Energy Secretary Wright invokes rare DOE-over-FERC directive authority to compel ANOPR on large-load interconnection — Docket RM26-4-000 — final action ordered by April 30 2026

Opening

On October 23, 2025, Energy Secretary Chris Wright invoked a rarely-used statutory authority under the Department of Energy Organization Act to direct the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to consider an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANOPR) on large-load (>20 MW) interconnection to the interstate transmission system. FERC opened Docket RM26-4-000 within a week. Wright’s letter ordered FERC to take final action no later than April 30, 2026.

What Happened / Key Facts

Wright’s October 23 letter to FERC asserted that the current load-interconnection procedures “pose challenges for large loads to interconnect with the transmission system, which is particularly acute with respect to data centers because of their load size and the speed with which these assets seek connection to the grid to receive power supply.”

The ANOPR’s threshold and core questions:

• Defines “large loads” as electricity demand greater than 20 MW (substantially lower than the EO’s 100 MW datacenter threshold — meaning crypto miners, large-load manufacturers, and smaller AI compute clusters all fall in scope)
• Asks whether large loads and co-located facilities that agree to flexibility and curtailment should move through interconnection studies faster, including whether studies could be completed within 60 days
• Asks whether large loads and co-located facilities should pay the full cost of any grid upgrades needed for their interconnection, and whether those costs should be credited back over time
• Asserts FERC jurisdiction over the interconnection of all generation and loads to the interstate transmission system — a jurisdictional expansion claim (FERC’s traditional load-side authority has been narrow)

Comment timeline:

• Initial comments due November 14, 2025
• Reply comments due November 28, 2025
• FERC ordered to issue final action by April 30, 2026

Why This Event Matters

This is the grid-access companion to the July 23 datacenter permitting EO. The EO removed NEPA / EPA permitting friction for datacenter projects; the FERC ANOPR removes interconnection-queue friction for datacenter grid access. Together they form the federal regulatory-design pincer on the two largest pre-construction bottlenecks for the AI buildout: site permitting and grid interconnection.

The 20 MW threshold is the operational key. PJM, MISO, and ERCOT interconnection queues had developed waitlists measured in years for hyperscale-class large loads precisely because grid-upgrade cost-allocation and curtailment-flexibility terms had not been standardized. Wright’s directive forces FERC to standardize them on a six-month clock — a regulatory timeline that is months faster than ordinary rulemaking. The “flexibility / curtailment in exchange for queue priority” framing also operationalizes a regulatory transfer: cooperative datacenters get fast-tracked interconnection in exchange for accepting curtailment terms similar to those Texas SB 6 (2025-06-20–texas-sb-6-large-load-interconnection-signed) is imposing on ERCOT large loads as a matter of state law.

The DOE-over-FERC directive authority Wright invoked is notable. DOE has rarely used its statutory power to direct FERC priorities; the use of it here is a tell that the administration is willing to override FERC’s traditional independence to force the schedule. FERC’s structural independence (commissioner appointments are staggered; commissioners cannot be removed at will) has historically insulated FERC rulemakings from administration energy-policy pressure. The Wright directive does not formally override that independence, but it operates at the doctrinal edge: a presidentially-appointed DOE Secretary using a rarely-invoked statutory authority to dictate FERC’s docket priorities and timeline.

Broader Context

The 20 MW threshold also captures crypto mining. Bitcoin mining operations of 20+ MW are common (most ERCOT-resident operations exceed this; large operators like Riot’s Rockdale, Marathon’s Granbury, and Core Scientific’s North Dakota facilities operate at 100-700 MW). The “co-located facilities that agree to flexibility and curtailment” framing maps directly onto miners’ existing ERCOT controllable-load curtailment economics — meaning the FERC rulemaking, if it follows the ANOPR’s framing, will federalize a curtailment-for-priority bargain that ERCOT has been running for miners since 2022. This is structurally important because it means the EO + FERC rulemaking package operationally benefits the entire convergent demand-shock cohort (AI datacenters AND crypto miners) rather than AI datacenters specifically.

The four-month gap between the July 23 EO (which omitted FERC and interconnection) and the October 23 Wright directive (which addressed it via DOE-over-FERC authority) suggests the FERC issue was deliberately separated from the EO — likely because the legal theory for forcing FERC’s hand needed development, and likely because including FERC directly in a presidential EO would have produced a constitutional-separation-of-powers challenge that the DOE-over-FERC statutory pathway avoids.

Research Gaps

• FERC’s final action — has the April 30 2026 deadline been met, and on what terms?
• Comment-letter universe at Docket RM26-4-000 (industry coalitions vs. ratepayer-advocate / state-AG / environmental-justice filers)
• Whether any FERC commissioner has publicly objected to the DOE-over-FERC directive on independence grounds
• Cost-allocation arithmetic — whether “full cost of grid upgrades with credits back over time” actually transfers cost to large loads or back to ratepayers in net present value
• Cross-reference to PJM’s 2024-2026 capacity-auction cost-shifting analysis (LBNL, EPRI)

Related Entries

• 2025-07-23–eo-accelerating-federal-permitting-data-center-infrastructure
• 2025-07-23–ai-action-plan-released
• 2025-07-24–doe-announces-four-federal-sites-ai-data-centers
• 2025-06-20–texas-sb-6-large-load-interconnection-signed
• datacenter-permitting-deregulation-2025
• epic-inv6-energy-systems-convergent-demand-shock