Navigating Energy Reliability: Insights from FERC and USEA Conferences

There’s no shortage of uncertainty in the U.S. energy industry right now. Everyone agrees that data centers will drive massive load growth. However, how much, when, and where remains to be seen. Independent System Operators (ISOs) are under intense pressure to integrate these new loads without placing unfair costs on ratepayers. Meanwhile, the renewable energy buildout may shift dramatically due to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). Amid this landscape, policymakers, regulators, utilities, independent power producers (IPPs), and technology providers are gathering to tackle the industry’s most pressing challenges. 

Recently, Rob Homer, Senior Product Manager at Energy Exemplar, attended the FERC Reliability Technical Conference and the USEA Energy Tech Connect event—two back-to-back gatherings that captured the collective sentiment surrounding these challenges. Below are several of the key takeaways from those discussions.

Key Takeaways from FERC and USEA Conferences 

Data Center Load Growth is Reshaping Reliability Conversations 

At both conferences, one topic dominated: large load enablement. AI and data center demand are surging faster than utilities and markets can model or plan for. While most stakeholders agree that data centers represent a reliability challenge, they’re also recognized as potential allies. Particularly if they invest in behind-the-meter generation or grid-connected resources that can support reliability rather than strain it.  

Commissioner Tricia Pridemore (Georgia PSC, NARUC President) advocated for a pragmatic approach: every new data center siting should include on-site generation capable of supporting both the facility and the grid when needed. Her comment, which was met with applause, reflected a broader consensus that collaboration between utilities and data centers must evolve beyond connection agreements into shared planning and investment. 

The Market Divide: Vertically Integrated vs. Market-Based Systems

The FERC sessions revealed a growing difference between vertically integrated utilities and market-based IPPs. Vertically integrated utilities, such as those in the Southeast, touted their ability to plan and invest for the long term. In contrast, IPPs operating in competitive markets like PJM expressed frustration with regulatory delays and market structures that disincentivize new generation investment. 

Homer noted that PJM’s model, once celebrated for efficiency, has recently been struggling with rapid, unpredictable load growth, with some states threatening to leave the ISO. Rising costs (ComEd reported a 60% year-over-year increase) are being passed to ratepayers, prompting questions about whether today’s market design can handle tomorrow’s energy economy. 

The Data Center "Bubble" and the Need for Smarter Planning

A striking theme that emerged, especially at FERC, was concern about a potential data center bubble, which presents a risk of overbuilding generation and infrastructure that may not ultimately be needed if AI efficiencies temper future load growth.  

In response to this, Rob highlighted that the industry shouldn’t focus on how we get the forecast right – because that is never going to happen – but rather, how to plan for uncertainty. Modeling solutions like PLEXOS® can help with this by allowing customers to test multiple demand and timing scenarios to reveal where grid fragilities may emerge. Instead of chasing perfect forecasts, planners must embrace continuous scenario-based planning—testing “what if” pathways and adjusting course as reality unfolds. 

Gas-Electric Coordination Is a Rising Reliability Risk 

Another hot topic was fuel interdependence. NERC CEO Jim Robb identified gas–electric coordination as one of six reliability priorities, noting that limited pipeline capacity and lack of firm gas supply in winter months could quickly become major reliability risks.  

Conference participants stressed that as the grid becomes more dependent on gas-fired generation to meet large loads, pipeline modeling and coordination must catch up. This is a key area where PLEXOS’ capability to integrate power and fuel systems can play a direct role in supporting policy and planning discussions. 

Reliability Requires Integrated Planning, Not Perfect Forecasts

Perhaps the clearest consensus across both events was that planning is the foundation of reliability. Commissioner Pridemore summarized it as “Planning, planning, and more planning.” 

Planning today must incorporate new dimensions of uncertainty—from cybersecurity to resource adequacy to transmission congestion and weather volatility. Solutions like PLEXOS® allow planners to “break the system without breaking it,” identifying where it fails under stress, which in turn helps utilities, ISOs, and regulators prioritize resilient investments and prove them defensibly to commissions or markets 

Supporting AI as a Strategic Race

The USEA Energy Tech Connect event positioned U.S. energy development within a broader geopolitical context—a new kind of “AI space race.” Speakers connected data center load growth, AI acceleration, and federal incentives to a national imperative to “win the AI race.” As Rob observed, this is as much about industrial policy and national competitiveness as it is about kilowatt-hours. That framing adds urgency to the coordination and planning challenges discussed at FERC. The industry isn’t simply preparing for new demand, but rather to support technological and strategic leadership while ensuring affordable, reliable, and sustainable energy supply. 

What It Means for the Energy Industry

The conversations at FERC and USEA made one thing clear: the path to reliability and resilience is through better planning. Traditional approaches built on static forecasts and linear assumptions can’t keep pace with the rapid growth of large loads, policy changes, and technology shifts now reshaping the grid. 

Solutions like PLEXOS® allow planners to move beyond prediction toward dynamic scenario-based planning. By linking the power and gas systems, modeling extreme load variability, and testing “what-if” scenarios, organizations can see where the grid bends or breaks—before it happens. This integrated approach supports more informed decisions on investments, infrastructure, and reliability, helping industry leaders build confidence in an uncertain future. 

Looking Ahead

If the conversations at FERC and USEA underscored anything, it’s that the next era of energy planning will demand more collaboration, transparency, and computational rigor than ever before. The intersection of AI-driven demand, policy transformation, and fuel interdependence will redefine reliability standards and reshape the economics of the grid. 

In this environment, those who can model faster, plan flexibly, and coordinate across systems will lead the way. As the energy sector races to meet data center demand, reliability and decarbonization goals, PLEXOS® is uniquely positioned to help stakeholders test tomorrow’s challenges today, and turn uncertainty into strategy.