ATC asks feds to reopen bidding for Wisconsin transmission project
American Transmission Company (ATC) has asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to intervene in a dispute over a major transmission project in eastern Wisconsin. The project, initially awarded to Viridon, is crucial for connecting a large data center campus in Port Washington to the grid by late 2027. ATC's appeal challenges the competitive bidding process, seeking to either redo the bidding or be awarded the full project to ensure timely grid connection for the data center.
The American Transmission Company (ATC), Wisconsin's largest transmission utility, has petitioned the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to intervene in a dispute over a significant transmission project in eastern Wisconsin. ATC is challenging the Midwest's regional grid operator, Midcontinent Independent Systems Operator (MISO), for awarding a substantial portion of the project to a startup competitor, Viridon, which is owned by private equity firm Blackstone.
This regulatory and legal battle is set against the backdrop of increasing energy demands from data centers, with ATC emphasizing the need to connect a massive data center campus in Port Washington, Ozaukee County, to the grid by December 2027. The Port Washington city council had previously approved this data center campus. ATC argues that winning the larger MISO project would allow it to meet both general grid expansion needs and the specific, higher-capacity requirements of the data center with a single set of substations.
ATC's complaint to FERC asks the commission to force MISO to either re-bid or reevaluate the existing bids for the eastern Wisconsin project, arguing that MISO's initial review was flawed. MISO had initially awarded the project to Viridon based on a significantly lower bid but later reassigned three substations to ATC, citing uncertainty over Viridon's ability to meet an accelerated 2027 deadline linked to the data center's power needs. This move by ATC is part of a broader industry push, represented by the "Grid Acceleration Coalition" (of which ATC and Xcel Energy are members), to potentially exempt major grid upgrades from competitive bidding, claiming that bureaucratic processes delay critical infrastructure necessary for artificial intelligence development. The Citizens Utility Board in Wisconsin has indicated it will support a full evaluation of the process.