What's Happening in Energy highlights the most interesting findings from public utility commission filings.
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This week’s WHiE covers:
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What's Happening in Energy — June 26
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Large Load // Xcel // Wisconsin // New Tariff
Northern States Power Company (Xcel Energy) applied for approval of its Very Large General Time of Day Service Tariff (full docket). Loads above 100 MW are eligible for this tariff. Here are the proposed charges.
Xcel used Halcyon’s Large Load Tariff Tracker to benchmark its 100 MW demand threshold against peer large load tariffs across the country. Xcel noted that while the average threshold of other tariffs is 64 MW, “most tariffs have an eligibility threshold based on some measure of billed demand. In contrast, the Company’s Large Load Tariff is based on interconnection capacity. It is typical for new large customers to request a greater transmission interconnection capacity than is required to meet their peak demand, meaning the ultimate peak demand of customers on the Large Load Tariff may be lower than 100 MW.”
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Data Center w/ Co-Located Fuel Cells // Atticus Power OpCo LLC // Texas
Atticus Power OpCo applied for a standard permit to co-locate 248 MW of base load from Bloom Energy ES5/ES10 solid-oxide fuel cells, 33.84 MW of “swing capacity” from three reciprocating internal combustion engine (RICE) units, and an undisclosed amount of BESS capacity. Here’s the technical review with the specifications. The proposed location is in Pawnee, Bee County, TX, within the Eagle Ford shale belt.
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Data Center // Leola // South Dakota // Design Documents
Leola Data Center LLC filed updated preliminary design documents in its pending case before the Public Utilities Commission requesting a summary judgment to receive service from Montana-Dakota Utilities (MDU). The site layout indicates that generators and transformers will be constructed “By Others”.
The site was chosen because of its proximity to MDU’s existing Leola Substation, seen here in another rendering Leola filed.
Halcyon angle: Halcyon is perfect for untangling the companies associated with a data center development. We were curious to learn more about the universe of companies associated with this project, so we asked Halcyon to name the parent company and other affiliated companies. We learned that data center developer Electric Assets is the parent of Leola. We also learned that Electrodollar Energy Co. held the original lease and assigned the interests of that lease to Leola Data Center LLC.
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Large Load // FERC // Interconnection // Orders to Show Cause
The dockets governing the response of each ISO/RTO and its participating utilities to the FERC’s recent Order to Show Cause are in Halcyon. Motions to Intervene are piling in. There is a Halcyon curated alert catalog called Data Centers, Large Load | FERC Show Cause FPA 206 Investigation dedicated to these proceedings or set your own alerts on the corresponding dockets: PJM, SPP, NYISO, ISO-NE, CAISO, MISO.
Halcyon angle: Interested in tracking the different ISO/RTO responses? The FERC explicitly issued these show cause orders to allow each market operator to tailor their own large load interconnection policies, downstream of the Department of Energy’s October 2025 letter on the subject. Halcyon can help parse the different responses in a way that would be difficult to navigate otherwise. Reach out to learn about how we can help you navigate these significant proceedings.
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Large Load // Texas // SB6 // Batch Zero Decisions
In case you missed it, the Public Utility Commission of Texas approved ERCOT’s recommended revision requests to implement Batch Zero. Together, they should clarify ERCOT’s large load forecast and clear the way to implement Senate Bill 6 (SB6). The stakes are high: the status quo is a worst-of-all-worlds that’s too slow for loads and too noisy for ERCOT or transmission utilities to plan for.
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Gas Power // Nevada // New Air Permits in Halcyon
Stella Power Assets applied and paid the $45k filing fee for a Class I Operating Permit from the agency to construct thirty-six (36) Solar Titan 130-23001S natural gas fired turbines in Lyon County, Nevada. Each turbine is rated at 11.20 MW. With 29 operating at any one time, that’s a total output of roughly 325 MW. The chart below shows how turbine ratings involve a number of assumptions. For 11.20 MW, the assumptions are an ambient air temperature of 105°F, an ambient relative humidity of 60%, and a site elevation of 4,200 feet.
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Storage // Massachusetts // Zoning Exemption “Tentative” Decision
The Energy Facility Siting Board in Massachusetts issued a Tentative Decision for the 125 megawatt (MW) /500 megawatt hour (MWh) Tewksbury Battery Project in Tewksbury, Massachusetts. If approved, the battery project would receive a zoning exemption. The docket opened in April 2025 and recently cleared 1,500 total documents! Roughly a third are comments in opposition to the project.
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Large Loads // PJM // Flexibility // Proposals
Counter-proposals to PJM’s Connect & Manage (C&M) proposal – which aims to accelerate integration of flexible large loads – reflect coordination challenges between PJM, states, electric distribution companies (EDCs), and customers. See a comparison of proposals from three stakeholders:
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Reliability Backstop Procurement // Shortfall Charge // PJM
PJM outlined changes to the centralized auction phase of its Reliability Backstop Procurement. Resources procured through the auction that fail to deliver their committed unforced capacity in the delivery year will incur a daily “shortfall charge” of 20% of its cleared offer price until reaching commercial operations (section on shortfall charges in PJM paper). The RFP for the first phase of the RBP–the bilateral matchmaking process–is open until July 21, 2026. Those interested in participating must respond to the RFP.
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Transmission // SPP // Cost Forecasts
Southwest Power Pool (SPP) presented its annual transmission revenue requirements (ATRR) forecast through 2035 across its zones. The highest revenue requirements reach $450-550 million per year in the 2030s throughout the AEP and SPS zones located in Oklahoma and Texas.
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And Bonus, Gold Mine Expansion into Wholesale Energy // Nevada
Nevada Gold Mines (NGM) has filed a FERC market-based rate application to sell excess power from its behind-the-meter 117.5 MW facility (14 Wartsila 8.4 MW simple cycle gas + 1 MW PV) into the wholesale market. NGM’s energy footprint extends further
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New Dockets of the Week
In Nevada, Estuary Development Partners applied for a permit to construct the Coyote Energy Project, 1,200 MW of solar, 4,800 MWh of battery storage, a 500 kV gen-tie line, and a 500 kV substation across 8,000+ acres in Lincoln County. NV Energy has signed a PPA for the first half of the energy and capacity (Block 1). The customer for Block 2? According to Estuary, “it is unknown at this time to whom the power will ultimately be delivered, but the Applicant anticipates customers in Nevada.”
Public Comment Excerpt(s) of the Week
In Oklahoma, the Nowata County Commissioners commented on AEP Oklahoma Transmission Company’s proposed 345 kV Northeast Oklahoma Transmission Enhancement Project. The comment is a reminder that the assumptions underlying the numbers–in this case, SPP’s annual transmission revenue requirement –can obfuscate the public opposition to such large-scale energy infrastructure projects.
“We are writing to state our firm and unequivocal opposition…Based on the information currently available, this project does not meet the standard required to justify its significant impacts, and it should not be approved…Our constituents have made it clear that this project poses unacceptable risks to private property rights, agricultural operations, local economies, and the rural character that represents Northeast Oklahoma.”
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