ISO-NE
ISO New England, the regional transmission organisation managing electricity for the six New England states.
ISO-NE, grid operator for six New England states, was the only one of six US RTOs to propose excluding new large loads from its capacity market entirely, in its 20 July FERC adequacy filing.
Last refreshed: 4 August 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
Will ISO-NE's New England grid attract data-centre investment diverted from congested Northern Virginia?
Timeline for ISO-NE
Proposed excluding new large loads from the Installed Capacity Requirement
Data Centres: Boom and Backlash: Six US grid operators file, none say yesMentioned in: FERC sets a 20 July adequacy deadline
Data Centres: Boom and BacklashReceived show-cause order to justify or reform large-load tariffs
Data Centres: Boom and Backlash: FERC delays its grid rule to 2027Background
ISO New England manages the high-voltage electricity grid and wholesale market across six New England states: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont. Its territory combines high renewable-penetration targets with winter natural gas supply constrained by limited pipeline capacity from the mid-Atlantic, and existing data-centre concentration in Massachusetts and Connecticut. Its capacity-market rules answer to FERC's RM26-4-000 tariff-reform docket, with its own compliance response due 17 August 2026.
The region's electricity costs run higher than the Midwest or South, which partly offsets its proximity to financial and technology employment clusters when data-centre operators weigh New England against congested Northern Virginia. Several of the region's older generation units are approaching the end of their operating lives, adding reliability planning complexity to large-load integration just as FERC seeks tariff reform and generation-adequacy assurances from every US RTO.
ISO-NE would exclude new loads outright
When all six US regional grid operators filed generation-adequacy reports on 20 July under FERC's RM26-4-000 docket, none claimed it could serve its data-centre queue under current rules. ISO-NE went furthest, proposing to exclude new large loads from its capacity market altogether, forcing them to bring their own generation or accept curtailment.
That exclusion proposal is the sharpest tool any of the six operators has put on the table, and it sits ahead of ISO-NE's own compliance filing under the same docket, due 17 August, with comments closing 16 September and a binding federal standard unlikely before 2027.