This trend holds for greenfield lines in CAISO, MISO, SPP, and ISO-NE, per a new R Street analysis covering nearly a decade of major projects. They found the starkest differences in ISO-NE (where incumbent utility-developed lines took around double the time). The exception? PJM, where competitive lines took around 20% longer.

Finished competitive projects also tended to cost around 30% less. The report attributes these advantages to: 1) in-service date commitments with late penalties 2) capital cost caps and 3) capital structure commitments.

Meanwhile, utilities in MISO and SPP territory are gunning for a five-year moratorium on competitive bidding for major transmission projects…claiming that this process slows development. But this fresh data doesn’t exactly help their case. 🤔

In New Mexico: The state’s Public Regulation Commission has greenlit a plan from Southwestern Public Service Co. to build new transmission and nearly 4 GW of utility-owned generation (including 2.1 GW of gas, 1.1 GW of wind, and 1.9 GWh of storage). SPS predicts summer peak demand will soar by some 40% by 2030.

The catch? One NM PRC commissioner claimed that future requests for proposals “must be more competitive.” 

And in Wyoming, Enbridge has unveiled a $1.2B solar and BESS project to feed Meta’s expanding data center footprint. The Cowboy Project will include 365 MW of solar and 1.6 GWh of storage—yet no gas, indicating that Enbridge thinks renewables can make a major dent. (After all, this isn’t their first rodeo.)

As the region faced unprecedented, summer-like heat (along with high load and outages), PJM brought in over 5.5 GW during May 19’s evening peak. That’s the most imports for that date since 2016. And if spring temp spikes continue? Grid operators may have to rethink current seasonal approaches.

Looking ahead: As we reported earlier this month, PJM is feeling ready for summer—but shrinking margins means it will be harder for the RTO to send gigawatts to neighboring balancing authorities (and more importing might be in the cards).

Last week, Microsoft filed a Ratepayer Protection Tariff with the Nevada Public Utilities Commission—and some energy pros are into it.

The details: It would 1) require large-load customers to pay the costs they cause and 2) create a public ledger tracking those dollars all the way from infrastructure planning to operation. The tariff also requires large-load customers to pay their fair share of “existing system costs that underpin safe and reliable service.”

The feedback: “It’s really good actually,” Travis Kavulla, Base Power head of policy, wrote on X. “This seems like a tariff where cost-shifting concerns are mitigated, and it achieves that while getting ‘speed to power.’” Energy entrepreneur Jigar Shah added that it reflects “a growing recognition that the era of socializing data center infrastructure costs onto residential ratepayers is over.”

Recent Interior Department agreements to sink turbines in favor of fossil fuels could inspire similar deals around the US. Off New York’s coast, for instance, three early-stage projects totaling nearly 7GW are vulnerable to cancellation. These include Community Offshore Wind from RWE and National Grid.

Off California’s shores, 5.6 GW may hang in the balance, including Equinor’s Atlas Wind. And near North Carolina, a 1.6-GW project from Cinergy could also fizzle out.

But CA stays committed: Despite these possible cancellations, the Golden State has kept its pledge to build 25 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2045. That could provide up to 15% of the state’s future clean electricity demand.  

Days after environmental groups sued FERC over the pipeline, the NY Department of Environmental Conservation has followed suit. It’s the latest move in a decade-long legal battle over Constitution, which would deliver natural gas from Pennsylvania to upstate New York—and President Trump is determined to resuscitate it, citing its potential to lower customers’ bills and ease supply constraints.

While we’re here: Also in the Northeast, Enbridge is attempting to expand its Algonquin gas pipeline capacity by 10%. No lawsuits there at the moment, but environmental groups are already voicing their dissent.