A project that says it is in the interconnection queue has started a process. It has not secured a connection. The number that matters is not the position. It is the cost and the date the grid operator is willing to put in writing.

Separate the study from the agreement

A feasibility study is a first look. A system impact study assigns upgrade costs. An interconnection agreement is the document that can be financed. Models that use the feasibility date as the commercial operation date are guessing with a letterhead.

Ask who pays for the upgrade

Network upgrades can sit with the project, the utility, or a later user of the same line. If the project carries them, they belong in capex, not in a footnote. If someone else carries them, ask what happens when that party delays.

Until there is an agreement, a deposit, and a named upgrade cost, the queue position is an option on a process. Price it that way.