The U.S. Energy Department seeks responses to a request for information on its proposed Frontiers in AI for Science, Security, and Technology, or FASST, initiative. This initiative aims to build the world’s most powerful, integrated scientific AI models for scientific discovery, applied energy development, and national security applications. The RFI seeks input from multiple sources including academic institutions interested in partnering with the department to leverage AI for scientific research, data center and compute infrastructure providers, and labor training and technical workforce development organizations.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will hold the first public meeting of the Federal and State Current Issues Collaborative established in March to explore cross-jurisdictional issues relevant to FERC and state utility commissions. The initiative builds on the Joint Federal-State Task Force on Electric Transmission, established in June 2021 and ended in February 2024. While the task force focused on transmission issues, the new initiative will address a broad set of topics that impact specific state and federal regulatory jurisdictions, including electric reliability, resource adequacy, natural gas-electric coordination, and wholesale and retail markets. The meeting will include a presentation on the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners’ Taskforce on Gas-Electric Alignment for Reliability. AD24-7-000

The U.S. Energy Department will hold meetings to discuss the scope of analyses, potential alternatives, and impacts to be considered in preparing an environmental impact statement for Grid United’s proposed North Plains Connector project connecting the eastern and western electric grids in the U.S. The $3.2 billion project includes approximately 420 miles of an up to 525 kilovolt high voltage transmission line, which would run from Montana to North Dakota. Construction is expected to commence in 2028, with the line expected to be operational in 2032. An additional meeting will be held on Nov. 19.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration will issue its Short-Term Energy Outlook report, providing a forecast of energy supply, demand, and prices. The share of U.S. electricity generation from solar is expected to grow from 4 percent in 2023, to 5 percent in 2024, and to 7 percent in 2025, according to the agency’s last short-term outlook. This growth is likely to most affect natural gas generation, which is expected to fall from 42 percent of U.S. generation in 2024 to 39 percent in 2025. Natural gas generation in 2025 will also be impacted by rising natural gas prices and little new generating capacity being added.

The Bureau of Land Management will hold a competitive auction to offer a parcel of public land for solar energy development in Doña Ana County, New Mexico. The parcel, located within the Afton Solar Energy Zone, spans approximately 937.5 acres. Established in 2012, the zone contains a developable area of 29,964 acres. The auction announcement follows extensive planning to facilitate utility-scale solar energy development on public lands. The 2012 Western Solar Plan created solar energy zones in areas with high potential for utility-scale solar generation and low potential for land use, natural resource, or cultural resource conflicts.