Good morning! We have a packed edition today—let's jump right into the most important headlines to start your Wednesday strong.Today's Top News
A group of utilities and state regulators are urging FERC to approve MISO’s fast-track interconnection proposal—but not everyone is on board. (Utility Dive)
Ameren, DTE Energy, Entergy, and a cohort of state utility regulators and data center companies are in favor of the proposal, which they say would help manage near-term reliability issues.
But…there’s a but: NextEra Energy Resources, Vistra, the Michigan Public Service Commission, and a group of renewable energy trade groups, environmental organizations, and former FERC commissioners are urging FERC to deny the proposal, arguing it threatens FERC’s open access principle.
President Donald Trump signed four executive orders yesterday designed to boost coal production in the US. (NYT)
What do the executive orders say? They direct federal agencies to 1) remove roadblocks to coal leasing and mining 2) loosen environmental reviews of coal projects 3) explore coal-fired electricity as a solution for data center neeeds 4) expedite permitting and funding for new coal projects and 5) utilize federal lands for more mining.
Trump said he would "guarantee" that future administrations could not adopt policies harmful to coal.
Worth noting: Wind and solar together generated more electricity than coal in the US for the first time last year, according to a new report from the think tank Ember.
Sodium-ion battery startup Bedrock Materials is returning its remaining capital and halting development of its technology. (Axios)
What changed? “The world,” according to co-founder and CEO Spencer Gore. Competing on cost with China's cheap lithium-ion batteries became too difficult for Bedrock.
Netherlands-based energy and decarbonization infrastructure investor AIP Management is putting $500 million into Nashville-based Silicon Ranch. (WSJ)
Silicon Ranch is a utility-scale solar energy infrastructure developer, constructor, owner, and operator. It has 3.6 GW of operational energy capacity and 3.7 GW of capacity contracted or under construction.
Chinese EV battery leader CATL is partnering with state-owned oil giant Sinopec to build 10K battery swap stations. (Reuters)
The tie-in will utilize CATL's battery tech to "break through the driving range bottlenecks of passenger vehicles and heavy-duty trucks," the companies said.
LS Power is looking to sell electricity to a possibly 300-MW data center from its Doswell power plant in northern Virginia. (Utility Dive)
According to FERC filings, the data center campus will consist of up to five 60-MW "always-on, mission-critical" data center buildings, located at one or more parcels next to or near the Doswell site—which itself is in an area served by Old Dominion Electric Cooperative member Rappahannock Electric Cooperative.
PJM submitted plans to study the effects of the project, but ODEC said, "Neither ODEC nor the commission has a clear description of what is being contemplated, to understand what PJM will study."
AI model energy efficiency has increased by 40% each year since 2022, according to new data from Stanford. (Stanford AI Index)
Efficiency is necessary, given that usage is skyrocketing—78% of organizations reported using AI in 2024, up from 55% a year earlier.
Three of Wisconsin’s biggest electric utilities are asking state regulators to raise their rates in 2026 and 2027. (WPR)
Xcel Energy, Alliant Energy, and Madison Gas and Electric filed rate increase applications with the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin last week. FYI: The commission previously approved rate hikes for those utilities in 2023.
Investment manager Eagle Point is providing $28 million in project financing to Energy Vault to support the development of the world's largest utility-scale, ultra-long duration energy storage project. (GRN)
Energy Vault, which focuses on grid-scale energy storage solutions, is building the Calistoga Resiliency Center—a 100% sustainable facility to provide the city of Calistoga, CA, with an alternative power source should PG&E service go offline in a public safety power shutdown.