OATI expands webLineR™ to support FERC Order 881 compliance for key energy companies

MINNEAPOLIS, Sept. 3, 2026 /PRNewswire/, OATI, a leading provider of mission-critical software for the energy industry, has expanded its FERC Order 881 compliance solution, webLineR™, to include three NextEra Energy operating companies, Entergy, and several Florida transmission providers. This move is part of OATI’s broader strategy to automate ambient adjusted ratings (AARs), which could unlock additional transmission capacity across the United States, enhancing grid reliability and supporting clean energy deployment.

Limited transmission capacity has been a significant barrier to the energy transition, often forcing clean energy developers to wait years for new projects to come online. FERC Order 881 mandates the use of AARs, which are hourly ratings reflecting forecasted weather conditions, to replace conservative fixed assumptions. These AARs can potentially unlock capacity that exists on the system, thereby increasing the overall transmission capacity.

Under FERC Order 881, each transmission owner must calculate and submit a 10-day hourly rating forecast for every facility, update it hourly, and retain the data for five years. In the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) region alone, more than 13,000 facilities require AARs, producing an estimated 22 million individual forecasted ratings per hour. This massive volume of data cannot be managed manually, making automated solutions like webLineR™ essential.

webLineR™, purpose-built for this workload, receives, validates, and assembles composite rating profiles. It stores both operational and historical data with the necessary audit trails, ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements. Additionally, its ratings exchange module coordinates submissions across organizations, and its APIs integrate with downstream systems, including transmission and market systems.

OATI’s solution quickly became the industry standard, serving 95% of North America’s reliability organizations. Since FERC’s issuance of Order 881 in 2021, 32 transmission entities have selected webLineR™ for their compliance needs. OATI responded by developing and deploying webLineR™ to ensure that transmission providers throughout the U.S. could meet their regulatory requirements.

"OATI webLineR™’s broad industry adoption is a testament to our team’s ability to consistently deliver solutions that enhance the grid and unlock additional transmission capacity," said Sasan Mokhtari, President and CEO of OATI. "We've worked with dozens of other transmission providers to meet these requirements, and we're proud to continue expanding our established partnership with Entergy, NextEra Energy, and some of Florida's largest transmission providers."

For example, Entergy selected webLineR™ to manage its transmission facility ratings and submittals to MISO. With MISO’s Order 881 implementation, Entergy needed a purpose-built ratings repository capable of receiving, validating, and exchanging ratings with MISO’s system. webLineR™ provides this single integrated repository, ensuring continuous submittal, return of cleared ratings, and a full audit trail.

Similarly, NextEra Energy’s three operating companies, GridLiance West, New Hampshire Transmission, and NextEra Energy Transmission Southwest, selected OATI to implement an ambient adjusted ratings solution under FERC Order 881. OATI’s solution allows these companies to automate the management, calculation, and storage of AARs, ensuring compliance while enhancing grid reliability.

In Florida, OATI’s AAR platform integrates webLineR™ with transmission providers’ existing systems, supporting the import, selection, and maintenance of AARs. This integration directly links ratings to daily transmission operations, enabling secure data exchange, reporting, and operational workflows. OATI plans to expand these capabilities to include weather-dependent, long-term forecasted seasonal ratings and additional facility rating components.

Accurate AARs can unlock significant value by reflecting the true, weather-driven capacity of transmission lines. This allows operators to safely release headroom on existing infrastructure, moving more energy during periods of high demand. In 2023 and 2024, MISO’s Independent Market Monitor estimated that transmission customers paid roughly half a billion dollars more than necessary due to the absence of temperature-adjusted and emergency ratings.

Founded in 1995 by Dr. Sasan Mokhtari, PhD, OATI is a privately owned, engineering-first organization that has been a leader in the energy industry for over three decades. The company serves every segment of the energy industry with essential technologies and services, including bulk energy markets, community microgrids, and community microgrids.

OATI continues to push the energy frontier with cloud-based grid solutions and energy-native generative AI, ensuring that its services remain at the forefront of technological advancements.