In FERC complaint, utility commissions from Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana and North Dakota seek to undo MVP classification of MISO's Tranche 2.1 transmission portfolio -- which would eliminate $22B in regional cost share.

Utility commissions from Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana and North Dakota contend that MISO overstated the benefits of its Tranche 2.1 regional transmission portfolio. www.utilitydive.com/news/ferc-co...

The case shows how easy it is for companies to manipulate RTO capacity auctions, per Public Citizen.

Sidenote on PJM: hard to build power plants with tariffs so instead consolidation underway in power sector. “It’s a mad rush right now, and I don’t think it’s over,” per Public Citizen’s Tyson Slocum. #energysky

"PJM’s multi-year inability to efficiently connect new resources to its grid and to engage in effective long-term transmission planning has deprived our states of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in investment that may flow to other regions,” nine governors said to PJM's board.

State utility commissions cast doubt on reliability of NERC reliability reports as they challenge DOE order to keep coal plant operating past retirement date. #energysky

“There is no energy emergency in our country … and it is illegal to invoke a made-up emergency to overturn a long-planned plant retirement,” the Sierra Club’s Greg Wannier said.🔌💡 www.utilitydive.com/news/doe-eme...

MISO’s market monitor contends NERC overstates the grid operator’s reliability risks (NERC says MISO could have supply shortfalls during normal summer/winter peak conditions). www.utilitydive.com/news/nerc-mi...

MISO, the PJM Interconnection and other grid operators face tightening power supply conditions, but ...

One item that jumped out to me from this story: PJM has a measly 21.5 MW of battery storage in its capacity market, per its market monitor. That could change with PJM selecting 2.3 GW of battery capacity in its fast-track interconnection initiative.

so far, FERC (an agency that had been majority D-led until yesterday) has mostly been spared Trump admin's axe. www.utilitydive.com/news/ferc-ph...

Highlights from FERC’s meeting yesterday: no White House directives on coal; ending EJ analysis; and interconnection queues shrink.

Hopeful: witchhazel is blooming in Maine.

Ontario says it could increase its “tariff response charge” or stop electricity exports to the U.S. entirely, depending on the Trump administration’s actions.

A look at how electric utility customers may be subsidizing the data center buildout.

The West is heading towards two, intertwined day-ahead power markets — with all the complexities that entails. 🔌💡

Clean energy tax credits are “incredibly helpful in ensuring that we can get those projects built and online in a manner that’s affordable for our customers,” Southern Co. exec says during House hearing.

Despite the current federal policy uncertainty surrounding tariffs and tax credits, analysts at LevelTen Energy believe the sale of renewable energy projects could pick up in 2025.

“It’s very hard to predict what’s going to happen. We’re in uncharted territory,” Paul Patterson, an equity analyst at Glenrock Associates, said. www.utilitydive.com/news/trump-t...

Exelon CEO Calvin Butler called for new approaches to ensuring PJM has adequate power supplies. “A variety of solutions across regulated and merchant participants is necessary,” he said on an earnings call.

Electric bills for New Jersey’s residential customers are poised to jump up to 20%: New Jersey BPU. Other states may also soon feel the pinch from PJM’s last capacity auction, per Glenrock’s Paul Patterson.

“By facilitating queue jumping for large generators ... PJM’s proposal may not actually resolve its impending capacity shortage,” FERC Commissioner Chang said in her dissent.

The US grid has headroom to handle new data centers, EVs, heat pumps etc. without system upgrades — as long as the load can be curtailed, according to a report released today by the Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability at Duke University.

FERC failure to act on New England interconnection reform threatens capacity market participation, per energy storage company Flatiron Energy.

“Net-zero policies raise energy costs for American families and businesses, threaten the reliability of our energy system, and undermine our energy and national security,” DOE Secretary Wright.

Co-locating generation and data centers “was largely my idea,” Trump said. “Nobody thought this was possible … I told them that what I want you to do is build your electric generating plant right next to your plant as a separate building connected.” www.utilitydive.com/news/trump-e...

another MISO/demand response enforcement case ... seems related to the Ketchup Caddy case, with Voltus scraping an Ameren website to get customer information. www.utilitydive.com/news/voltus-...

FERC approves PJM’s decision to boot a 900-MW solar project from its interconnection queue for missing a deadline to post security by several hours … “The outcome here is really hard to explain,” FERC Commissioner Rosner says, noting PJM’s dire warnings on supply shortfalls.

FERC should bar transmission owners from independently planning “local” transmission projects above 100-kV, according to a complaint filed by a coalition of large energy users and ratepayer advocates.

from FERC enforcement office report: "American Efficient’s Policy Director left the Company, concluding that it had become nothing more than a 'wealth transfer' from ratepayers and was being run in a manner that was 'at best unethical.'

MISO is planning to build a 765-kV transmission “backbone” that will tie into PJM’s system to the east … should allow increased transfers between regions, improving reliability and lowering power prices.

“When Intersect Power builds new clean energy assets in regions and projects of interest, Google will be able to provide power offtake as an anchor tenant in the co-located industrial park that would support data center development,” the tech giant told FERC.

A report for the Virginia legislature says it will be tough to build enough power plants — including gas gen — and power lines to meet the state’s fast-growing data center sector (oh, and PJM is moving to again increase its load forecast) #energysky

Ketchup Caddy — a corporate entity created to sell an in-car ketchup holder — committed fraud by offering bogus demand response resources in MISO’s capacity market, per FERC. #energysky

A New Jersey utility agrees to pay $6.6 million to settle FERC charges it inaccurately justified the need for a major transmission project. “The proceeding illustrates that no one is checking utilities’ work on local transmission projects,” Ari Peskoe said. #energysky

PJM faces pushback on a plan to let “shovel-ready” generating projects jump into an interconnection review (nuclear owners have said they plan to use it for uprates and new generation)

Duke Energy utilities pause review of possible DOE funding to help finance its carbon reduction plans so it can see what happens with the incoming Trump administration.

The American Clean Power Assn expects the US solar market will grow 6.6% a year, reaching 37 GW of annual installations in 2030.

Private equity firm Energy Capital Partners — which is seeking FERC approval to buy 5.3 GW in PJM — should disclose whether it intends to divert the plants’ output to supply data centers, per Pub Citizen, Private Equity Stakeholder Project and Sierra Club.

What are the top challenges facing state utility regulators? Here’s what we heard from leaders in Colorado, Georgia, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Wyoming.

Constellation Energy told FERC Exelon utilities are blocking co-located projects -- including a hydrogen production plant -- at the company’s nuclear power plants in Illinois, Maryland and Pennsylvania.

AEP’s Indiana utility reaches agreement with tech companies on rules for interconnecting data centers and other major loads w/o shifting costs to existing customers:

for details on FERC's revised transmission planning/cost allocation rule (key takeaway: states got “vast majority” of what they wanted)

FERC today upheld its transmission planning/cost allocation rule, but gave states a bigger role in the process. “I would say to the states this is giving you a much bigger toolbox with a much better set of tools,” said FERC’s Christie, who voted against the initial Order 1920.

RMI calls for independent transmission monitors as an option for overseeing “local” transmission projects — which utilities build with scant regulatory review.

from Floodlight News ... data centers, energy use, gas-fired gen and regulatory transparency

“Transmission is one of the things [where] we have to spend money to save money,” the Brattle Group’s Johannes Pfeifenberger said. “The kind of multi-value planning that MISO is doing … is exactly the kind of planning we need.”

for anyone following the PJM Interconnection, six ratepayer advocates late yesterday filed a complaint at FERC seeking changes in the grid operator's capacity market: www.utilitydive.com/news/ratepay...

Maintaining grid reliability is part of ensuring affordability, per FERC's Rosner. “An unreliable grid is full stop unaffordable because none of our economy works without access to electricity."

Exelon's potential data center load jumps, CEO Calvin Butler said.