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ND Transmission Authority: study will map where the grid can absorb data‑center and industrial load
Summary
The North Dakota Transmission Authority told legislators it is finishing a study to map transmission capacity, resource adequacy and price impacts under different large‑load scenarios and plans to present findings to the committee in October or November.
The North Dakota Transmission Authority told the Energy Development and Transmission Committee that it commissioned a study to assess where and how much large electrical load North Dakota can accommodate without undermining reliability or imposing unexpected costs.
"The study will be available to present to you by the October, so October, November," said Claire Viggasa, Executive Director of the Transmission Authority. She described a collaboration with the Energy and Environmental Research Center (EERC) and power‑systems engineers to evaluate regional capacity, resource adequacy and locational‑marginal‑price impacts across west, central and east zones of the state.
Viggasa said the work began as a transmission capacity study and was broadened to include resource adequacy and scenario modeling after requests from state leaders. The objective is to produce data that regulators, utilities and the Legislature can use to plan how to integrate new large loads — such as data centers or industrial facilities — while maintaining grid reliability.
She told the committee that early results show there is room in specific nodes — a conclusion she said underlay recent announcements about available capacity in parts of North Dakota — but cautioned that the cumulative scale of projects can exhaust local capacity quickly. The joint study, she said, will quantify impacts on thermal and voltage constraints and on market pricing under different megawatt placements.
Viggasa and other witnesses also reviewed regional planning forums: MISO and SPP are the RTOs that integrate and plan the broader system. The Transmission Authority witnesses emphasized the long lead times for transmission and generation projects — NERC and regional planners show multi‑year timelines — and said North Dakota utilities and RTOs are actively planning tranche‑level transmission investments but that cost allocation and project timing remain material policy questions.
Viggasa said the authority will make the study available to the committee, the Industrial Commission, PSC and the public when it's finalized and encouraged early interagency coordination on siting and investments.
