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States and RTOs stress coordinated planning, queue and interconnection reforms to keep pace with large loads
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Summary
State regulators at FERC urged improved information sharing with RTOs, stronger financial commitments from large load applicants and interconnection/queue reforms so transmission and generation can be built faster and fairly. New York and New England flagged winter fuel constraints and the need for energy‑adequacy measures alongside capacity accreditation.
WASHINGTON — State utility commissioners, RTO officials and industry representatives at a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission technical conference on Feb. 26 urged more systematic coordination between state planning and regional operators to manage rapid load changes and keep the grid reliable.
Commissioners from Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana and others described different planning regimes — from formal integrated resource planning (IRP) in vertically integrated states to procurement‑driven approaches in restructured markets — and said each needs to incorporate RTO‑level information on hours of risk, marginal accreditation and probabilistic load forecasts.
The conference underscored several near‑term practical steps many states and RTOs are already pursuing: clearer thresholds for including speculative hyperscaler (data center) load in forecasts, stronger financial commitments for interconnection studies, and quicker, more equitable allocation of interconnection and transmission costs.
New England and New York officials separately emphasized the region‑specific dynamics: New York is shifting toward winter peaking with an expected winter‑peak increase of roughly 14 GW by 2039–40, while New England participants said offshore wind delays and gas‑supply limits make an energy‑adequacy framework and joint state–ISO action essential.
Why it matters: Without timely and coordinated planning, regions risk either building the wrong mix of resources or facing local shortfalls that produce targeted load sheds. Panelists repeatedly called for a combination of (a) market tools (accreditation, prompt seasonal pricing), (b) procurement/contracting mechanisms to fund capital‑intensive resources, and (c) interconnection/queue reforms to speed delivery.
What’s next: Several states and RTOs signaled new rule filings, queue reforms and collaborative analytical work; FERC invited post‑conference comments to inform ongoing dockets. No formal policy changes were adopted at the conference.
