Advanced transmission technologies can help utilities meet the rising levels of demand that are stressing the grid, according to a report from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research.

Speeding up the interconnection queues is becoming more important as demand growth and the retirement of existing generators combine to cut into reserve margins around the U.S., experts said during a webinar hosted by Advanced Energy United.

Coal plants in the Central U.S. are elbowing out lower-cost, cleaner generation and have collected more than $1 billion in uneconomic payments over a three-year span, the Natural Resources Defense Council said in a new report.

Angst over looming load growth, cost increases and reliability headaches headlined the 76th annual New England Conference of Public Utilities Commissioners Symposium.

The ultimate future of FERC Order 1920 depends on rehearing, implementation and inevitable litigation, but after reading through the order itself in the past week, many stakeholders see it as an important step forward in expanding the grid.

FERC appears to be nearing completion on its transmission planning rulemaking, with cost allocation rules and the federal ROFR among the issues at stake.

Advanced Energy United has released a scorecard that ranks the seven domestic ISO/RTOs on their generator interconnection processes, finding room for improvement in every one.