The ultimate future of FERC Order 1920 depends on rehearing, implementation and inevitable litigation, but after reading through the order itself in the past week, many stakeholders see it as an important step forward in expanding the grid.

Sen. Joe Manchin rebuffed Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's assertion that permitting reform was dead in the current Congress during an Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on load growth from data centers.

FERC issued Order 1920, its long-awaited final rule on long-term regional transmission planning and cost allocation, but it could not fulfill hopes for a unanimous vote.