The challenges and opportunities of meeting demand from new large loads like data centers took center stage at the National Association of State Energy Officials’ recent Energy Policy Conference.

U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) introduced a bill that would exempt large loads served on islanded systems from federal economic regulations for the electric industry.

Expanding transmission can reduce electricity costs for consumers, but only if the buildout uses consumer welfare as the North Star and ignores narrow political or business interests, say Travis Fisher and Nick Loris.

Change is coming to FERC after Tuesday's election, but the policies the agency oversees are rarely top of mind during campaigns, so it is unclear how much will be different.

The ultimate future of FERC Order 1920 depends on rehearing, implementation and inevitable litigation, but after reading through the order itself in the past week, many stakeholders see it as an important step forward in expanding the grid.

Former FERC Commissioner James Danly told a House Oversight subcommittee that federal subsidies overvalue some resources, while undervaluing others, putting the future of the grid at risk.

Competitive power generators renewed their calls for a national price on carbon emissions while complaining of a lack of market support for gas generators.

A panel of conservative electricity market experts argued that markets work better than public policy at encouraging and developing clean energy resources.

Public interest and consumer groups asked Congress to order an independent study on the impact of FERC wholesale market policies on costs and reliability.

NERC’s Standards Committee is accepting nominations through Oct. 15 to replace nine members who will depart at the end of the year.