Published

2 years ago

November 4, 2023

Alice Rush

November 2, 2023

Expanding Transmission Capacity Between MISO and PJM Would Save Consumers Billions of Dollars

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Consumers are paying billions of dollars a year due to transmission constraints between the Mid-Atlantic and Midwestern grid regions, and those costs are expected to increase with decarbonization and electrification efforts, according to a new report released today from the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) and Grid Strategies.

The analysis, Billions in Benefits: A Path for Expanding Transmission between MISO and PJM, shows how increased interregional transmission between the PJM Interconnection (PJM) and the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) can save consumers more than $15 billion by reducing the need for power plant capacity, as well as ongoing savings that can exceed $1 billion per year by allowing more affordable power to flow across a broader geographical area. The congested seam between the regions also harms reliability by limiting the ability to import power, particularly during events like Winter Storms Elliott and Uri that disrupted electricity supply and demand in one region but not the other.

“Expanded transmission ties between MISO and PJM would significantly broaden the electricity menu for consumers in both regions, diversifying what’s available and when,” said Grid Strategies Vice President and report author Michael Goggin. “Building these lines would allow consumers to tap into generators from the Dakotas to the East Coast, reducing electricity bills and improving reliability.”

The report outlines various steps the grid operators, states, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and other stakeholders can take to develop more workable mechanisms for planning and paying for interregional transmission.

“Interregional transmission lines have helped save American lives during extreme weather events, yet today’s transmission planning processes do not value the added reliability they provide our grid,” said ACORE President and CEO Gregory Wetstone. “Consumers should not be forced to endure outages when study after study shows additional line capacity would help keep the lights on and reduce power costs.”

The report identifies proactive multi-value planning as the gold standard for regional planning that should also serve as the model for interregional transmission. Absent that process, MISO and PJM should improve their coordination on transmission planning.

“The U.S. Department of Energy has found that the MISO-PJM seam has the greatest need for expanded interregional transmission ties,” said American Clean Power Association (ACP) Vice President of Markets and Transmission Carrie Zalewski. “In fact, the intertie with MISO accounts for around 80% of PJM’s total need for interregional transmission. These grid operators must collaborate on the transmission planning necessary to bridge this gap, preserve reliability, and benefit millions of customers.”

“Transmission planning is happening in silos across the country, and it is costing ratepayers billions of dollars,” said Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) Senior Vice President of Policy Sean Gallagher. “This siloed approach to transmission planning limits resource availability during times when we need power most, jeopardizing both grid reliability and our energy security. If we want to expand transmission infrastructure and better coordinate reliability efforts, we need Congress and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to make interregional transmission planning a top priority.”

Billions in Benefits: A Path for Expanding Transmission between MISO and PJM was produced by ACORE and Grid Strategies in partnership with ACP and SEIA. To download a copy of the new analysis, click here.

About ACORE:
For more than 20 years, the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) has been the nation’s premier pan-renewable nonprofit organization. ACORE unites finance, policy, and technology to accelerate the transition to a renewable energy economy. For more information, please visit www.acore.org.

Media Contacts:
Alex Hobson
Sr. Vice President, Communications
American Council on Renewable Energy
hobson@acore.org | 202.777.7584 (o) | 202.594.0706 (c)

Dylan Helms
Associate, Communications
American Council on Renewable Energy
helms@acore.org | 202.891.7868 (o) | 727.290.8804 (c)

The post Expanding Transmission Capacity Between MISO and PJM Would Save Consumers Billions of Dollars appeared first on ACORE.

Expanding Transmission Capacity Between MISO and PJM Would Save Consumers Billions of Dollars

Renewable Energy

Empire Wind Resumes, Ørsted Eyes Chinese Turbines

Published

13 hours ago

January 19, 2026

Alice Rush

Weather Guard Lightning Tech

Empire Wind Resumes, Ørsted Eyes Chinese Turbines

Allen covers court victories allowing Empire Wind and Revolution Wind construction to resume, while Vineyard Wind joins the legal fight. In the UK, EnBW walks away from Mona and Morgan with a $1.4B write-off, even as KKR and RWE announce a $15B partnership for Norfolk Vanguard. Plus Ørsted’s leaked “Project Dragon” reveals the offshore giant is considering Chinese turbines, and Fortescue breaks ground on Australia’s Nullagine Wind Project using Nabrawind’s self-erecting tower technology.

Sign up now for Uptime Tech News, our weekly newsletter on all things wind technology. This episode is sponsored by Weather Guard Lightning Tech. Learn more about Weather Guard’s StrikeTape Wind Turbine LPS retrofit. Follow the show on YouTube, Linkedin and visit Weather Guard on the web. And subscribe to Rosemary’s “Engineering with Rosie” YouTube channel here. Have a question we can answer on the show? Email us!

Last week I told you about Equinor’s ultimatum. Resume construction by January sixteenth… or cancel Empire Wind forever. Well… the courts have spoken.

Last Thursday, Judge Carl Nichols issued his ruling. Empire Wind can resume construction. The harm from stopping, he said, outweighs the government’s concerns. One day earlier, Ørsted won the same relief for Revolution Wind. And now Vineyard Wind has joined the fight in Massachusetts. Three projects. Three courtrooms. Two victories and one victory yet to come.

Meanwhile in Britain… a different kind of drama. German utility EnBW announced Thursday it is walking away from two major UK projects. Mona and Morgan. Three gigawatts of potential capacity. The cost of leaving? One point four billion dollars in write-offs. Eight hundred forty million pounds already paid… gone. Rising costs. Lower electricity prices. Higher interest rates. Their partner, Jera Nex BP, says they still see good pathways forward. But EnBW has had enough.

Yet in the very same week… Investment giant KKR and German utility RWE announced a fifteen billion dollar partnership. Norfolk Vanguard East and West. Three gigawatts. One hundred eighty-four turbines. Power for three million British homes. Big winners and losers. In the same market. In the same week.

Danish media outlet Berlingske obtained a confidential report from Ørsted’s procurement department. The world’s largest offshore wind developer… is exploring whether to buy turbines from China. They call it Project Dragon. The plan covers twenty-twenty-six through twenty-twenty-eight. CEO Rasmus Errboe told reporters they continuously evaluate all technologies and suppliers. Quality. Technical capabilities. Commercial conditions. He did not deny the report. For years, European developers have resisted Chinese turbines. Fear of losing their industry to China… just like they lost solar manufacturing a decade ago. But Ørsted is under pressure.

In Australia, Fortescue has broken ground on its first wind project in the Pilbara. The Nullagine Wind Project. One hundred thirty-three megawatts. Seventeen turbines. But here is what makes it special. Nabrawind’s self-erecting tower technology. Hub height of one hundred eighty-eight meters. A new global benchmark for onshore wind. No giant cranes required. Fortescue plans two to three gigawatts of renewable energy across the Pilbara by twenty-thirty. Wind. Solar. Batteries. To power their mining trucks. Their drills. Their processing plants.

Last week we talked about Equinor’s deadline. About Ørsted losing one and a half million euros every single day. About billions in limbo. This week… the courts stepped in. Empire Wind resumes. Revolution Wind continues. Vineyard Wind fights on. All while the North Sea quietly crossed a milestone. One hundred one operational wind farms. Thirty gigawatts of clean power. More than any body of water on Earth. Some companies are walking away. Others are doubling down with fifteen billion dollar bets. The wind industry is evolving very quickly.

And that’s the state of the wind industry for the 19th of January 2026. Join us tomorrow for the Uptime Wind Energy Podcast.

Empire Wind Resumes, Ørsted Eyes Chinese Turbines

Renewable Energy

The “Plandemic”

Published

2 days ago

January 17, 2026

Alice Rush

It wasn’t too long ago that crackpots spewing nonsense like this with no supporting evidence were ostracized by society. Now, our Republicans elect them to the U.S. senate.

You’d have to believe that “the elites” a) conspired with the top people in the other 200+ countries on Earth, b) had a motive to kill over 7 million people worldwide, c) wanted of cripple the world economy, and d) didn’t mind watching their loved one die agonizing deaths.