Transmission

“Items like transformers are hard to get. That can slow down the change, including the need to address resource adequacy. It also slows down economic development because new loads need transformers too. That’s the immediate need, it’s equipment.”

“I hope we don’t fail to maintain infrastructure; whether it’s distribution, transmission, generation, and adequate reinvestment to keep up these resources. We have to balance the interests as those are important, but we don’t want to over-engage and overspend needlessly.”

“We’re going to need wide-ranging types of support, perhaps looking at creative partnerships among utilities and other stakeholders for assignment of costs to the cost causers and beneficiaries of service, because sometimes those may not be the direct customers of a regulated utility.”

“For me to say capacity shortages, it’s breathtaking. But we are learning every day that as artificial intelligence is being used across the corporate business spectrum, its processing needs are so much greater than anything we’ve seen.”

“Whether explaining to elected officials or the public, we need to describe what encompasses flicking that light switch on the wall, all the components to ensuring energy reliability, and how Arizona is faring."

Ten Commissioners from varied parts of the nation answered these questions: What are the most important needs for electric power infrastructure? What are your greatest concerns about infrastructure? How should utility regulation adjust to these needs and concerns, if at all? How different will electric power infrastructure be in the year 2040?

FERC Order 881 was the subject of discussion at a recent IEEE Power & Energy Society T&D Conference, which was attended by POWER Engineers’ Lisa Deppa. She explains here the latest on Order 881 and why it is important to the decarbonization journey.

In part three, we consider institutional consequences if indifference to ratepayer impacts takes root in FERC and federal agencies or in state legislatures and with regulators. How these play out could affect policy sustainability and effectiveness as net-zero goals for 2050 grow nearer.

By increasing the reach of these programs, utilities get greater insight into customer behavior and the ability to tackle distribution-level issues more effectively.

How much is enough? That’s so often the central question for those considering investments in our national defense. Along with secondary questions of nearly equal importance, such as, should we invest in this particular defense program? Or that one instead?