Duke Energy faces a federal complaint from electric co-ops over its proactive grid upgrades, a move that could reshape how solar projects pay for transmission improvements. The utility has been upgrading poles and wires in anticipation of future solar farms, spreading the cost across all customers instead of charging developers directly. This approach, first adopted after regulators pushed for congestion relief, has made Duke the first U.S. utility to plan grid upgrades in this way. The four contested upgrades cost $57 million, with co-ops arguing that only half—$401,000 per year—should be borne by customers and the rest paid by solar developers. The upgrades could enable 3.7 gigawatts of solar to connect, while past projects saw new installations fall to 200 megawatts in 2022 from a 2017 peak of nearly 1.2 gigawatts. Ben Snowden of Fox Rothschild LLP said the ruling could be "a huge mess," adding that it would disrupt the solar industry and the development of the transmission system in the Carolinas. Chris Carmody, executive director of the Carolinas Clean Energy Business Association, noted that better-planned transmission would save ratepayers money and provide a more reliable grid, while Nick Guidi of the Southern Environmental Law Center praised Duke's shift from a "Whac-A-Mole" strategy to a collaborative planning process. FERC is expected to decide by fall, and a ruling in favor of the co-ops could force Duke back to its older, developer-charged model, potentially slowing new solar deployment. However, if the commission upholds the utility's approach, it would reinforce a precedent for shared-cost grid upgrades that could accelerate renewable integration across the region.