High natural gas prices, driven by increased heating demand, pushed wholesale electricity costs up 116% compared to winter 2024.

California, by far the nation’s largest market for battery storage, is expected to see project growth fall over the next four years, with other Western states posting stronger numbers, a new report shows.

Shifting fuel mix sees solar, storage, and hybrid or thermal projects dominate interconnection queue, surpassing wind.

FERC Chairman Mark Christie emphasized the unsustainable pace of dispatchable generation retirements and the need for additional capacity.

Data centers in the Western Interconnection are dominating the grid connection queues, accounting for nearly 80% of total requests from large load customers.

Projected energy demand from electric vehicles and heating electrification are 47% lower in 2030 than the prior year forecast.

Larger capacity reserves and over 11 GW of battery storage resources are putting the California grid manager on stronger footing as it faces a warmer-than-normal summer.

The grid operator’s latest load forecast projects 3.4% lower peak winter demand this year than previously forecasted, with the difference increasing to 5.5% by 2030.

Project proponents say the pipeline is necessary to handle the expected surge in natural gas demand during the upcoming heating season.

The protest comes as Trafigura aims to strengthen its North American gas and power operations.