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December 22, 2024
RTO Insider
Oklahoma Gov. Stitt Threatens to ‘Unplug’ from SPP
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R)
KWTV Oklahoma City
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt’s (R) recent threat during a television interview to “unplug” from SPP may sound like political rhetoric designed to curry favor with his constituents, but the Arkansas-based grid operator is taking the statement seriously.
ERO Insider
FERC Commissioner David Rosner
FERC
FERC Approves NERC Assessment, Seeks Comment on IBR Standards
FERC accepted NERC's five-year performance assessment while seeking comments on its proposal to adopt two standards related to inverter-based resources.
RTO Insider
Shutterstock
Consumer Groups Seek Independent Oversight of Local Tx Planning
A wide ranging group of consumer organizations filed a complaint with FERC that seeks to rein in what they say is excess utility spending on transmission under local planning processes.
NetZero Insider
Scheduled to begin production in 2025, the BlueOval plant in Glendale, Ky., is one of two in the state being supported with a $9.63 billion loan from DOE's Loan Programs Office.
BlueOval SK
LPO Finalizes Major Loans to Ford, Stellantis for EV Battery Plants
DOE’s Loan Programs Office announced billions of dollars in loans for two joint ventures of car and electronics manufacturers aimed at building out a domestic battery supply chain and accelerate the rollout of new electric vehicles.
RTO Insider
Wind farm on Interstate 10 near Palm Springs
Kevin Dooley, CC BY-SA-2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Western Market Developers Compare Approaches to GHGs

On the surface, CAISO’s Extended Day-Ahead Market and SPP’s Markets+ will take similar approaches to accounting for greenhouse gas emissions — but important differences remain.

RTO Insider
MISO total installed capacity projections from 2029 to 2043
MISO
MISO Assessment Calls for 17 GW in New Resources Annually
MISO said members must add an “unprecedented” 17 GW in new resources annually over the next two decades to reliably meet demand and decarbonization goals.
Virginia SCC Probes Data Centers, Demand Growth
The Virginia State Corporation Commission spent a full day looking at how growing demand from data centers is impacting the commonwealth's electric grid and rates.
BPA Touts Markets+ in Response to Seattle City Light Opposition
The Bonneville Power Administration continued to argue that SPP’s Markets+ is preferable to CAISO’s EDAM, stating in a letter to Seattle City Light that potential benefits of a single West-wide market footprint must be viewed with “significant skepticism."
ERO Insider
NERC's risk area summary for 2025-2029 shows large parts of the North American grid at high or elevated risk of energy shortfalls in the next five years.
NERC
NERC Warns Challenges ‘Mounting’ in Coming Decade
NERC warned in its 2024 Long-Term Reliability Assessment that most of the electric grid faces potential energy shortfalls beginning as early as next year.
CISA Seeks Comments on Cyber Response Plan Update
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency wants members of the public to weigh in on proposed updates to its National Cyber Incident Response Plan.
ERCOT’s Vegas Touts New Reliability Standard
ERCOT CEO Pablo Vegas says the grid operator’s development of a new reliability standard for the market as “one of [our] more significant” accomplishments.
NetZero Insider
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NJ Legislators Back 2-year Delay on Electric Truck Mandate
A New Jersey Assembly committee unanimously backed a two-year delay in the implementation of the state’s Advanced Clean Trucks regulations.
Biden Sets New US Emissions-reduction Target of 61-66% by 2035
As he prepares to leave office, President Joe Biden has submitted a new U.S. emissions-reduction target to the U.N., committing the country to cutting its greenhouse gas emissions economywide by 61 to 66% below 2005 levels by 2035.
Oklo, Commonwealth Fusion Unveil Ambitious Nuclear Plans
Two companies developing advanced nuclear technology made landmark announcements about their plans.
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Joshua Schabla, MISO
© RTO Insider LLC 
MISO Closing in on New LMR Accreditation
MISO said it will finalize an availability-based accreditation for nearly 12 GW of load-modifying resources over the first quarter of 2025 ahead of a filing with FERC.
ISO-NE to Work on State-backed RFP for Northern Maine Transmission
Backed by a new process conducted by the New England states, ISO-NE is moving forward with a request for proposals to build new transmission that would bring wind to market from Northern Maine.
Vistra Extends Baldwin Coal Plant Operations as MISO RA Risk Climbs
Vistra is extending the life of its coal-fired Baldwin Power Plant in Illinois through 2027 amid MISO delivering warnings over a supply crunch in its footprint.
Cost Overruns on Project in 1st LRTP Prompt MISO Analysis
MISO will examine one of the long-range transmission projects from its first portfolio following a cost increase of more than two and a half.
BPA's The Dalles Dam
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BPA Has not Made ‘Business Case’ for Markets+, NW Senators Say
The four U.S. senators representing Oregon and Washington contend BPA has failed to make a financial case for joining Markets+, a condition they say should be the key driver of the agency’s decision to participate in a Western day-ahead market.
LADWP headquarters
LADWP
LADWP Gets Board’s OK to Join CAISO’s EDAM
The Los Angeles Board of Water and Power Commissioners gave the go-ahead for LADWP to join CAISO’s EDAM, in a move expected to increase the utility’s annual net revenue by almost $40 million.
ERO Insider
Attendees at the RSTC's last in-person meeting in San Diego
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NERC’s RSTC Welcomes New Members for 2025
NERC's RSTC welcomed a batch of fresh faces and passed several white papers and reference documents at its final meeting of 2024.
NERC Standards Committee Preparing to Welcome New Members
Members of NERC’s Standards Committee said goodbye to several departing colleagues while arranging the committee’s business for 2025.
NERC Board of Trustees Briefs: Dec. 10, 2024
NERC's trustees took action on a number of standards items, along with multiple organizational items, in the last board meeting of 2024.
Grid Strategies’ 5-year Demand Growth Forecast Rises
Utilities around the country expect peak demand to grow by 128 GW, or 15.8%, to 947 GW by 2029, according to the latest report from Grid Strategies.
Western Interconnection planned resource additions
WECC
West to See ‘Staggering’ Load Growth, WECC Report Says
A WECC report predicts annual demand in the Western Interconnection will grow from 942 TWh in 2025 to 1,134 TWh in 2034, although it says the region should have the resources necessary to meet that load.
BPA's Bonneville Dam
Bonneville Power Administration
BPA Hit FY24 Reliability Targets Despite Wildfires, Peak Load Records
BPA hit all its reliability goals in fiscal year 2024 despite massive wildfires, peak load records and public safety power shutoffs, according to agency staff.
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Industry Gatherings
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NetZero Insider
EPA Administrator Michael Regan
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EPA Approves Waiver for California’s Advanced Clean Cars II Rules
Just weeks before President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House, the Biden administration has given California permission to enforce rules that require all new cars sold in the state to be zero-emission by 2035.
Mass. Clean Energy Trust Funds Grow amid Project Financing Challenges
As clean energy development challenges in New England have mounted over the past several years, Massachusetts agencies are facing a massive influx of alternative compliance payments from electricity suppliers to meet the state’s array of clean electricity standards.
DOE Warns About Further Increase of US LNG Exports
A DOE study found that increasing exports of LNG would create economic risks and cause environmental damage.
DOE Offers $15B Loan to PG&E to Support Reliability Goals
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office announced a $15 billion conditional loan commitment to Pacific Gas & Electric to improve the California-based utility’s energy infrastructure and support clean energy initiatives.
Potential National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors
DOE
DOE Cuts NIETC List from 10 to 3 High-priority Transmission Corridors
The Department of Energy slashed the list of 10 potential National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors it released in May to just three narrower corridors in the third phase of its designation process.
From left: Marianne Perben, ISO-NE; Mason Emnett, Constellation Energy; Serge Abergel, Hydro-Québec Energy Services; Secretary Rebecca Tepper, Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs; and moderator Janet Gail Besser
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Overheard at Raab Electricity Restructuring Roundtable: Dec. 13, 2024
While 2024 brought notable success on state-level climate policy in Massachusetts, 2025 brings significant uncertainty regarding whether the change in federal administration will slow the momentum of the clean energy transition in the region.