Judy W. Chang is a commissioner of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Steven Wellner and Kathleen Ratcliff serve as her advisors. The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not reflect the views of other FERC commissioners or any stance of the agency. Generational change is occurring in the nation’s energy sector. While FERC is considering urgent short-term fixes, it also must evaluate longer-term solutions that shape the sector. One solution that meets this era of change is the integration of transmission planning and interconnection processes. The current challenges facing the electric industry are multifaceted, with compounding effects. Rapid and accelerating load growth, backlogged interconnection queues, limited regional/interregional transmission buildout, ongoing supply chain issues and increasingly frequent extreme weather events are exacerbating reliability concerns and raising electricity bills for consumers. States, utilities, grid operators, customers, and market participants grappling with these challenges are exploring short-term fixes, some of which call into question the open-access principles and market constructs this country has used to plan and build the grid’s infrastructure to date. Open access and competitive wholesale electricity markets have been our bedrock principles because they have delivered real value to customers: They have kept energy costs affordable, met customers’ needs efficiently and ensured those who create the need for new infrastructure bear their fair share of the associated costs. The question, then, is what reforms can meet our current demands while preserving the benefits of open access and competition? The answer is clear: Modernizing, harmonizing, and integrating our transmission planning and interconnection processes can meet those challenges. Dramatic load growth is on the horizon The biggest issue facing the industry is the expectation of rapid, dramatic load growth in the near term. While previous circumstances that have driven load growth were largely distributed throughout the country,

Brian Turner is the Western regulatory director for national trade association Advanced Energy United and serves on the West-Wide Governance Pathways Initiative Launch Committee.  They said it couldn’t be done. They said California would never relinquish control over the markets run by the California Independent System Operator.  That is why I helped launch the West-Wide Governance Pathways Initiative, a collaborative effort to create a fully independent organization that can manage Western electricity markets free from any one state’s control. The Pathways Initiative was designed to secure input and buy-in from a broad range of stakeholders on what an independently governed market could look like so we could build the trust needed to move forward.  And now, it’s happening. The California legislature, nearly unanimously, just approved Assembly Bill 825, a bill allowing the state’s utilities to participate in electricity markets governed by a new, independent West-wide organization. The new Regional Organization for Western Energy, or ROWE, will be incorporated in early 2026. Much like a popular new restaurant with a small plates menu, the ROWE will offer affordable, reliable energy services à la carte: Each state in the West can take what it needs to satisfy its energy appetite. The table is set for each state to sit on an equal basis. No special service or extra helpings. Every state will have its consumer and policy interests respected and integrated through multiple mechanisms woven through the governance structure. In fact, the ROWE will have the most state- and public-interest-oriented governance of any wholesale electricity market in the country. The structure includes:  Board members selected not just for their electricity sector expertise, but for public interest experience.  A public policy committee of the board charged with maintaining communication with state officials and public power entities around the West and consulting with them on pending

India said it held “constructive meetings” with the US this week on a trade deal, although Washington’s demand that New Delhi stop buying Russian oil is weighing on the negotiations. US trade negotiators made it clear to their Indian counterparts that resolving the Russia issue was crucial to reducing India’s tariff rate and sealing a trade deal, a person familiar with the matter said, asking not to be identified because the discussions are private. While the negotiations this week were positive, they failed to yield any significant breakthroughs, the person said. An Indian team led by Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal offered concessions to the US officials, including easing some restrictions on the import of genetically modified corn, and offering to buy more American defense and energy goods, the person said. Goyal said Wednesday that India was willing to buy more energy goods from the US “in the years to come.” President Donald Trump doubled tariffs on Indian goods to 50 percent last month, accusing New Delhi of helping Russian leader Vladimir Putin finance his war in Ukraine. India’s government has struck a defiant tone, saying it won’t halt Russian purchases and calling the US’s actions “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable.” The trade negotiations in Washington from Sept. 22-24 were constructive, with both sides exchanging views on the “possible contours of the deal,” India’s government said in a statement. Goyal met with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Sergio Gor, Trump’s nominee for ambassador to India. The minister also met with Indian businesses and investors during the trip. A spokesperson for the US embassy in New Delhi said it doesn’t comment on private diplomatic conversations, while reiterating the Trump administration’s position that India’s actions were undermining US efforts to counter Russia. The 25 percent penalty on India “aims to deter countries from supporting the Russian economy

At the Trump administration’s request, the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), an independent agency, abandoned its plan Sept. 12 to update the policy it uses to evaluate natural gas pipeline and LNG projects. The decision to scrap the long-running proceeding to revise the 1999 certificate policy for new natural gas facilities could indicate that the Department of Energy (DOE) intends to take a larger role in FERC policy, law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP said in a recent blog post. While FERC’s adoption of the request to end the proceedings will not result in any immediate changes to FERC policy, Akins said “it does signal that the DOE intends to be more involved in FERC policy making going forward and may be the first in a string of DOE efforts to reshape energy policy within FERC’s traditional purview.” FERC had until the end of September to act on a directive from Energy Secretary Chris Wright to terminate the proceeding that the commission has worked on since 2018. Wright said the move was necessary to remove industry uncertainty. “We believe that the 1999 Certificate Policy Statement, as subsequently applied by the Commission, continues to provide the appropriate framework for reviewing proposed natural gas projects in a legally durable manner, pursuant to the Natural Gas Act and consistent with judicial precedent, as it has for over 25 years. Therefore, we are now withdrawing the draft Updated Certificate Policy Statement and closing the proceeding,” FERC wrote in the Sep. 12 order. The commission added that the topics addressed in the proceeding were “better considered on a case-by-case basis.” By terminating the proceeding, FERC would now have to initiate a new docket and develop a new record if it wants to seek a policy change in the future, Akins said.

bp PLC has halted plans to build a biofuels plant in Rotterdam, continuing a retreat from earlier renewables ambitions as the company shifts capital back toward oil and gas investments. A bp spokesperson confirmed to Reuters Sept. 22 that the Rotterdam project—once part of a broader goal to produce 100,000 b/d of biofuels by 2030—has been shelved amid weak demand and a sharpened focus on profitability. In February, bp announced it would prioritize higher-return oil and gas projects after years of underperformance following its 2020 renewables push. bp has since halted or paused biofuels projects at Kwinana in Australia, Lingen in Germany, and Cherry Point in the US, leaving Castellon in Spain as the only potential standalone site for future development. The company has set a 15% investment return hurdle for biofuels projects, aligning it with upstream oil and gas targets. In its latest earnings report, bp noted stronger-than-expected downstream performance helped it beat analyst forecasts, with cost reductions of $1 billion across the downstream segment since 2023 and a 50% increase in first-half retail earnings. Shell PLC, which had also planned a Rotterdam biofuels plant, announced this month it will not resume construction, citing concerns over long-term competitiveness. bp’s remaining biofuels business centers on BP Bunge Bioenergia in Brazil, producing 50,000 b/d of ethanol from sugarcane, along with co-processing at existing refineries.

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