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Increased transparency and application speed

Help your customers automatically find suitable locations for new projects.

The Grid Connection Navigator (GCN) enables utilities to offer a self-service tool to DER developers and planners, greatly reducing speculative interconnection requests while providing greater transparency.

The result is improved customer service and the ability to meet regulatory requirements – all without adding extra work for the utility team.

Hosting Capacity Map

Between uncertainty and mounting pressure: The reality of interconnection processes

DER developers, whether for renewables, large-scale storage, or data centers, often describe these challenges in the interconnection process, especially in an early planning phase:

There's a lack of simple and accessible tools for examining the technical feasibility of new projects
Information on the utility’s website is often incomplete or outdated, hard to find or presented in a technically complex way

The result is long wait times and a lack of cost transparency, causing some projects to fail before they begin.

At the same time, utilities face a flood of requests. Many inquiries lack the necessary quality, while others are not even technically feasible. Handling these speculative requests ties up valuable planning resources before they are truly needed.

Along with the operational challenges, the regulatory requirements for utilities regarding digitalization, transparency and data provision have become increasingly complex.

What DER developers and utilities really need

DER Developers & Connectees:

• Detailed insights into available capacity for a planned project

• Direct comparison of several sites to choose the optimal location

• Planning certainty before acquiring the property or conducting feasibility studies

• Precise peak times to plan load lowering or generation curtailment

• Estimated profitability of planned storage based on seasonal variation

Utilities:

• Reduced speculative and unqualified requests

• Reduced workload with automated processes

• Ability to focus capacity on feasible projects

• Ability to provide transparency to DER developers

• A digital process to make available capacity transparent and to provide a better customer experience

Early transparency for everyone involved

With the Intelligent Grid Platform (IGP), envelio simplifies the entire interconnection process – even before a formal request is submitted. The Grid Connection Navigator (GCN) and Online Connection Check (OCC) provide support when key questions are still unanswered: Is my project feasible? How much will it cost? Where is an interconnection worthwhile? Which cases justify in-depth research and, consequently, also warrant a request with the utility?

How to check and assess hosting capacity

1. The Grid Connection Navigator offers the full package:

Interactive map and visualization of available hosting capacity
Pre-selection of potential project sites
Seasonal and time series views for smarter siting decisions

2. The Online Connection Check lets you perform detailed evaluations:

Real-time calculation of system compatibility at a specific location
Better evaluation of the business case
Help with the pre-application impact assessments

Subsequently, specific projects can be submitted to the utility via the customer portal for a binding evaluation. This is where the Grid Connection Study application comes into play.

Benefits for Utilities:

Better service for end customers who are planning an interconnection by providing a high level of transparency about the available hosting capacity
Automated, self-service processing delivering advanced insights, including seasonal, time-series based, and forward-looking hosting capacities
Accelerated interconnection timelines enabled by a fully digital process
Reduced workload for your planning department thanks to the useful self-service
40 % lower application volume due to less speculation, significantly reducing the number of unviable requests

Conclusion: From backlogged requests to qualified inquiries

End customers and smaller facility operators profit from the fast and intuitive feasibility evaluation and indicative self-declaration, while the GCN app supports DER developers, land developers and energy consultants in conducting a detailed analysis of viable locations for large-scale projects. The result is a win-win situation: End customers receive reliable information about available capacity and possible interconnection early on. And Utilities reduce the volume of unqualified requests and can allocate their resources more effectively to drive the energy transition.

The changes in the energy mix as well as rapid electrification across various sectors poses new challenges for electric utilities, large and small.

With our Intelligent Grid Platform, we offer a suite of tools that address many of these challenges: from streamlining and accelerating interconnections processes to conducting reliable future scenario analyses for long-term planning.

Case Study: E.DIS Netz GmbH

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