten the regulatory wait, but it doesn't shorten equipment lead time, and the two need to be planned together rather than sequentially. Sourcing a fast-start gas turbine platform early — in parallel with the interconnection study process rather than after it concludes — is what lets a project actually capture the benefit PIS is designed to offer. See gas turbine solutions for NYTS's aero-derivative product range, or submit a Request a Proposal to align an equipment timeline with your interconnection study status.