Opinion
The latest opinion pieces by industry thought leaders
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Why customer engagement is the key to VPP success
What if one of the most powerful tools for strengthening the grid is already in customers’ garages, basements, driveways and businesses?
Hannah Bascom • April 30, 2025 -
TexPhoto via Getty Images
Transmission at a crossroads: Policy must reflect today’s infrastructure needs
State and federal “rights-of-first-refusal” would re-establish certainty by relying on local transmission owners to promptly move ahead with needed power line projects.
Devin McMackin • April 29, 2025 -
Retrieved from Wikimedia Commons.
Trump’s battery tariffs threaten utility-scale storage and US grid reliability
The tariffs will not only affect procurement costs but could force utilities to turn back to natural gas capacity in the short term — undermining emissions goals and customer affordability strategies.
Brandon N. Owens • April 28, 2025 -
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Carbon capture technology is ready. Permitting needs to catch up.
Ending the carbon dioxide injection well permit application backlog would unleash investment in America, creating tens of thousands of new jobs and strengthening America’s global competitiveness.
Anna Littlefield • April 24, 2025 -
Gerville via Getty Images
How AI data centers can support grid reliability in Texas and across the US
An Enhanced Reliability Interconnection framework would prioritize connections to the grid for large loads that improve reliability through flexibility and behind-the-meter generation.
Gideon Powell and Josh T. Smith • April 22, 2025 -
Funfunphoto via Getty Images
From crisis to opportunity: Rebuilding cities with safer energy
By investing in alternative battery technologies now, cities can prepare for looming energy challenges, work toward decarbonization goals and safely enhance urban resilience.
Mukesh Chatter • April 21, 2025 -
luza studios via Getty Images
Small data centers, big impact: How demand response can fuel the energy transition
Smaller data centers and other commercial and industrial sources can play a key role in stabilizing the grid by participating in demand response programs and implementing battery storage solutions.
Rachel Permut • April 18, 2025 -
Gerville via Getty Images
The US is facing unprecedented load growth. Here’s how we ensure resource adequacy.
Adding sufficient resources fast enough to reliably meet the growth will require an array of demand- and supply-side resources as well as stronger transmission interconnection planning.
Samuel Newell • April 17, 2025 -
Retrieved from US Army Corps of Engineers.
Why microgrids are the key to grid resilience
Amid evolving domestic and geopolitical landscapes, microgrids offer a reliable, cost-effective energy solution — advancing the nation toward energy independence and security for years to come.
Nicole Bulgarino • April 15, 2025 -
Cindy Shebley via Getty Images
Utilities are shedding crocodile tears over community solar ‘cost-shift’
Regulators and utilities should compensate community solar fairly for the money-saving value those facilities and their subscribers bring to the grid system.
Karl Rábago • April 14, 2025 -
Kent Raney via Getty Images
The power industry must oppose Trump’s coal bailout ... again
The executive order threatens to conflict with existing methods for accrediting generators, assessing resource adequacy, securing sufficient generation and setting wholesale prices. It’s also illegal.
Ari Peskoe • April 11, 2025 -
Gerville via Getty Images
The AI infrastructure race hits a political reality check
The AI-driven data center boom has created demand for land, electricity and water, a dynamic that has spawned growing opposition from communities, utility grid operators and regulators.
Joe Brettell and Jeff Berkowitz • April 10, 2025 -
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Hydrogen hubs are a bipartisan effort that supports US energy dominance
These projects are a cost-effective way to leverage existing energy resources, and they support efforts to increase U.S. energy production and enhance our energy independence.
Mark Menezes and Frank Wolak • April 8, 2025 -
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How FERC is working to boost power supplies while managing the price tag
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has focused on reforms to transmission planning and grid interconnection rules while approving market expansions.
Amy Akers • April 4, 2025 -
NanoStockk via Getty Images
A market-based path to unlocking interconnection queues
When a scarce resource like grid access is given away administratively rather than allocated based on economic value, the result is always the same: inefficiency, congestion and delays.
Terry Harvill and August Ankum • April 2, 2025 -
imagedepotpro via Getty Images
We asked 100 utility program leaders for their top challenges and opportunities. Here’s what they said.
Grid modernization, growing demand and artificial intelligence are among the top issues facing electric utility leaders, according to an ICF survey.
Justin Mackovyak • March 31, 2025 -
Алексей Кравчук via Getty Images
Outsmarting outages: AI predicts disruptions before they happen
As the energy landscape evolves with renewable resources and electric vehicles, the predictive outage model equips utilities with the agility needed to prioritize maintenance based on real-time data.
Michael Juchno and Zaki Arifulla • March 27, 2025 -
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Why rolling blackouts are a thing of the past — and why President Trump is wrong on green energy
California and Texas show how energy storage can bridge the political divide to bolster grid reliability and lower costs.
Tam Hunt • March 25, 2025 -
RiverNorthPhotography via Getty Images
Labor-industry collaboration is key to US energy security, dominance and job growth
The power grid requires a workforce equipped to design, install and maintain a system that integrates increased energy production, new energy sources, smart grid technologies and energy storage.
Calvin Butler and Kenneth Cooper • March 20, 2025 -
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‘Purchaser-caused’ certificates are key to driving renewable energy growth
Market leaders — clean energy buyers, sellers and standard-setters alike — must acknowledge which renewable energy procurement approaches directly cause new capacity.
Jim Boyle • March 19, 2025 -
Funtay via Getty Images
How thermal batteries unlock a more flexible, reliable and efficient grid
In addition to providing clean energy for nearly every industrial sector, thermal batteries have the potential to serve as a linchpin for a reliable low-emissions grid.
Noah Long • March 17, 2025 -
Courtesy of Google
Growing demand for electricity requires new policy solutions
We need forward-thinking policies that allow public power utilities to finance and build critical infrastructure projects faster without raising costs for the communities they serve.
Tom Falcone • March 12, 2025 -
luza studios via Getty Images
Beating China on AI requires all available grid solutions
We will need all available transmission tools — including grid-enhancing technologies and high-performance conductors — to meet the growing demand for power from data centers.
Neil Chatterjee • March 12, 2025 -
BackyardProduction via Getty Images
Proposed FERC price cap settlement will intensify looming electric capacity crisis
Artificially deflating PJM's capacity prices by lowering the price cap does nothing to fix the grid operator’s power-supply problems and could lead to blackouts.
Anthony “Tony” Campbell • March 10, 2025 -
SEYLUL06 via Getty Images
For transmission planning, FERC Order 1920 is our dragon
Instead of repealing the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s Order 100 to improve transmission planning, the focus should be on making Order 1920 as strong as possible.
Claire Wayner • March 4, 2025
