CERAWeek 2025 by S&P Global examined the changing energy landscape through 14 themes, from policy and regulation to climate and sustainability, but none seemed to draw more focus than the rapid expansion of AI and is potential transformative effects.

Attendees at Yes Energy's annual summit, EMPOWER 25, discussed the Trump administration, pending ERCOT market changes, the future of wind power generation and uses for artificial intelligence, among other topics.

ERCOT and the Public Utility Commission have both knocked down recent media claims that a proposed HVDC transmission link between Texas and its Louisiana and Mississippi neighbors will bring the state’s grid under FERC jurisdiction.

Under the Coordinated Interagency Authorizations and Permits program, DOE will lead permitting transmission projects and coordinate environmental and permitting processes between federal agencies.

The West-Wide Governance Pathways Initiative applied for the money in January in response to a DOE Funding Opportunity Announcement, seeking two tranches of $400,000 each to be disbursed over two years to help support the effort build an independent Western RTO.

Backers of an initiative to create an independent Western RTO that builds on CAISO’s markets have floated a plan to untangle the snag that’s hung up past efforts to “regionalize” the ISO: a lack of independent governance.

CERAWeek 2024 by S&P Global was supposed to explore “strategies for a multidimensional, multispeed and multifuel energy transition.” Instead, the buzz was all about data centers and artificial intelligence.

ERCOT CEO Pablo Vegas threw cold water on the possibility of linking the ISO and the national grid’s other two interconnections.