SPP projects a 17 GW capacity shortfall by 2030, necessitating the accelerated study and integration of new projects to meet resource adequacy and reliability needs.

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.

FERC’s ruling affirms MISO’s discretion in how rules are set for measuring resources’ contributions to grid reliability, paving the way for implementation starting in the 2028/2029 planning year.

The extraordinary measure by PJM to speed up generator interconnections comes as the grid manager faces a potential 10 GW capacity gap by the end of the decade.