The GridWise Alliance, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), recently launched Phase II of our Future of the Grid Initiative: Transitioning to the Future Grid.
The evolution of our electric system is underway and is creating new opportunities and challenges that, while exciting, also introduce uncertainty into the process. Understanding the implications of the many options and changes affecting the grid will be essential for meeting America’s need for secure, reliable, and affordable electricity now and in the future.
To provide clarity and help stakeholders navigate the transition, Secretary Moniz has charged us with implementing the initial recommendations in our report from Phase I of this initiative entitled, “Future of the Grid: Evolving to Meet America’s Needs.”
These recommendations include:
- Establishing clear and comprehensive guiding principles to shape grid modernization;
- Facilitating industry input into unifying architectures to ensure interoperability across the entire grid infrastructure and markets;
- Creating frameworks to guide local/state/regional policy makers and utilities in their transition to the future grid;
- Crafting solutions through stakeholder engagement and education; and
- Identifying technology challenges and limitations through robust research and analysis
This report was developed through a year-long multi-stakeholder effort. It outlines a vision for the nation’s electric system for the year 2030 and beyond, and provides recommendations for achieving that vision. The second phase of this Initiative will consist of developing a transition framework, using a holistic, system-oriented approach, that could help local, state, regional and federal (as appropriate) decision makers as they transition to this Grid of the Future and consider implications to investment and policy choices as well as market structures and utility business and regulatory models.
For more information about Phase II of the Future of the Grid Initiative, please contact Bryan Nicholson at (202) 530-9740 or bnicholson@gridwise.org.