Large Loads Force BPA, CAISO and NERC Rulebook Moves
Friday, August 21, 2026 · 7 min
Bonneville Power Administration’s RAPID initiative and CAISO’s FERC-driven forecasting work show large loads forcing faster grid procedures, while NERC trims standards projects and federal agencies warn AI-enabled attacks are targeting critical infrastructure equipment.
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Show notes
Bonneville Power Administration’s RAPID initiative and CAISO’s FERC-driven forecasting work show large loads forcing faster grid procedures, while NERC trims standards projects and federal agencies warn AI-enabled attacks are targeting critical infrastructure equipment.
In this episode
- BPA’s RAPID Initiative Aims to Speed up Large Load Interconnections — RTO Insider
The Bonneville Power Administration is designing a new product to fast-track the interconnection of large loads under an initiative aimed at overhauling the agency’s transmission planning processes. The Rapid Access Products and Interconnection Delivery (RAPID) program is being designed to bridge the gap between large loads’ immediate need for interconnection and BPA’s long-term goal to speed up…
- CAISO Warns of Forecasting Challenges from Large Loads — RTO Insider
CAISO is working on solutions to the growing uncertainty in load forecasting in California stemming from new large loads such as data centers. The ISO held a workshop Aug. 19 to address its large load straw proposal that was published in response to FERC’s show-cause order on the issue. (See CAISO Issues Large Load Proposal to Address Show-cause Order .) More than 150 stakeholders attended. Large…
- NERC Committee Votes to Shutter Multiple Standards Projects — RTO Insider
Members of NERC’s Standards Committee agreed at their monthly open meeting Aug. 19 to wrap up multiple ongoing projects amid the ERO’s transition to its new standards development process. The committee also approved industry comment periods for a new group of standards aimed at addressing the reliability challenges of computational large loads. The SC ended 12 projects, all considered low or…
- Feds Warn of AI Cyber Threat ‘Evolution’ — RTO Insider
Cyber criminals are using artificial intelligence to power their attacks in what U.S. security agencies are calling “an evolution in threat actor capabilities.” The warning came in an Aug. 19 alert issued by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, the FBI and the National Security Agency about an ongoing campaign against…