A quick review of WIRES’ 20th-anniversary Fall Member Meeting on November 5, 2026: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) chairman, RTO leaders, and three former Commission chairs kept returning to one difficult challenge—building transmission fast enough for large-load growth without losing cost discipline or investor certainty.
Larry Gasteiger, Executive Director of WIRES, asked Chairman Laura Swett about her first year leading FERC. Chairman Swett cast transmission as inseparable from the energy future—“the bones, the veins, the heart” of the electric system. Top of her agenda: accommodating large load and associated generation, nailing affordability and cost allocation, and advancing interregional transfer capability. On throughput, she said she has asked a great deal of the Commission: “a lot of people have said the Commission has never done so much in a 12-month period”—and that with a lower staff level after many departures. Rather than wait on a multi-year national rulemaking for large-load issues, she said FERC chose market-by-market show-cause orders under Federal Power Act section 206 (rate review) and compressed some section 205 work (rate filings). Asked whether projects can keep moving amid rising opposition without new legislation, Chairman Swett pointed to process discipline: “one way that I am moving faster is by adhering to the rules so that everyone has predictability.”
The RTO panel—moderated by Stuart Nachmias (formerly ConEd Transmission), with Stu Bresler (PJM), John Bear (MISO), and Rich Dewey (NYISO)—represented an estimated 40% of U.S. electricity demand. Bresler called FERC Order 1000 the most consequential planning change of the past two decades: more innovation and competitive proposals, but a longer process. PJM, he said, is moving toward a more integrated annual planning construct that combines generator interconnection and large-load transmission service requests, and he framed transmission need as a year-round issue, not just an extreme-weather case. Asked about MISO’s experience, Bear put it bluntly: “It’s not just extreme weather anymore, it’s weather.” Regional weather impacts wind and solar generation and extreme weather impacts the availability of transmission assets. Additional and more resilient transmission is needed to address both issues. He described MISO’s roughly $10 billion early regional portfolio and annual transmission investment rising toward $10–12 billion. On the topic of “speed to power,” Bear said new AI tools cut the first interconnection study phase “from maybe 600 down to about 45 days,” with MISO now able to “clear our [queue] at about 160 days.” Dewey highlighted New York’s Order 1000 record—three projects in operation, a fourth in siting, all awarded to merchants—and urban load pockets where old in-city generation cannot retire without more transmission.
The closing panel brought three former FERC chairs: Joseph T. Kelliher, Cheryl LaFleur, and Rich Glick. Kelliher revisited Return on Equity (ROE)-driven investment and Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct) siting flaws and controversially argued the grid would be planned better with far fewer owners. LaFleur’s regret on Order 1000 was scope: competitive debates swallowed planning and cost allocation. Glick pointed to unfinished interregional work and events like Winter Storm Uri show us regions with stronger transfer capability (more transmission) weathered the same weather better. On the permitting bill, still in flux after the election, LaFleur hoped the bipartisan compromise passes because durable law lasts; Kelliher called its siting provisions a vast improvement over EPAct because it drops DOE’s massive and time-consuming corridor study role.
My takeaway for those building and maintaining transmission systems: the work ahead is as much operational as it is political. Four ideas likely to help enable “speed to power” under current policies and regulatory constructs:
- put engineering into FERC dockets
- maximize the life and capability of existing assets
- study large loads together with the generation that serves them
- keep cost allocations visible.
Written by Ben Lanz
