MISO's first interconnection queue fast lane turns up 47 projects, 74% of which are natural gas. Despite the apparent dominance of natural gas across 22 project requests, MISO leadership said the applicant pool represented a “large, diverse” assortment. www.rtoinsider.com/113407-gas-g...

Why are five states - including the three from MISO South - filing complaints at FERC? They say these projects don’t serve the broader region and should be funded only by the states they physically pass through. It’s an appealing message - but its also an oversimplification. shorturl.at/zYZsv

Stakeholder Forum: Recent MISO Complaint Undermines Regional Transmission Planning Framework

A new attack on regional transmission planning threatens to unravel a decade of progress toward a better electric grid.

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Southern Renewable Energy Association Transmission Director Andy Kowalczyk said MISO and SPP should probably model systems stressed by summertime, especially given the springtime instances of load shedding in Louisiana for both RTOs. shorturl.at/WehhO

SWEPCO's proposed 27.3% base rate increase includes a proposed annual $21.5 million system improvement plan rider, which is meant to "address the resiliency of the electricity grid," according to filings. Without the rider, the proposal would raise residential rates by 20.2%. shorturl.at/zWeof

SWEPCO seeking $30 per month rate increase | Arkansas Democrat Gazette

The Southwestern Electric Power Company is seeking approval from the Arkansas Public Service Commission for a $30.46 per month residential base rate increase to account for new power generation facili...

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A new report from ACEG & Grid Strategies shows that transmission construction is not keeping up with demand, jeopardizing reliability, affordability, and economic competitiveness. High-voltage lines are faster, cheaper, and smarter—but we’re building far too few. Learn more ➡️ bit.ly/4f1Beea

Report: Fewer New Miles: Strategic Industries Held Back by Slow Pace of Transmission

Today, Americans for a Clean Energy Grid (ACEG) and Grid Strategies released the report “Large-Scale Transmission Deployment Saves Consumers Money.”

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So far in 2025, utilities have requested $29 billion in rate hikes - and nearly half of those customers impacted by hikes are in the South, where utilities have requested a combined $1.8billion in rate increases. shorturl.at/fVIXv

As building new power gets harder, US utilities seek record rate increases

So far in 2025, utilities have requested $29 billion in rate hikes — and the Trump megabill threatens to increase costs further.

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Most people are aware that solar & wind energy are weather-dependent, but so is natural gas and nuclear energy, which both require significant cooling systems to operate well. Weather impacts the grid from almost every angle. shorturl.at/Q9N0f

As hurricane season ramps up, how likely is it that the power will go out in New Orleans? - Verite News New Orleans

Following the disastrous outage from Hurricane Ida in 2021, Entergy New Orleans has invested in grid hardening, but is it doing enough to prevent the next outage?

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It's time for real leadership in Louisiana, not resignation. Louisiana is at a cross in the road - meet the challenge of interregional transmission planning between MISO & SPP or let the next load shed event remind us of what we have failed to build. shorturl.at/prDIo @simonmahan.bsky.social

Fiddling While Louisiana Burns: FERC's Failure, State Paralysis, and the Case for Interregional Transmission Reform

This spring, Louisiana experienced two catastrophic, but preventable, grid failures: One in Shreveport in April, and another in New Orleans in May....

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SREA Exec Director @simonmahan.bsky.social appeared before Entergy’s state regulators to urge them to think twice before considering leaving MISO for the Southeast Energy Exchange Market. Presentation comes on the heels of calls for Louisiana to join SEEM. shorturl.at/GuQ7j

As wind energy development accelerates across the South, so does opposition to projects. We're making available to county, parish officials ACP's Model Wind Ordinance which provides a framework to regulate wind farms in a way that supports economic dev & landowner participation. shorturl.at/DcehP

Wind Power Rising: How Counties & Parishes in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi Can Lead with Smart Siting

Click here to download a model ordinance template for wind energy. Heatmap News reports that development of new wind and solar power plants is now...

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American Power Alliance, SREA call on Georgia PSC to adopt amendments to Georgia Power IRP, including initiating #txmission working group, accelerating CIR program, creating renewables stakeholder working group plus calls for adding additional GWs of renewables, storage by 2032. shorturl.at/yT9S9

Advanced Power Alliance, SREA call on Public Service Commission to adopt amendments to Georgia Power’s 2025 IRP

ATLANTA (July 3, 2025) - In a joint Post-Hearing Brief submitted today, the Advanced Power Alliance (APA) and the Southern Renewable Energy...

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Yes, transmission strategies were key topics at the SERTP Q2 mtg. And yes, there were recurring questions about Order 1920 compliance, and stakeholder calls for improved transparency, data access. But also, 7 days after the meeting, materials haven't been posted to the website 👀 shorturl.at/zh32U

At SERTP’s Q2 Meeting, Transmission Planning in the Southeast Continues with Some Improvements

Stakeholders at the Southeast Regional Transmission Planning (SERTP) meeting on June 26 in Chattanooga were presented with the 10- year forecasts...

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Extreme weather - like heat domes - are placing stress on the grid, putting customers at risk of blackouts that can cause significant economic damage. Regulators and utilities must take a regional approach to transmission planning to protect consumers. shorturl.at/Gn8Gt

SPP's FERNS is a powerful blueprint for how an RTO can lead on future planning. It demonstrates that renewables, when integrated with thoughtful transmission expansion and reliability planning, are not just compatible with resource adequacy - they are central to it. shorturl.at/JMNpc #energySky

Is 90% Renewables in Southwest Power Pool's Future?

Headquartered in Little Rock, the Southwest Power Pool (SPP) has published the results of its long-awaited Future Energy and Resource Needs Study...

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The power plants are located directly south of the De Queen Primary School and will provide a total of 4.280 megawatts of clean, renewable energy benefiting the city, school district, and county through net-metering. shorturl.at/OnoCk

Scenic Hill Solar opens 3 solar power plants in southwest Arkansas - Talk Business & Politics

North Little Rock-based Scenic Hill Solar, in partnership with the City of De Queen, De Queen School District, and Sevier County, completed three state-of-the-art solar power plants in the southwest.....

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Georgia cannot afford another failed RFP - the state needs a process that works. A robust, transparent, and fair RFP can attract the investment needed to secure affordable, reliable power for the long term, writes @simonmahan.bsky.social. More on the Georgia CARES struggles at: shorturl.at/eE6bO

Georgia CARES? Solar RFP Struggles in the Peach State

In July 2022, the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) directed Georgia Power to procure 2,100 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy resources...

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Written testimony filed today for SREA to the Kentucky PSC recommends that a competitive procurement process, aligned with utility best practices, will benefit LG&E/KU ratepayers. "Competition protects system reliability, and ratepayers’ pocketbooks,” said @simonmahan.bsky.social. shorturl.at/AfLZ3

Competition Is the Missing Ingredient: Why LG&E/KU Must Open the Door to Battery Storage Bids

When it comes to building the energy grid of the future, Kentucky has a golden opportunity - and a clear choice. Will utilities embrace competition...

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Cleco - the investor owned utility that services more than 300k customers across 24 parishes in Louisiana - has begun searching for a buyer. shorturl.at/GxhFj #energySky

Cleco is looking for a buyer. Here's who is expected to bid on the Louisiana utility.

The investor-owned utility — which provides electricity to nearly 300,000 customers across 24 Louisiana parishes — has notified regulators on the Louisiana Public Service Commission that it has begun ...

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The electricity that powers your home might start at a power plant to the east, a wind farm to the west, or a solar and battery storage facility to the south. But how does it get to us? Watch this video to learn how, and why new power lines matter to you. tinyurl.com/PowerLines101

Power Lines 101: Why New Power Lines Matter To You

We all want electricity service we can count on, with as low a bill as possible. That’s why new power lines to solve bottlenecks on our electric grid are so…

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On the Blog: The challenges facing the Southeast power grid are real—but so are the opportunities. With better planning, fair interconnection policies, and smart transmission investment, MISO can harness the strengths of all resource types. shorturl.at/0twwU #energySKy @simonmahan.bsky.social

In case you haven't seen the report released Monday by Americans for a Clean Energy Grid and Grid Strategies LLC quantifying the consumer benefits of well-planned transmission, then check out the latest SREA blog for a quick primer on the value of the report: shorturl.at/nIzb7

Our Aging Grid is Costing Us Massive Amounts of Money. Time for a New One.

If your electricity bill has been bothering you lately, you’re not alone. Across the region, and indeed across the country, residential electric...

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Building solar & storage generation that is shovel-ready as well as near-term transmission fixes, in addition to planning the transmission grid for the future is key to not only success, but a safer #Louisiana, & a better quality of life for the people who live there. #energySky shorturl.at/LNuh4

What really caused New Orleans' May 25 blackout?

Now that more than a week has lapsed since the massive May 25 load shed event in Southeast Louisiana, details have emerged regarding the scale of...

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New research from the U of Ark shows that even if solar grew to 15k MW of capacity – the same electrical generating capacity Arkansas has from natural gas, coal, nuclear and renewables – only 137k of the 13.7 million acres would be occupied by solar panels. #energySky arktimes.com/arkansas-blo...

Solar energy growth won’t eat into farmland, U of A study finds - Arkansas Times

Researchers at the University of Arkansas tackle the myth that solar will displace Arkansas farmland.

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The rejection of MISO’s ERAS is just the first step in MISO developing ERAS 2.0. The next iteration will likely need to come with stronger guardrails to ensure that the queue doesn’t become an additional bottleneck for much needed new generation in the MISO footprint. #energySky shorturl.at/JEOpX

FERC Rejects MISO's ERAS Proposal - What's Next?

On May 16, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) rejected the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) proposal to provide a...

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“Conservatively, you’re seeing five to 10 times more interconnection requests than data centers actually being built,” said Astrid Atkinson, a former Google senior director of software engineering, now co-founder & CEO of grid optimization software provider Camus Energy. #energySky shorturl.at/nI7Fz

A fraction of proposed data centers will get built. Utilities are wising up.

One expert estimated that speculative interconnection requests were five to 10 times more than the number of actual data centers, but the scale of the problem remains elusive.

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We're still talking about ERAS. SREA Tx Director writes that "ERAS is likely to complicate grid planning and reduce competition in MISO states if approved by FERC." Expected announcement from @ferc.gov regarding ERAS on Friday. shorturl.at/8nrzj

SREA Files Response to MISO South Utilities’ Support for MISO’s Queue-Jumping ERAS Proposal

On May 7, 2025, the Southern Renewable Energy Association (SREA) filed a motion for leave to answer at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission...

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Documents submitted to EPA in March show xAI is considering bringing enough turbines to the second site to generate 1.56 gigawatts of power — more capacity than the local TVA gas-fired Allen Combined Cycle Plant. shorturl.at/fLWaT

E&E News: XAI wants to bring more gas turbines to Memphis

Already under fire for its use of 35 methane turbines without permits or pollution controls, the artificial intelligence company is considering adding dozens more generators just 11 miles away.

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“The reality was they effectively did everything they could to keep the lights on, but it was a very, very close call,” Mahan said, adding that the Winter Storm Elliott report highlights the need for more proactive transmission planning within the SE. shorturl.at/xwWVp #energySky

Southeastern utilities have fallen behind in transmission planning: reports

The region's utilities have missed out on billions in potential savings, including during Winter Storm Elliott, according to two reports.

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Georgia's IRP isn't about ideology, writes SREA Regulatory Director Whit Cox. It's about smart planning and helping customers meet their aggressive clean energy goals. This is an opportunity for Georgia to lead. The benefits are clear. It's time to act. bit.ly/3ES6Wgf

Let the Market Lead: Aligning Georgia's Energy Plan with Business Demand and Economic Growth

Georgia Power’s 2025 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) presents a pivotal opportunity to strengthen Georgia’s economic competitiveness, energy...

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Let's talk ERAS. MISO has yet to demonstrate that ERAS will improve the interconnection queue process. In fact, it is likely to create additional problems, undermining the goal of expediting new generation to meet urgent resource needs. #energysky southernrenewable.org/news-updates...

MISO's Expedited Resource Addition Study (ERAS) proposal: A step in the wrong direction

The Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), one of North America's largest regional transmission organizations, has struggled for...

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