Illustration: Brendan Lynch / Axios
U.S. energy regulators dismissed a power grid operator's plan to speed power plant reviews to meet rising energy demand.
Why it matters: Friday's ruling — which GOP Chair Mark Christie opposed — comes after bipartisan pushback from former FERC commissioners and independent power producers.
- The Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) is the latest grid operator to seek ways to quickly add power capacity, which comes as Congress and some states consider fast-tracking power plants.
Driving the news: FERC voted 2–1 to reject the plan, with Republican Commissioner Lindsay See joining Democratic Commissioner David Rosner. (Democrat Judy Chang didn't vote.)
- The majority agreed with critics that MISO — which serves 15 Midwestern and Southern states — failed to show its program was just and reasonable, and not unduly discriminatory.
- MISO's failure to limit the number of projects that could be entered and to spell out targeted criteria would simply create another backlogged queue of projects, FERC found.
- Christie said he would've been willing to give the grid operator and states supportive of the plan the "benefit of the doubt" to stave off a grid reliability crisis.
Between the lines: FERC approved a similar but narrower plan in February from PJM Interconnection, the country's largest grid operator, to expedite some power plants.
What's next: MISO can revise and refile its application.
- Christie urged MISO to "address the concerns the majority has identified and next time, submit a filing that is better explained and better supported."
