Industry News
The projects, technology, and economic forces shaping America's electrical workforce.
FERC Approved PJM's Data Center Registry and Rejected Its Curtailment Plan
The October 9 order keeps a 50-megawatt reporting threshold for new large loads in PJM but strikes the service that would have let them connect without matching new capacity.
AmpScouts Editorial · 10/15/2026 · 2 min read
PJM Cleared 2,115 Megawatts on Its Fast Track. Most of It Is Batteries.
The first three projects into PJM's Expedited Interconnection Track are two 345-kilovolt battery plants in Pennsylvania and Ohio and a 455-megawatt gas uprate, all due online by mid-2029.
2 min read
North Carolina Data Centers Would Pay for Their Own Substations Up Front
A settlement filed with state regulators on October 6 would make customers above 50 megawatts fund their own connection facilities and commit to 75 percent of contract demand.
2 min read
A 282-Megawatt Power Plant Will Be Built Onsite for One Data Center
An independent power producer ordered 15 gas engines rather than wait in an interconnection queue where projects now take more than five years to reach service.
2 min read
Commercial Power Demand Tops Residential as PJM Prices Jump 41%
The October outlook from EIA puts 2026 commercial electricity use at 1,549 billion kilowatt-hours, just above residential, and forecasts PJM wholesale prices 41 percent above 2025.
2 min read
Pennsylvania Moved to Cut Data Centers First in a Grid Emergency
The state utility commission voted 4-0 on October 1 to advance a rule denying data centers critical-load status and curtailing unsecured large loads before other customers.
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Michigan Approved a 1-Gigawatt Data Center Deal Tied to 2,080 New Megawatts
Michigan regulators signed off on 20-year DTE contracts for a Google campus in Van Buren Township, with an 80 percent billing floor and 2,080 megawatts of generation and storage attached.
2 min read
FERC Suspended PJM's 6.8-Gigawatt Backstop Auction. The Build Waits.
A September 29 order accepted PJM's reliability backstop procurement but suspended it to February 28, 2027, shelving the bid window that was to open the next morning.
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New York Approved a $3.26 Billion Underground Line Through Five Counties
The Public Service Commission certified Propel NY Energy on Sept. 17, clearing 89.7 miles of 138-kV and 345-kV underground cable and nine substations downstate.
2 min read
DOE Awarded $1.9 Billion to Add 23 Gigawatts to Existing Power Lines
The Speed to Power program funds 31 projects in 26 states, reconductoring more than 1,500 miles of line and adding grid-enhancing technologies on nearly 21,000 more.
2 min read
Texas Halved the Deposit a 75-Megawatt Data Center Must Post
The Public Utility Commission of Texas adopted its large-load interconnection rule, cutting a $50,000-per-megawatt non-refundable fee and flattening study fees to $100,000.
2 min read
EPA Repealed the 2032 Carbon Capture Deadline for Coal and New Gas Plants
The rule EPA signed September 14 removes the 90 percent capture requirement that existing coal units and new baseload gas turbines faced by January 1, 2032.
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344 Utilities Have Until Oct. 1, 2028 to Meet a New Substation Security Rule
FERC approved NERC's revised physical security standard on Sept. 10. It shortens the substation risk-assessment cycle to 36 months and pulls in any grid station within 1,500 feet.
2 min read
California Would Make 25-MW Data Centers Pay for Their Own Transmission
Senate Bill 886 reached Gov. Newsom on Sept. 9. It assigns data centers above 25 megawatts full cost responsibility for the transmission upgrades their interconnection triggers.
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Switchgear Prices Rose 2.4% in August. Transformers Held Their July Spike.
The August producer price data, released Sept. 10, put switchgear up 7.6 percent since March, on the long-lead gear that already paces every large electrical job.
2 min read
Commercial Power Sales Pass Residential for the First Time in 2026
EIA's September outlook has U.S. commercial buildings buying more electricity than American homes this year, and the gap widens in 2027.
2 min read
Data Centers Would Become Registered Grid Entities Under NERC Drafts
Comment periods on three computational load standards and revised registry criteria close September 18 and September 24, with NERC due to file at FERC by December 31.
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All Six U.S. Grid Operators Are Rewriting How Big Loads Connect
FERC ordered PJM, MISO, SPP, CAISO, ISO-NE and NYISO to justify or replace their large-load interconnection rules. Comments on the first filings close Sept. 16.
4 min read
DOE Has Until Dec. 24 to Rewrite What Can Go Inside a U.S. Substation
Executive Order 14420 covers substation transformers, breakers, inverters and battery systems on the 69-kV-and-above grid, and it landed on a market where power transformers already run 128 weeks.
4 min read
FERC Clears $909M of MISO's 765-kV Backbone to Be Built Inside PJM
Regulators approved the cost split for $909 million of MISO transmission work ComEd and Duke Ohio will build inside PJM territory, clearing a funding question on a $21.8 billion backbone.
3 min read
Texas Puts 300 Data Centers Through an Audit Before They Touch the Grid
ERCOT suspended its August 7 Batch Zero classification deadline and now aims to file audit results on roughly 300 large-load projects by December 10.
4 min read
Why Substation Experience Is Becoming More Valuable
Grid interconnection queues have made substation-qualified electricians one of the scarcest groups in the trade.
3 min read
What Grid Modernization Means for Electrical Careers
Transmission upgrades and storage interconnections are reshaping which skills employers pay a premium for.
3 min read