FERC order to Midwest grid operator seen as clean energy win
The operator of the Midwest power grid must allow small clean energy projects to participate in its electric power market “in a timely manner,” the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ruled this week in a decision hailed by climate advocates.
FERC unanimously accepted part of the Midcontinent Independent System Operator’s plan to incorporate distributed energy resources — which include home batteries, rooftop solar systems, energy efficiency and electric vehicles — into its wholesale power grid.
Related Knowledge Center: Electrical grid reliability
With the need to reduce use of fossil fuels in transportation and other areas, demand is likely to increase for solutions that increase dependence on electricity and the electrical grid.
Related Knowledge Center: ENERGY BASICS: renewables
Renewable energy sources — once the fuel of the future, then practical in specific, narrow applications — are increasingly economic mainstream sources of power generation. Hydropower was long the mainstay of U.S. renewable electricity generation, although wind power surpassed hydro for the first time in 2019, and solar continues its rapid growth. The continued growth of wind and solar, with their fluctuations, is tied in part to improvements in storage technology: batteries.