Letter from Washington: May 2014

摘要

The United States may be about to form a new competitive electricity market, if events in New York are an indication. But this time it is distributed energy that is at the center of the action. Over the last three decades, large swaths of the US have developed power markets that let competitors take bites out of the utility business. These changes focused on the sale of generation from central power plants, but the utility was left to run the energy distribution side as a monopoly with a guaranteed rate of return. Now, state leaders are rethinking even that part of the business, as solar and other distributed resources are woven into the grid. Typical of the US, it is the states that are leading the way. New York, in particular, has become a focus of attention with a proposal it calls the ‘Reforming Energy Vision’. New York regulators want to revamp their rules to align with the rapid changes in technology that have introduced smart grids and clean energy. The public service commission is looking at creating an organized, competitive market for solar, microgrids, energy efficiency, energy storage, demand response and other distributed resources.