2025 Midwestern Transmission Summit

This session will set the stage for a deeper understanding of transmission development in the Midwest. David Moeller will discuss the essential regulatory strategies needed to navigate the complex processes of state and federal utility commissions, emphasizing the importance of collaboration among state and federal entities, utilities, and stakeholders. The session will highlight key regulatory challenges and strategies that are critical to overcoming issues such as cost allocation, permitting, and interregional coordination, shaping the future of the region’s transmission infrastructure.

This session will focus on the role of state regulators in shaping transmission expansion and ensuring grid reliability across the Midwest. Commissioner John Tuma will discuss key regulatory policies, planning processes, and oversight responsibilities that impact the region’s evolving energy landscape. He will also share his experience as President of the Regional State Committee at SPP and explore the role of RTO policy, along with its interaction with states, in transmission development across the Midwest.

Key Topics:

• How the new federal energy priorities and FERC policies are influencing transmission projects in the Midwest.
• Potential regulatory streamlining or hurdles for major transmission projects.
• How Minnesota and the broader Midwest can collaborate to advance regional grid modernization.

This session will provide a utility perspective on grid modernization, strategic transmission investments, and the operational challenges of expanding infrastructure. Ryan Long will share Xcel Energy’s approach to strengthening the grid while balancing reliability, affordability, and clean energy goals.

Key Topics:

• Grid expansion strategies from a utility perspective
• Investments in transmission infrastructure
• Navigating regulatory challenges as a utility
• Stakeholder collaboration across Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota
• Emerging policy trends shaping utility decisions
• Building effective utility-community partnerships

This session will examine the critical role of state-federal coordination in MISO’s transmission planning process. It will discuss cost allocation, policy alignment, and the collaboration between states and MISO to advance grid reliability and infrastructure development. Attendees will gain insights into how regulatory cooperation can drive efficient transmission expansion to support evolving energy needs in the Midwest.

Key Topics:

• Cost Allocation for Regional Transmission Projects
• Aligning State Clean Energy Goals with FERC and MISO Planning Processes
• Collaborative Governance Models and Joint Planning Forums

Join a conversation with MISO attorneys as they address navigating a changing regulatory and technological landscape, creating novel solutions to address rapid increases in load growth, and supporting the state certificate of need determinations for the portfolio of projects approved in the MISO Transmission Expansion Plan.  What does MISO’s legal team do?  How do they work across multiple jurisdictions?  What insights can they share about how first-of-a-kind solutions to complex problems are developed?  Get answers to these questions and more through this lively session.

This session will cover advanced engineering solutions to enhance transmission infrastructure, improve grid reliability, and support renewable integration across the Midwest.

Key Topics:

• AI-driven grid management and predictive analytics
• Transmission expansion strategies for renewable energy integration
• Solutions for congestion management and capacity constraints
• Grid resilience enhancements through modernization technologies
• Engineering approaches to support increasing electrification and data center growth

As generation transition and electrification continue, market congestion and facility constraints continue to challenge market efficiency, renewable integration, and load growth in the Midwest. Innovative solutions are options to optimize and leverage existing infrastructure. This session will explore how market congestion and generation curtailments are analyzed and then forecasted. Grid-Enhancing Technologies (GETs)—including ambient adjusted ratings, dynamic line ratings, power flow control, and topology optimization—can sometimes help alleviate congestion, maximize transmission capacity, and accommodate the electric industry evolutions.

As Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) continue to grow, integrating them effectively into the larger transmission system is essential for grid reliability and market efficiency. This session will explore how DERs interact with wholesale markets, the role of voluntary markets in optimizing their value, and strategies for ensuring seamless coordination between local generation, utilities, and transmission operators.

As the demand for new transmission lines grows, permitting challenges remain a major bottleneck to grid expansion and clean energy deployment. This session will explore recent federal and state-level transmission permitting reform proposals, including efforts to streamline approvals through NEPA revisions, FAST-41 improvements, and enhanced interregional coordination. Experts from government, industry, and advocacy groups will discuss the balance between speeding up project timelines and ensuring community and environmental protections. Attendees will gain insights into how these reforms could reshape the Midwest’s energy landscape and what hurdles remain for transmission developers.