FERC Orders Six Major Grid Operators to Reform Data Center Interconnection Rules Within 90 Days
Claire Weston
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission this week ordered six major grid operators to overhaul data-center interconnection within 90 days — a process that previously took years and has become the key bottleneck for AI-driven power demand.
What does "90 days" actually mean — and how long did it take before?
FERC approved a set of reform orders with one core demand: compress the grid-interconnection timeline for large-load facilities like data centers to 90 days or less.
This means → what used to take years of queuing now has a hard regulatory deadline.
In plain terms = a data center could be built and ready but unable to draw power; that bottleneck is now under a forced clock.
Who was called out — and how wide is the net?
FERC issued individualized orders to six federally regulated grid operators: PJM Interconnection, MISO, CAISO, SPP, NYISO, and ISO New England.
Together, these six run most of America's backbone grid.
This means → this is not a pilot with one or two operators — nearly every major U.S. grid authority is now in scope.
What regulatory tool is FERC using?
FERC chose a show-cause order model: each operator must prove its current interconnection rules are "just and reasonable," or propose an alternative.
This reflects a deliberate choice to assess operators one by one, rather than impose the uniform rulemaking framework the Trump administration had previously suggested.
In plain terms = the regulator is not writing one set of rules for everyone — it is telling each operator to hand in its own answer sheet.
Why not a single, unified rule?
The Department of Energy wrote to FERC last October, urging it to launch a formal rulemaking and assert jurisdiction over data-center interconnection terms, rates, and conditions.
FERC declined and chose the case-by-case path instead.
This means → FERC made a trade-off between speed and regulatory flexibility — a uniform rule moves faster but leaves less room for regional differences; individual assessments are slower but can adapt to each grid's realities.
What is the real risk?
FERC Chair Laura Swett called this "the most important priority our country faces right now" and described the action as "historic."
The core test: can the speed-up happen without destabilizing the grid or raising electricity bills for ordinary consumers?
In plain terms = data centers need power fast, but whether the grid can handle it — and whether household bills stay stable — is the hard metric for whether this policy succeeds or fails.
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