Perspective

Public Utilities Fortnightly Executive Editor Steve Mitnick turned to four experts facing the challenges and opportunities ahead in 2026. Guidehouse Global Energy Providers Practice Leader Michelle Fay, Emerson President of Power and Water Solutions Bob Yeager, and Energy Impact Partners Head of Innovation Evan Pittman with EIP Elevate Future Fund Managing Partner Anthony Oni provided their thoughts on what the new year will bring.

“If we define unaffordability as when households with limited means and assets encounter a confluence of bill spikes and other adversities that compel them to miss payments and forego necessities, then data from all directions are informing us that there is indeed a crisis.”

“EPRI developed GridFAST™, a centralized, secure portal designed to improve communication between businesses and utilities to facilitate the deployment of EV charging projects. Developed as part of EPRI’s EVs2Scale2030™ initiative, GridFAST enables early, standardized communication between utilities and the growing ecosystem of EV stakeholders.”

“Since nanoplastics are so small, they are able to latch onto nutrients and slip past cells, known as pericytes, that primarily form a barrier that clears toxins from the brain. Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases are associated with dysfunctional pericyte cells. Scientists are investigating connections.”

“These award winners earned recognition for developing innovative and transformational solutions to some of today’s most challenging operational issues that have achieved success by demonstrating measurable results.”

“Without clear guidance, the very consumers who stand to benefit most from an energy transition risk being left behind. A national energy education initiative can bridge this gap, providing the trusted knowledge households and businesses need to make informed energy decisions.”

“In January 2025, the U.S. DOE’s Interconnection Innovation Exchange (i2X) released a Distributed Energy Resources Interconnection Roadmap. The Roadmap sets near-term targets for DER projects interconnecting to distribution systems and offers strategies for achieving these goals.”

“For many in the electric sector, the term baseline immediately evokes CIP-010-4 Requirement R1, a well-established standard for configuration management. But CIP-015-1 introduces a fundamentally different concept: behavioral baselining. Understanding this distinction is critical for compliance and cybersecurity effectiveness.”

“Grid enhancing technologies (GETs) – also known as advanced transmission technologies (ATTs) – are hardware and software that can be deployed relatively quickly and cheaply to increase the efficiency of and space on the existing electricity grid.”

“AI-driven load growth is geographically concentrated and physically resource-intensive. But the principle holds: structural innovation – alongside technology – may be the unlock.”