Interconnection reform is all the rage right at the moment, and now the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) wants to get in on the fun.
The Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) recently approved ERCOT’s Batch Zero process for large-user connection requests, which ERCOT says is meant to ensure large electricity users like data centers “only connect in quantities and locations the Texas grid can reliably support.”
ERCOT is the first Independent System Operator (ISO) in the nation to use a batch process to assess large electricity users wanting to connect to the grid. The new batch framework groups qualified large projects that are 75 megawatts (MW) and greater into a single study. ERCOT says this process will allow it to assess the “full picture” of future electricity demand at once, allocate available grid capacity, and identify needed transmission upgrades. The batch framework eliminates a previous project-by-project evaluation that ERCOT argues had become “lengthy and repetitive” as large electricity users rushed to connect to the grid.
“Texas is experiencing an energy transformation unlike anything we have seen before,” said ERCOT President and CEO Pablo Vegas. “This new process represents a fundamental shift in how ERCOT manages the significant growth of large load interconnection, providing a structured, transparent path forward that protects reliability for Texans while supporting the state’s continued economic growth.”
ERCOT is tracking more than 438,000 MW of large load requests, nearly 89% from data centers alone. “Batch Zero” is the name of the first group of large-user applicants to go through the new process.
“The response from the Texas energy community was remarkable. The depth of participation and quality of feedback were extraordinary, and both directly shaped how ERCOT manages large load connections in Texas,” said Jeff Billo, Vice President, Interconnection and Grid Analysis.
The framework was approved by the Protocol Revision Subcommittee (PRS), Reliability and Operations Subcommittee (ROS), the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), and the ERCOT Board of Directors before PUCT consideration.
The principles established through the Batch Zero framework will serve as the foundation for an ongoing transmission planning process developed in partnership with stakeholders later this year.
“Change has to come faster while also ensuring reliability,” said an ERCOT representative at the Infocast Transmission & Interconnection Summit this week. “Batch zero is kind of a moonshot for ERCOT, and we are now in the ‘radio blackout period.’ We overhauled the large load interconnection process in about 4.5 months […] We’ve written these rules, but we don’t know how they’re going to play out in reality.”
However, some analysts are concerned that speed-to-power may actually become slower in ERCOT once Batch Zero takes effect, as any serial queue process, even in batches, can get behind and cause delays.
The Batch Zero framework gives large electricity users additional pathways to connect to the ERCOT grid.
The framework includes provisions for large customers that want to build their own onsite generation to self-supply some or all of their electricity, reducing the need to draw from the larger grid. Facilities that are truly islanded with no grid connection would generally fall outside ERCOT’s interconnection process, though they may still be subject to registration requirements with the PUCT.
Additionally, the framework creates a pathway to connect for large customers who agree to let ERCOT curtail their power use in response to local transmission constraints, reducing demand where and when the grid needs it most.
Following the approval, ERCOT expects to notify Batch Zero applicants of their project classification in August 2026, at which point the full scope of Batch Zero will be known. A final transmission plan covering the entire batch of projects across the state is expected to be published in Fall 2027. While not all interconnection requests result in built projects, ERCOT data shows the majority expect to be operational by 2030.
Applications for Batch 1 are expected to open in Summer 2027.
ERCOT isn’t the only grid operator hoping to improve the interconnection process in light of the huge increase in large load requests. The PJM Interconnection generation queue is finally moving again after years of uncertainty and delays, and PJM hopes a new “fast track” proposal will help address the reliability challenges posed by the recent swarm of large load additions (data centers) to its system.
Earlier this month, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved PJM’s request to create its Expedited Interconnection Track (EIT), a temporary fast-track interconnection process designed to bring large “shovel-ready” generation projects online more quickly.
The EIT process will be a separate, expedited interconnection pathway, conducted outside the normal PJM interconnection process. PJM’s intention was to create an independent queue to fast-track a limited number of large projects that could otherwise get caught up in the normal slog.
PJM previously estimated that it needs approximately 15,000 megawatts (MW) of new capacity to address its identified capacity deficiency. The EIT will allow up to 10 projects greater than 250 MW unforced capacity (UCAP) to proceed per year. The projects can be of any fuel type, including storage, but they must be sponsored by a PJM state and interconnected within the sponsoring state. PJM also requires EIT projects to be “capacity resources,” meaning they must request capacity interconnection rights at the same time as their EIT application. Finally, PJM stipulated that EIT projects must achieve commercial operation within three years of submitting an application.
FERC is getting serious about large load interconnection tariffs.
Earlier this month, FERC issued tailored show-cause orders under section 206 of the Federal Power Act to each of the six regional grid operators within its jurisdiction, directing them to either justify or reform the rules governing how large energy users like data centers connect to the electric grid. The regional transmission operators (RTOs) and independent system operators (ISOs) are PJM Interconnection (PJM), Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), Southwest Power Pool (SPP), California Independent System Operator Corporation (CAISO), ISO New England (ISO-NE), and New York Independent System Operator(NYISO).
FERC’s action on Docket RM26-4-000 is one of the most significant the Commission has ever taken to modernize the nation’s electric markets, aiming to “push the economy into the future by speeding integration of large energy users onto the grid.” By requiring RTOs, ISOs, and their transmission operators to either defend or revise their tariffs, FERC says it is acting to ensure that Americans have reliable, affordable power, even as electricity demand accelerates.
Under the orders, each RTO/ISO and its transmission owners have 60 days to either justify why their current tariffs remain just and reasonable without provisions tailored to large loads, or to file tariff changes that address the issues the Commission identified. Each tailored order tees up five categories of reform for the grid operators to address:
- Developing efficient transmission service application and study processes, including consideration of alternative transmission technologies
- Preventing cost shifting and requiring transparency into transmission costs
- Accommodating co-location agreements and behind-the-meter generation
- Providing new transmission services for flexible large loads
- Developing a process to study generating facilities that serve electrically proximate large loads and co-located loads
