What's Happening in Energy highlights the most interesting findings from public utility commission filings.
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What's Happening in Energy — Aug 21
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New Gas Plants // Buchanan Bluffs 1 and 2 // Evergy
Evergy applied for approval to construct two combined-cycle gas plants, Buchanan Bluffs 1 and 2, in Buchanan County, MO. Evergy Kansas Metro and Evergy Kansas Central applied for a determination of need from the Kansas Corporation Commission for the 710 megawatt Unit 1, and Evergy Missouri Metro and Evergy Missouri West applied for a Certificate of Convenience and Necessity from the Missouri Public Service Commission for the 710 megawatt Unit 2.
The utilities’ justified their requests because of growing large load demand and Southwest Power Pool planning reserve requirements. For Unit 2, Evergy Missouri West directly connected the proposals with large loads that have already signed energy service agreements under the utility’s large load power service (LLPS). Here’s a chart of this projected demand.
This forecast excludes other large load requests Evergy has received. Here’s another table with the load ramps of those loads–all data centers.
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Constellation Exceptions // Default Service Disputes // Pennsylvania
In a Recommended Decision (RD) before the Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission, customers whose supply contracts expire would transfer to FirstEnergy’s default service. Constellation Energy filed exceptions against this provision of the RD:
“The Recommended Decision departs from the fundamental principle upon which Pennsylvania’s retail electric market is built: customer choice. The Competition Act places the ultimate choice of electric generation supplier with the consumer…Customers who enroll with an EGS have already exercised the statutory right to choose their supplier. The proposal approved by the RD replaces that existing customer election with a default-service outcome that occurs without any new customer authorization.”
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Projected Plant in Service // Indiana Michigan Power
We dug through testimony submitted by Indiana Michigan Power (I&M) to support its recently filed multi-year rate plan (MYRP). Testimony from Michael Ulmer, Principal Financial Analyst at American Electric Power Service Corporation, included a table of forecasted plant in services for I&M. In 2029, plant in service increases to $21,174 million — almost $10 billion more than 2025.
Testimony from David Lucas, I&M’s VP of Generation Transformation, Strategy and Growth, included a table of the proposed generation fleet additions. Four of the additions are redacted, but the table still helps explain the spike in plan in service from the Production-Non Nuclear account.
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NYISO’s Large Load Treatment // BELL-0 // FERC Show Cause Orders
The New York Independent System Operator shared its proposed integration procedures for large loads greater than 50 MW, or, as NYISO calls them, Bulk Electric Large Loads (BELL). Right after the November 2026 Show Cause Order response filing, NYISO proposes to start a transitional study process called “BELL-0.” This would be composed of large loads projects with approved System Impact Study (SIS) Scopes and targeted SIS completion dates of 3/1/2027. They would then enter the new BELL study process — 1) Application; 2) Resource Adequacy and Modeling; 3) System Impact Study; and 4) Assessment of Load Integration — just without step 3.
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Anderson County Combined Cycle // Duke Energy Carolinas // Proposed Order
Duke Energy Carolinas (DEC) filed a Proposed Order with the North Carolina Utilities Commission to approve its determination of need for a “hydrogen-capable, advanced-class, approximately 1,365-megawatt (MW) combined cycle (CC) gas turbine facility” in Anderson County, South Carolina. DEC intends to use its 1,120 megawatts share of the plant’s output to serve retail customers in North Carolina and make progress towards its 22% planning reserve margin requirement. North Carolina Electric Membership Corporation (NCEMC) and Central Electric Power Cooperative will own 100 MW and 95 MW, respectively. DEC already received its CECPN from the South Carolina Public Service Commission.
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City of El Paso RFI // Meta // El Paso Electric // Texas
The saga of Meta’s Wurldwide data center near El Paso continues. The City of El Paso filed a Request for Information (RFI) with 15 requests about the impact of the data center on rates, comparative analysis of El Paso Electric’s proposed High Load Factor Large Power (HLFLP) tariff with other utilities, and terms of the Energy Service Agreement. The RFI defines “document” and “documents” in their “broadest sense.” That includes everything from “telexes” to “microfiches.”
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Comment Deadline Extension // PJM’s Interim Resource Adequacy Service // FERC
The Organization of PJM States (OPSI) filed a Procedural Motion with the FERC to extend the comment deadline on PJM’s proposed Interim Resource Adequacy Service (IRAS) from September 3 to September 14, 2026. IRAS would allow new large loads to be compensated for curtailing their facilities during resource adequacy shortfalls. OPSI argues that they need extra time to file comments because these curtailments concern retail regulators at the state level. The Pennsylvania PUC, East Kentucky Power Cooperative, and Google subsequently filed answers in support of OPSI.
FERC was not convinced. They denied the motion on Wednesday, September 2nd.
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New Integrated Resource Plan // PNM
PNM filed its 2026 Integrated Resource Plan, its first since 2023. Under the “Current Trends and Policy” scenario, the utility experiences a capacity deficit starting in the mid-2030s.
This IRP will inform PNM’s “Action Plan Period” from 2027-2029 during which it will solicit proposals for new capacity, followed by the “Focus Period” in 2033-2036 when all the long lead equipment and procured capacity is expected to come online. Check out the flow chart of these steps here. The Action Plan Period “key actions“ include filing a large load tariff, participating in CAISO’s Extended Day-Ahead Market (EDAM), advancing demand-side management, requesting approval of selected resource portfolios, and more.
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Speed-to-Power in Louisiana // Applied Digital // Cleco Power
Cleco Power filed a motion requesting the Louisiana Public Service Commission direct the Administrative Law Judge to accelerate review of Cleco’s application for certification of generation and transmission facilities to support Applied Digital’s 430 megawatt data center in Rapides Parish. Cleco argued that this request aligns with the spirit of the Louisiana Lightning Speed Initiative, which seeks to accelerate speed-to-power through review waivers and enhanced coordination between state agencies. Cleco has entered into a capacity agreement with Tenaska Frontier Partners to power the large load and a 15-year ESA with Applied Digital to support cost recovery.
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Leola Data Center // Montana-Dakota Utilities // Stipulation // South Dakota
Leola Data Center (LDC), FEM Electric Association (FEM), Montana-Dakota Utilities (MDU), Basin Electric Cooperative, South Dakota Public Utilities Commission Staff, and East River Electric Cooperative entered into a settlement agreement to establish terms under which LDC will receive service from MDU. The stipulation, if approved, would allow a portion of LDC’s facilities to receive service from MDU despite being in FEM’s service territory. LDC will take service under MDU’s High Density Contracted Demand Response Rate 45, which would subject the data center to curtailment.
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New Docket of the Week
Wildfire Mitigation Plan // Southwestern Electric Power Company
Southwestern Electric Power Company (SWEPCO) filed an application for approval of its Wildfire Mitigation Plan with the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT). Track the full docket here. The utility ranks parts of service territories into three tiers of increasing wildfire risk severity. Highest risk areas are in the Panhandle.
The application noted that there has been a “general sentiment that more structures have been at risk due to wildfire than in the past.” SWEPCO gave three reasons for this: 1) an increase in human population; 2) more human activity that can cause ignition; and 3) a warming climate.
Excerpt(s) of the Week
“Everything about this was done behind our backs and we were not notified of what was going in until the land was sold and it was too late. All we heard was a data center, not a gas power plant with 40 smoke stacks. I feel like it's already a done deal and this is a waste of my time. But I am still doing this because I don't want to live by a data center and a gas powered plant. This site is literally a half a mile from my backyard. As a former member of the Millersport Fire Department, I have to ask, What if something goes wrong there? An explosion for instance our small fire department to not equipped to handle that type of a disaster.”
Halcyon angle: Public comments can feel too noisy or voluminous to analyze. Halcyon makes this analysis easier by quickly summarizing multiple comments and pinpointing important concerns or sentiments that a community member may have. Try it out by filtering to the filing type “Comment” from the search page, modifying the date range filters, and asking your own questions.
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