What's Happening in Energy highlights the most interesting findings from public utility commission filings.
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What's Happening in Energy — Oct 2
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Load Growth in South Carolina // 2026 IRP // Santee Cooper
Santee Cooper filed its 2026 Triennial Integrated Resource Plan. Compared to the 2023 plan, “the 2026 IRP forecasts winter peak demands to be higher by 1,250 MW by the year 2030 and 1,375 MW by the year 2040.” The utility selected the Adjusted Economic portfolio, which is built on higher planning reserve margins in the summer and winter.
Ameren Missouri also filed its latest triennial IRP. Learn more in the “New Docket of the Week” section at the bottom.
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Maryland Office of People’s Counsel // NextEra-Dominion Merger // FERC
The Maryland Office of People’s Counsel (OPC) filed protest comments in the NextEra-Dominion merger docket at FERC. OPC argued that the Commission should reject the merger because it could trigger follow-on consolidations across the sector.
“Applicants’ transaction risks exactly this type of merger wave. NextEra seeks ownership and control over Dominion’s regulated operations and capture of explosive forecasted data center-driven electricity demand. In forming the largest utility conglomerate in the country, regional competitors like American Electric Power (“AEP”), Exelon, and FirstEnergy all have increased justifications to seek a similar merger. For example, a transmission- and generation-first company like AEP could seek a deal with FirstEnergy or Exelon, which, similar to Dominion, distribute electricity where data center development is increasing. While projected data center demand may never materialize, and so too the efficiencies promised in Applicants’ proposed transaction and any hypothetical follow-on deals, competition in PJM would be severely and irreversibly reduced.”
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SMR Denial // PJM // Oklo // FERC
FERC denied a complaint from Small Modular Reactor (SMR) developer Oklo alleging that PJM “unlawfully administered” its interconnection process. Oklo had submitted an interconnection request for a 750 MW project combining natural gas, fuel cell, and advanced nuclear generation, but failed to cure the stability issues, data inconsistencies, and missing documentationPJM identified.
“While we deny the complaint, we note that Oklo can still cure the additional errors and submit the Project to PJM’s Cycle 02. Alternatively, if Oklo is committed to moving forward with the Project expeditiously, Oklo may further consider the possibility of submitting the Project for consideration in PJM’s EIT process, which is open until December 31, 2027.”
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LG&E and KU Merger Approved // Kentucky Public Service Commission
The Kentucky Public Service Commission approved the merger of Louisville Gas and Electric (LG&E) and Kentucky Utilities (KU). LG&E will be the surviving entity and will assume all of KU’s debt. The approval requires the companies to defer merger-related costs for potential future recovery, at which point they must prove that the merger produced savings. The companies have received approval from FERC for internal corporate reorganization and the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) for the debt assumption. They are still awaiting final approval of the merger in a separate SCC docket (PUR-2026-00052), since KU does business as Old Dominion Power.
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“Force-on-Force” Testing // Nuclear Regulatory Commission
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission shared a report with Congress on its security inspections of commercial reactors and Category I Fuel Cycle facilities in 2025. The inspections include “Force-on-Force” exercises, which test licensee’s ability to defend their facilities against attacks. The photo below shows the “mock adversaries” carrying out one such an exercise.
The report concluded that most licensees effectively implemented their protection strategies; only two exercises were found ineffective.
Google Comments in Support of ESA // Project Skyway // Minnesota
Google filed comments urging the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission to approve its Electric Service Agreement (ESA) with Xcel for Project Skyway in Pine Island. The comments include a table breaking down the $250 million the hyperscaler plans to commit to the community over 28 years.
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Governance Overhaul Term Sheet // PJM
PJM released a term sheet from its “final attempt to bring all parties together” on governance reform. The terms would grant states and PJM members “jump ball” Section 205 filing rights over resource adequacy, meaning that these parties can file alternative tariff revisions to the FERC at the same time as PJM. FERC, in considering which proposal to adopt, must grant these proposals equal weight to the RTO’s. The terms also streamline the committee structure, allow states to nominate candidates for PJM’s Board of Directors, increase funding for the Organization of PJM States, Inc. (OPSI), and add new language to PJM’s Operating Agreement requiring the RTO to advance the “public interest.”
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“Deliberate Steps” Towards an Energy-Centric Market // RMI // GridLab // PJM
RMI and GridLab presented their joint recommendations for moving PJM toward an “energy centric” market, one that strengthens scarcity pricing and shifts revenue from the capacity market to the energy market. This approach, “Path C”, requires a more comprehensive overhaul of PJM’s current market design than Paths A or B. Thus, RMI and GridLab suggest the RTO take “deliberate steps” along the way, visualized as a peaceful hike and not a mad scramble.
Halcyon angle: Track key stakeholder proposals in PJM’s Powering Reliability Through Market Design Workshops in Halcyon. Jacob Grindal, Halcyon’s Senior Research Manager, also wrote an oped in Heatmap News when PJM originally published the three path approach.
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Draft Large Load Proposal // CAISO // FERC Show Cause Order
The California Independent System Operator (CAISO) submitted a draft proposal of enhancements for more reliably interconnecting t large loads. It lays out the key tariff revisions CAISO is proposing in response to FERC’s Show Cause Order. One of the main points of debate in the Large Load Stakeholder Initiative was which voltage level the changes would apply to. CAISO proposed to apply the changes to loads that directly connect “through a point of interconnection to the CAISO-controlled grid.” Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) argued instead that the standards should apply to all loads above the load threshold (50 MW) that “affect” the CAISO transmission system.
CAISO demurred: “The CAISO believes that PG&E’s proposed definition creates additional ambiguity because it seems to include intervening assets that may be first connected to the distribution system. It is also likely to lead to ongoing disputes about the meaning of ‘affecting’ the CAISO transmission system.”
Halcyon angle: Page 70 of the document contains the next steps for CAISO’s proposal leading up to the Board of Governors vote on October 28. It’s one example of the digging required to keep track of the key deadlines for each of the ISO/RTOs’ responses to the FERC Show Cause Order. Halcyon’s FERC Show Cause Tracker consolidates the timelines for all of the jurisdictional ISO/RTOs, and links back to the specific pages cited in the regulatory record so that you can find these dates faster. The tracker is updated biweekly, reach out to learn more here.
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Proposed Approval // Co-Located Large Load Net-Metering Arrangement // ERCOT
ERCOT and joint applicants in Pecos County proposed that the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) approve a net-metering arrangement between Silver Basin, a 180 MW large load, and West Texas Solar Project II, a 204 MW solar facility. The conditions on the approval mirror those imposed on prior net-metering arrangements. This time, however, the proposed order adds language to the first condition requiring Silver Basin to fully curtail within 30 minutes of notice from ERCOT.
“When practicable, ERCOT must provide at least 60 minutes of notice in advance of ERCOT issuing any such instruction to West Texas Solar Project II's QSE.”
TNMP, the distribution service provider, filed a reply brief raising concerns about the arrangement. TNMP argued that the PUCT risks giving ERCOT too much authority to decide what does and does not require a load study. Read Halcyon’s summary of the issues TNMP raised.
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Out With BELL, in With LLIP // NYISO // FERC Show Cause
NYISO has renamed its large load study process from “Bulk Electric Large Load” (BELL) to “Large Load Integration Procedures” (LLIP). Check out its latest presentation on the proposed interconnection study process for large loads. Key changes include more specific site control requirements, a new readiness deposit proposal, more detail on resource adequacy modeling, and new dates for the first transitional study. The first transition study was once called BELL-0, but now it’s called L0.
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New Docket of the Week
2026 IRP // Ameren Missouri
Ameren Missouri filed its 2026 Integrated Resource Plan (docket profile). The Load Analysis and Forecasting chapter makes use of pie charts to show how different end uses contribute to peak load over the forecast period. For residential customers, cooling constitutes the majority of peak load contribution in 2046. However, for commercial customers, the contribution from electrification jumps from 0.67% in 2027 to 38.39% in 2046.
Here’s the 2027 peak load share for commercial customers.
And here’s the 2046 contribution.
The load forecasting section wouldn’t be complete without a forecast of large loads. Here’s the “Large Load Tariff Annual Peak Demand” forecast, in which base case project demand approaches six gigawatts by 2046.
The following section on Ameren Missouri’s large load pipeline is also worth a read: the utility has executed 2.8 GW of ESAs, with more under negotiation.
Excerpt(s) of the Week
Most clicked from last week’s WHiE