The Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee’s Subcommittee on Energy on April 15 held a legislative hearing on six bills related to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), including S. 3034, the Reliable Power Act, which APPA strongly supports.
APPA sent a letter in support of the Reliable Power Act ahead of the hearing and provided a summary of the hearing to APPA members through the Engage platform.
Several major themes emerged at the hearing, including rising demand for electricity, primarily driven by AI, concerns about electricity rates and affordability, and increased interest on both sides of the aisle in further deployment of Grid Enhancing Technologies (GETs).
S. 3947, the REWIRE Act, is a bipartisan bill, sponsored by Senators David McCormick (R-PA) and Peter Welch (D-VT), and would create a categorical exclusion under the National Environmental Policy Act for transmission reconductoring projects within existing rights of way and would require FERC to issue a rule to “improve the return on equity” for investments in advanced transmission conductors.
Several senators, including Senators McCormick and Welch, spoke in support of GETs as a means to meet rising demand affordably.
David Morenoff, deputy general counsel at FERC’s Office of General Counsel, and Kal Ayoub, director of FERC’s office of electric reliability, served as hearing witnesses.
Bills under discussion at the hearing were:
• S. 465 (GRID Power Act) – Would direct FERC to reform the interconnection queue process to allow regional transmission organizations (RTOs) to prioritize dispatchable power.
• S. 1327 (Advancing GETs Act) – Would direct FERC to establish a “shared savings incentive” to encourage deployment of grid enhancing technologies on the transmission system by allowing developers to receive a portion of the cost savings attributable to those investments and would require FERC to implement rules governing the incentive structure and enhanced reporting on transmission congestion and grid performance.
• S. 3034 (Reliable Power Act) – Would require federal agencies to seek FERC’s comments and work with FERC to mitigate risks to electric reliability of major federal actions whenever the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) finds that the bulk-power system is at risk.
• S. 3192 (REDUCE Act) – Would require RTOs to increase participation of demand-side resources in wholesale electricity markets by allowing aggregators to bid aggregated demand flexibility into organized markets unless existing RTO rules prohibit such participation and require FERC to issue regulations implementing the bill and establishing rules governing aggregator participation.
• S. 3269 (Liquid Cooling for AI Act of 2025) – Would direct the Comptroller General to conduct a technology assessment of liquid cooling systems used in artificial intelligence compute clusters and high performance data centers, including their energy efficiency, grid impacts, costs, and deployment barriers.
• S. 3947 (REWIRE Act) – Would amend the Federal Power Act to establish a categorical exclusion under the National Environmental Policy Act for transmission reconductoring projects within existing rights of way and require FERC to issue a rule to “improve the return on equity” for investments in advanced transmission conductors.
Regarding the Reliable Power Act, subcommittee Ranking Member Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) asked whether FERC currently has the expertise and data necessary to review proposed agency actions for reliability concerns, and how helpful it is to have NERC as part of the reliability assessment process.
Ayoub said that FERC has expertise, with priorities including reliability for a changing resource mix, extreme weather, and protecting the grid from physical and cyber-attacks.
Morenoff said that in terms of FERC's interactions with other federal agencies and with NERC, he believes NERC, and in some cases, the national labs, would have the necessary capabilities.
Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA) asked about the necessity of S. 465, the GRID Power Act, given FERC Order 2023. Morenoff said FERC has taken many steps to improve interconnection queues, including through Order 2023 and individual RTO/ISO filings, but that FERC defers to Congress on what additional action may be needed.
On GETs, Ayoub and Morenoff agreed that GETs can provide value to the grid, with Morenoff saying he believes deploying GETs does not face legal barriers but requires proper incentives for broader deployment.
