FERC Practice

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On April 11, 2025, FERC issued Order No. 1920-B, which clarified and maintained key requirements from Order No. 1920-A regarding long-term transmission planning and cost allocation. FERC clarified that transmission providers are not obligated to plan for the long-term needs of unenrolled non-jurisdictional transmission providers, but voluntary arrangements are allowed. The order also upheld the requirement for transmission providers to include Relevant State Entities’ agreed-upon cost allocation methods in their compliance filings. Additionally, FERC sustained the consultation requirement with Relevant State Entities before amending cost allocation methods. Lastly, FERC declined to expand the definition of “Relevant State Entity” and rejected certain rehearing requests as procedurally barred. Overall, FERC explained that Order No. 1920-B reinforces the importance of long-term, forward-looking, and comprehensive transmission planning and cost allocation processes to meet the demands of the modern transmission grid. The order was approved by four Commissioners, with Commissioner See not participating.

On April 8, 2025, President Donald Trump issued the Strengthening the Reliability and Security of the U.S. Electric Grid executive order aimed at ensuring adequate and reliable electric generation in the U.S., meeting growing electricity demand being driven by technological advancements (e.g., data centers), and addressing the national energy emergency declared on January 20, 2025. The executive order also intends to help ensure that the electrical grid leverages all available power generation resources, with a particular emphasis on secure resources that have redundant fuel supplies to support extended operations.

On April 10, 2025, FERC addressed arguments on rehearing that clarified, but did not modify the outcome of, a November 1, 2024, order (“Rejection Order”) rejecting PJM Interconnection, L.L.C.’s (“PJM”) proposal to increase the co-located data center load at a Susquehanna Nuclear, LLC (“Susquehanna”) nuclear generating facility. FERC again found that PJM’s amended Interconnection Service Agreement’s (“ISA”) non-conforming provisions were not necessary deviations from the pro forma ISA. However, FERC did clarify that the Rejection Order did not prevent other entities from filing non-conforming ISAs to address issues relating to co-located data center load.

On March 31, 2025, FERC granted in part and denied in part Basin Electric Power Cooperative’s (Basin Electric) petition for declaratory order seeking transmission incentives for the Roundup-Kummer Ridge Project, the Tande-Finstad-Leland Olds Project (LOS-Tande Project), and the NE Williston-Folvag 115 kV-Judson-East Fork-Tande Project (Springbrook Project) (collectively, “Projects”). FERC granted the Hypothetical Capital Structure Incentive and the Abandoned Plant Incentive to both the LOS-Tande Project and Springbrook Project, but denied the Hypothetical Capital Structure Incentive for the Roundup-Kummer Ridge Project.

On March 28, 2025, the D.C. Circuit denied a joint petition for review brought by Healthy Gulf and Sierra Club (together, “Petitioners”) challenging FERC’s grant of a certificate of public convenience and necessity (CPCN) to Driftwood Pipeline LLC (Driftwood) to construct two new natural gas pipelines (the “Project”) in southwestern Louisiana on grounds that FERC’s decision failed to comply with National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Natural Gas Act (NGA). The D.C. Circuit affirmed FERC’s analyses under NEPA and NGA but declined to address Driftwood’s claim that the Council on Environmental Quality’ (CEQ) regulations implementing NEPA, upon which Petitioners based their arguments, are not judicially enforceable because CEQ lacks authority to promulgate them.

On March 27, 2025, FERC approved Southwest Power Pool, Inc.’s (SPP) tariff revisions to remove the opportunity for resources that self-commit during the Reliability Unit Commitment Process (RUC) to avoid contributing to RUC system-wide make-whole payments. In doing so, FERC found the revisions are consistent with cost causation principles.

On March 30, 2025, FERC approved revisions to Southwest Power Pool, Inc.’s (“SPP”) Open Access Transmission Tariff (“Tariff”) and Governing Documents to allow nine entities (“Expansion Members”) in the Western Interconnection to join SPP’s Regional Transmission Organization (“RTO”) as transmission-owning members (“RTO West”), on the condition that SPP submit compliance…

On March 20, 2025, FERC approved Southwest Power Pool, Inc.’s (“SPP”) tariff revisions to incorporate a mark-to-auction collateral requirement for SPP’s Transmission Congestion Rights (“TCR”) market.  In doing so, FERC found the revisions will mitigate market risk caused by market participants’ declining TCR values.  However, the Commission declined SPP’s request to terminate the related ongoing show cause proceeding because the proposed tariff does not fully address the Commission’s concerns.

On February 28, 2025, FERC granted a request by Holtec Palisades, LLC (“Holtec”) for waiver of certain provisions of the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Inc. (“MISO”) Open Access Transmission, Energy and Operating Reserve Markets Tariff (“Tariff”) to prevent the termination of interconnection service to the Palisades Nuclear Plant (“Palisades”). Absent the requested waiver, Palisades’ interconnection service in MISO was set to terminate on May 20, 2025, which would have delayed its return to commercial operations as Palisades progresses through the recommissioning process. According to Holtec’s waiver request, Palisades is set to become the first suspended nuclear plant to return to active service in the United States.