The new ERAS processes in MISO and SPP allow certain power plants to effectively jump the interconnection line, skipping ahead of hundreds of other projects already waiting their turn, writes Southern Renewable Energy Association Executive Director Simon Mahan.

SPP staff say they are still waiting for an order from FERC before they can begin distributing millions in compensation to transmission upgrade sponsors from its beleaguered Attachment Z2 process and unwinding billions in settlements.

The winter storm that moved through Texas and much of the Eastern Interconnection cut power to hundreds of thousands of people and stressed the bulk power system, but did not create major disruptions like other storms earlier this decade.

FERC rejected a rehearing request of its order approving SPP’s proposed one-time accelerated study of shovel-ready interconnection requests, sustaining its original 2025 decision.

Colorado regulators have declined to reconsider their decision finding that it would be in the public interest for Public Service Company of Colorado to join SPP’s Markets+.

SPP stakeholders have overwhelmingly endorsed a conditional interconnection process for large loads that will be paired with two other FERC-approved processes.

FERC approved SPP tariff additions that deploy novel study processes to quickly review requests for “high-impact” large loads seeking to interconnect to its system.

SPP has hired former Idaho commissioner Kristine Raper as its senior director of state regulatory policy for the West.

SPP says it is pursuing inter-market optimization of energy transfers between its two Western Interconnection markets, mirroring a process it has developed in its current RTO footprint.

FERC accepted SPP's tariff revisions that establish subregions for the cost allocation of future byway projects under its highway/byway methodology.