Across MISO, PJM, and other Eastern Interconnect markets, Walden Renewables’ interconnection team faces a constant flow of decisions—from initial site evaluation, to project results forecasting, and GIA negotiations. To meet that demand, they rely on Nira to accelerate siting analysis, reduce analysis time for projects in the queue, and create space for more strategic, forward-looking work.

We spoke with Brad Pierson, Head of Transmission and Interconnection at Walden Renewables, to learn how Nira’s tools help him streamline critical stages of the development process.

Nira’s Prospecting tool enables Walden to screen over 100 points of interconnection each year—quickly identifying viable transmission lines and substations without hours of manual GIS tracing or model building.

“Each new pin used to be a 3–4 hour effort. Now it’s 1 to 1.5 hours—most of that spent talking through Nira’s results to developers.”

For active queue management, the In-Queue module replaces days of model prep, study reruns, and assumption updates with a fast, repeatable process aligned with ISO methodologies.

“On a per decision point per project basis, I would say Nira is saving a solid 4 business days of effort.”

Those savings compound as multiple projects reach key milestones:

“When you have 2–3 projects per decision point, that ends up being over a week’s worth of work time in what is a 2–3 week window. Being able to pass ideas to management 10–12 days before the decision point gives time to answer questions and engage the greater team. Those savings multiply themselves.”

Beyond the numbers, it gives the team breathing room to plan ahead, collaborate more effectively, and pivot focus to construction-phase modeling and project delivery.

“Nira allows me to stay sane… it feels like a weight lifted on the hours and shorter-term questions when you get two or three different developers with multiple nodes to evaluate in a two-day window and everyone wants an answer yesterday.”

With Nira, Walden’s interconnection team has gained time, clarity, and control across every stage of the process—without sacrificing depth, accuracy, or speed.