Power system planners are racing to connect large loads like AI data centers, but analysts say they are overlooking near-term solutions that could add capacity quickly. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued show-cause orders to six grid operators in June, and the White House has pushed for faster action, yet most operators have asked for more time to develop processes that protect reliability and avoid shifting costs to other customers.
Long-term remedies—new generation, market reforms, and structural transmission projects—are slow and constrained by labor and equipment shortages. Some experts argue that advanced technologies such as high-capacity conductors with fiber sensing and analytics can create room for large loads more cheaply and quickly. FERC Order 1920 provides a framework for long-term regional planning, but as one analyst put it, there has not yet been a complete rethink of utility planning.
The Southwest Power Pool offers a possible model. Its Consolidated Planning Process merges interconnection and transmission tracks, an approach praised by FERC and the Energy Systems Integration Group. Other regions, the article notes, are only developing pieces of that coordination rather than adopting a fully integrated framework.