Reports of the energy storage industry’s demise are greatly exaggerated, experts said during the American Clean Power Association’s annual Energy Storage Summit.

Xcel Energy and AEP both said during their quarterly earnings calls that they have increased their capital investment spend to meet increasing demand from large loads.

MISO and SPP said they will study more than 30 project suggestions — some estimated to cost more than $1 billion apiece — in a four-state area in their pursuit of major, regionally cost-shared transmission projects.

At a time when MISO’s long-term planning is under fire, the Organization of MISO States’ annual meeting featured speakers who vouched for the power of planning.

Golden Spread Electric Cooperative will again appeal a stakeholder group’s rejection of a proposed tariff change that would pre-emptively determine the amount of load SPP's system can handle without requiring additional network upgrades.

Data center-fueled demand growth continues to soar while reserve margins continue to shrink. Meanwhile, the timelines for building load versus building generation and transmission are wildly out of sync.

SPP stakeholders have endorsed the RTO's 10-year transmission plan and some of its proposed 765-kV lines, trimming about $2.5 billion in costs from the portfolio.

FERC approved SPP’s tariff change to offer a provisional load interconnection process so the grid operator can study potential data centers and other large loads when there isn’t available power for the new facilities.

SPP plans to continue working the Joint Targeted Interconnection Queue’s portfolio of five 345-kV projects on its seam with MISO, despite the U.S. Department of Energy’s threat to pull $464 million in previously granted funds.