The grid’s busiest regions are still writing rules for their biggest customers. New to this? Here’s where things stand. FERC’s June 18 orders put large-load tariffs under show-cause scrutiny across the organized markets. In PJM, the reform fight already includes proposals to curtail new 50 MW-plus loads without secured supply ahead of demand-response programs during shortages. It also covers queue reform, ride-through requirements, IRAS, and governance pressure over data-center load and reliability risk. This is The Data Center Daily. Tariff delays, a would-be 40-gigawatt transformer factory, and a Chicago land grab—everyone’s racing ahead of the rulebook. Amyra Mardhani, writing in Enverus:
The pipeline of large loads waiting to come online is concentrated in regions that are seeking more time to finalize their tariff frameworks. PJM and the MISO account for most of the identified high-confidence large load, but neither has a finished rulebook. SPP, the only region with FERC-approved large-load tariffs that the commission has pointed to as a model, has comparatively little identified capacity.
On FERC’s large-load tariffs: all six grid operators now want until November, and PJM and MISO face the biggest load exposure. The twist is brutal: SPP has the FERC-approved model tariff, but comparatively little of the high-confidence load that needs it. So the crowded regions get a 90-day extension to write rules for customers already lining up at the gate. Developers are supposed to price transmission upgrades, generation, and who gets stuck with the bill while PJM and MISO are still editing their tariffs? FERC gave them 60 days after the June 18 orders to amend or defend these tariffs, and said extensions wouldn’t be automatic. They do have a real problem: protecting existing customers while accommodating giant new loads. But every month without terms makes cost allocation and project timing harder to bank. And capital has alternatives. Enverus points to ERCOT’s Batch Zero because there’s an actual process there. November may sound procedural in Washington. In an interconnection queue, it’s another season of somebody reserving capacity before anybody’s agreed who pays for it. This one's from Latitude Media:
The power conversion tech company Heron Power is putting steel in the ground for its first commercial factory, just miles from its Silicon Valley engineering hub. The startup, which in February closed a $140 million Series B to fund the build-out, aims to start production in the second half of 2027 and eventually ramp up to 40 gigawatts of capacity, or about 10,000 of its “Heron Link” systems.
Steel’s in the ground at Morgan Hill—that part is real. But Heron says production won’t start until the second half of 2027. And 40 gigawatts is the eventual ceiling—about 10,000 Heron Links. You won’t see anything like that land in an interconnection queue next quarter. Exactly. Latitude’s number matters because it puts real factory math on the transformer workaround. Heron raised $140 million in February, is still developing its manufacturing process, and doesn’t expect first commercial output before late 2027. It won’t ease the supply crunch anytime soon. And we just covered ISOs pushing large-load tariff reform to November. We’re still waiting on the rulebook, and the alternative transformer factory is eighteen months out. Meanwhile, somebody’s still reserving capacity today. Who gets to sit in that queue while everyone else waits? Heron’s California choice makes sense for a first complicated product—Baglino wants engineers close to the factory. Still, this is early industrialization. There isn’t a warehouse full of finished modular transformers waiting for hyperscaler pickup. From The Real Deal:
Jeff Aeder’s Chicago-based JDI Realty earlier this year bought the $35 million mortgage loan note for about $10 million from Signature Bank, ahead of its merger with New York-based Esquire Bank, at a significant discount. Buck originally paid $53 million for the site in 2023 but failed to secure an anchor tenant for its planned office towers at 645 West Madison Street.
Digital Realty is reportedly the mystery buyer behind Hawthorne Race Course, paying $90 million for a Chicago-area site. Land is changing hands before the power rules are settled—especially awkward after PJM and MISO’s filing delay. A racetrack is a great place to buy acreage. It isn’t a magic portal to energized megawatts, transmission upgrades, water, and a cooperative suburb. The Real Deal also reports that JDI Realty bought John Buck's distressed $35 million note for about $10 million. In Chicago real estate, you can buy discounted debt or expensive optionality. Hawthorne may be Bannock County in a sport coat. A giant proposed load shows up for local officials, and residents are left with noise and water questions. Meanwhile, the developer gets there before the rulebook. Digital Realty bought a site; it may have also bought a very public fight. If The Data Center Daily’s useful, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you’re listening. It helps more people find the show, and we’re glad you’re here.
We’re watching November—the next tariff checkpoint, if FERC grants all six ISO/RTO extension requests—and Heron Power’s plan to start production at its Morgan Hill factory in the second half of 2027. You’ll find links to every story in the show notes if you want to dig in. That’s The Data Center Daily for today. This is a Lantern Podcast.