Energy Secretary Chris Wright’s recent order instructs the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to assert federal jurisdiction over certain large-load interconnections to the power grid in an effort to expedite the interconnection of data centers.

Two former FERC lawyers now at Wilson Sonsini, Matt Christiansen and Nic Gladd, say Wright’s directive rests on a strong legal foundation. Matt explained that because FERC has long treated generator interconnections as “transmission service”—meaning the process of connecting power sources or large electricity users to the transmission grid, which is under FERC’s authority—connecting large retail customers to the transmission system logically falls under FERC’s exclusive jurisdiction: “Because interconnection is transmission service… it must follow as a logical matter that the interconnection of retail customers to the transmission system is itself transmission service and therefore something within FERC’s exclusive jurisdiction.”

The lawyers noted the directive draws on the 2002 Supreme Court decision in New York v. FERC, which affirmed FERC’s broad transmission authority, and Nic added: “I think it's a pretty solid shot across the bow that they think they have the right jurisdictional framework in composing this Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANOPR).”

Read the full article here (subscription required): ANALYSIS: DOE directive to FERC opens new frontier for data center grid interconnections.