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

Sen. Joe Manchin rebuffed Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's assertion that permitting reform was dead in the current Congress during an Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on load growth from data centers.

NERC’s 2024 Summer Reliability Assessment found that every region has met its reserve margin targets but that many areas would face difficult operations in lengthy, widespread heat waves.

AEP Ohio is asking state regulators to create new tariffs that would force data center developers to pay for 90 to 95% of their projected electrical demand for their first 10 years of operation, even if they use less.

ISO-NE is predicting that New England’s peak load will increase by about 10%, and electricity consumption by 17%, by 2033, according to its 2024 Capacity, Energy, Loads and Transmission report.

Rising demand from data centers will lead to increased investment in transmission in PPL’s utility territories, executives said during a first-quarter earnings call.

Projected load growth nationwide from data centers, electrification and increased domestic manufacturing will drive increasing demand for renewables, NextEra Energy CEO John Ketchum said during a first-quarter earnings call.

The Gulf Coast Power Association Spring Conference tackled the vexing assignment of how to reliably serve Texas’ unprecedented surge in demand with a cleaner energy supply.