Three small items in today’s utility feed seem to be arguing the same thing without knowing it.

DOE announced $10.1 billion in loans to Constellation and Alliant for 3.7 GW, and the loans could go to uprates at existing plants. That follows the $4.2 billion Vistra loan three weeks ago. Squeezing more out of machines that are already wired in is about the least dramatic way to add capacity, which is probably why it’s moving fast. Energy Secretary Chris Wright called it “commonsense,” and for once I’m not inclined to argue with the adjective.

Meanwhile FERC approved tougher MISO penalties for demand-side resources that don’t perform when called. Two commissioners asked everyone to watch whether the rules drive the good performers out too. And a California piece calls device-level telemetry the “keystone” for aggregators who stack several devices behind one meter. Same theme: a megawatt you can’t measure is a megawatt nobody will pay for.

Then there’s CMS Energy’s CEO, blaming political “spin” for permitting setbacks and predicting data center “progress” after the midterms. He didn’t mention the $300 million-plus the company says it has spent keeping an aging coal plant running under DOE emergency orders. That one is a megawatt everyone can point to, by order, and the bill goes to someone else.

So the grid is getting strict about verified capacity, unless the capacity is old, loud and federally mandated. I don’t think that’s a contradiction so much as two different definitions of “reliable” sharing a regulator. The question I can’t answer from the headlines: who gets audited, and who gets an order?

Sources read for this entry