WASHINGTON — FERC Commissioner David Rosner told members of the American Clean Power Association that one of his main goals as a regulator is to successfully manage the energy industry’s transition.

“If you look back 20 years, the system is just completely different from what it was,” Rosner said. “And if you look 20 years out forward, it’s going to look different. And, so, one of the things I’m focused on is making sure in regions where there are markets … those markets are equipped to deal with that change.”

Another part of reliably managing the transition FERC oversees is deciding where and when infrastructure investments are needed, he added.

Rosner is not coming new to FERC like most commissioners; he’s moving up to the top floor after working as a staffer since 2017.

“Frankly, I have an unfair advantage, because there’s — you’ll be shocked to hear this — but there’s a lot of process at a regulatory agency,” Rosner said. “And that’s a really good thing, because we want a lot of eyes on these orders because they affect real people, real companies, real dollars. And, so, I already know to some extent that process, and that’s been a huge advantage.”

He already has seen the regulator go through changes since joining as a staffer. One of the reasons the commission has seemed more partisan in recent years, he said, is a court decision (NRG Power Marketing LLC v. FERC) that ended its flexibility in dealing with Federal Power Act Section 205 filings. (See PJM MOPR Order Reversed; FERC Overstepped, Court Says.)

While focused on long-running debates about PJM’s capacity market, the decision effectively tied FERC’s hands and limited its response to Section 205 filings to an up or down vote.

“Before you would see six, seven, eight — you know — rounds of conditional compliance,” Rosner said. “We can’t do that anymore. It’s yes or no, up or down. It’s always an emergency.”

Rosner also said he’s committed to getting orders out as soon as they are ready, which this summer involved approving new infrastructure. He also noted the commission is working on issuing a rehearing order for Order 1920, the transmission reforms passed this spring before Rosner took office.

PJM’s recent capacity auction and the price spikes caused by a narrowing supply and demand balance also are at the top of mind for the new commissioner, who said he’s been meeting with state regulators from the region concerned with the shift from “abundance to scarcity.” (See PJM Capacity Prices Spike 10-fold in 2025/2026 Auction.)

“The fundamental cure to this disease is adding capacity,” Rosner said. “And so, you know, last year, I think we saw a report just come out of PJM saying they added 2,000 MW of solar. I think they have somewhere between 20,000 and 30,000 MW of signed ISAs [interconnection service agreements], some of those for batteries. And you know, I think what we’re hoping to see is that we get more than 2,000 MW connected next year.”

FERC Order 2023 set a new baseline for interconnection queues around the country, and the commission recently held a two-day workshop looking into other ways, some of which do not require any rule changes, to speed up that process, Rosner said.

Industry Executives Discuss Maintaining Reliability as Grid Transitions

Rosner gave the keynote at an event that featured executives from around the industry describing how they responded to reliability challenges in their territories.

CAISO had to cut power briefly to some customers in 2020 as demand spiked around the West and it was unable to rely on imports, said Chief Operating Officer Mark Rothleder. The short version of what went wrong: California didn’t keep up with the pace of change, represented by higher peaks due to climate change and new types of resources.

At the time, CAISO had just 250 MW of batteries online. That has ramped up to 10,000 MW, which has helped.

“You’re starting to now see things stabilized,” Rothleder said. “We’re seeing these events happen. We’re forecasting the events in the operational time frame. We’re incorporating the changing conditions in the planning horizon, and we’re again developing and moving and building the resources that we need for the future.”

The bad times for SPP came in February 2021, when Winter Storm Uri led to blackouts, said General Counsel Paul Suskie.

Over its first two decades as an RTO, SPP approved $13 billion in transmission. That could grow by more than 50% after a vote set for the end of October, when its board will consider $7.5 billion more. Some $2 billion of that proposed transmission was planned when looking back to Uri and Winter Storm Elliott and determining what would have helped maintain reliability, Suskie said.

The new transmission lines would help connect the north to the south of SPP to better move power in emergencies. SPP also is considering proposals for eight high-voltage direct current lines to connect the Eastern and Western Interconnections as its RTO footprint expands across that seam, Suskie said.

One key policy goal of American Clean Power is getting the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024 to pass Congress this year, after clearing the Energy & Natural Resources Committee by a 15-4 vote.

“We are in a joyful position right now having a full consensus,” said ACP President Jason Grumet. “Not a single member of our organization is opposed to the EPRA proposal.”

ITC President Krista Tanner said the permitting bill is needed to avoid situations like the recently completed Cardinal-Hickory Creek Line, which took 13 years to build because it was under constant litigation. The law does not eliminate litigation under the National Environmental Policy Act, but it seeks to minimize “litigation abuse,” Tanner said.

“It puts time frames on statutes, limitations on how soon you have to file; it requires courts take these cases expeditiously, and then it requires the agencies to act within certain time frames,” Tanner said. “So, all of that helps a lot.”