Federal regulators rejected a plan pushed by the grid operator for the central U.S. and utilities in the region to more quickly deploy new “shovel-ready” power projects to head off future reliability concerns.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in a late Friday order said the Midcontinent Independent System Operator’s (MISO) accelerated interconnection proposal was overly broad and MISO didn’t show it would address any reliability needs.
FERC decided 2-1 to reject the plan, with Chair Mark Christie dissenting. Each of the three commissioners who voted did acknowledge the need to bring additional generation power projects online, reupping the debate over how to do so.
“One thing we know with no need for further proof: this country, including MISO, is heading for a reliability crisis,” Christie said in his dissent, noting that power plant retirements are outpacing the rate at which replacement generation is added and projections for surging data center demand.
