Conversations remained cordial despite the ongoing competition between CAISO and SPP in the west as the RTOs’ top executives took the stage at Yes Energy’s annual EMPOWER conference.

The challenges of meeting accelerating load growth dominated discussions at EMPOWER 26, Yes Energy’s annual summit.

Faced with the same demand from data centers and crypto miners as other grid operators, SPP responded by putting together a 30-person team to come up with a process to interconnect the large loads.

Elliot Mainzer said working at BPA taught him two critical lessons that he's applied at CAISO: the importance of "robust stakeholder engagement" and "collaborative working relationships."

Energy industry analyst Jesse Jenkins stressed that data center developers must match their demand with new clean supply to prevent negative consequences for other consumers and the climate.