The Duck Curve#transmission
Interconnection queues and costs in the US
As of October 9, 2026, PJM's first reformed queue cycle is in study with 617 projects and its new fast track has accepted three, upgrade costs drove a Massachusetts battery out of ISO New England's queue, and FERC is weighing PJM and MISO data-center load rules.
UK announces Great British Grid, a public investor in electricity networks
The UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero announced Great British Grid on September 29, 2026, a publicly owned body within Great British Energy to invest public capital alongside private investment in electricity network infrastructure, with reforms to expand self-build connections and faster competitive tendering of transmission projects. The release gives no investment figure, start date or legislation: start-up costs come from Great British Energy's existing budgets and the long-term budget is left to a future spending review.
DOE selects 31 SPARK grid projects for $1.9 billion in federal funding
The US Department of Energy's Office of Electricity said on September 24, 2026 that it intends to help fund 31 grid-improvement projects across 26 states under the SPARK initiative: $1.9 billion in federal funding and $3.35 billion in recipient cost share, expected to reconductor or rebuild more than 1,500 miles of transmission lines and deploy grid-enhancing technologies across nearly 21,000 miles. Four state-led Topic Area 3 selections account for $810,395,919 of the listed federal funds by The Duck Curve's sum of DOE's selection document.
Congress moved four energy bills in three days; one goes to the President
Between September 15 and 17, 2026, the House passed the High-Capacity Grid Act (H.R. 6633) and the Load Forecasting Enhancement Act (H.R. 9332) by voice vote and the Ratepayer Protection Act (H.R. 9340) by 417 to 3, and the Senate passed the Hydropower Licensing Transparency Act (H.R. 3657) by unanimous consent without amendment; the bill status record shows that bill presented to the President on September 17 and the other three received in the Senate. Each orders a report, a rulemaking, study boards, or a state proceeding; none funds or builds anything.
Massachusetts adds winter transmission discount to two heat pump rates
The Massachusetts DPU stamp-approved National Grid's compliance filing in D.P.U. 26-71 on July 29, 2026 and Unitil's revised heat pump tariffs in D.P.U. 26-72 on July 31, 2026, adding winter transmission charges for the 2026-2027 heating season to the optional residential heat pump rates enrolled customers pay, as directed in D.P.U. 25-08-A on June 1, 2026. National Grid's charge is $0.00477 per kWh for November 2026 through February 2027 against a $0.05464 default; Unitil's is $0.01499 against $0.04201 in summer, a rate Unitil says it plans to replace with revised rates for January 1, 2027.
PJM proposes ride-through rules for data centers after 3,800 MW drop-off
PJM presented proposed voltage and frequency ride-through requirements for large computational loads, a category PJM says includes data centers and crypto-mining facilities, at its September 8, 2026 Planning Committee, after a July 22 fault in the Dominion zone that PJM's August 6 Operating Committee deck says sent approximately 3,800 MW of load onto backup power. PJM plans to file at FERC in November 2026 in docket EL26-67-000, where FERC faulted the tariff in June for specifying no ramp-rate or ride-through requirements and on August 14 paused the proceeding until November 16.
Oklo asks FERC to reinstate its 750-MW project in PJM's queue
Oklo filed an emergency complaint at FERC on August 28, 2026 (docket EL26-101-000) asking the commission to order PJM to reinstate a 750-MW mixed-technology generation project, combining advanced nuclear, natural gas, and fuel cells, that PJM withdrew from the first cycle of its reformed interconnection study. Oklo says the withdrawal was unlawful and would delay the project by at least 14 months; it wants PJM to answer by September 4, 2026.
Maine selects Clearway's 800 MW wind project and a 1,200 MW Avangrid line
The Maine Public Utilities Commission selected Clearway Energy Group's 800 MW onshore wind project and named Avangrid Networks' 1,200 MW transmission line its preferred proposal on August 25, 2026, under the Northern Maine Renewable Energy Development Program (Docket No. 2026-00033). Maine will contract for about 600 MW of the output, with Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, and Rhode Island sharing the line's costs and Maine paying less than 11 percent.
FERC approves SPP plan to reroute power around grid congestion
FERC accepted Southwest Power Pool's economic topology optimization tariff on August 19, 2026 in docket ER26-2592, letting market participants and SPP propose reconfigurations of the transmission network to relieve congestion, effective October 1, 2026. Commissioner David Rosner's concurrence puts SPP's average congestion costs above $1.6 billion a year; MISO has run a similar process since 2023.
