September 17, 2020
‘Game-Changer’ FERC Order Opens Up Wholesale Grid Markets to Distributed Energy Resources
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has passed a long-awaited order to open up the country’s wholesale energy markets to distributed energy resources (DERs) like rooftop solar, behind-the-meter batteries and electric vehicles. Now comes the hard part: creating market rules that allow these DERs to play in bulk energy markets while retaining the role of state regulators and utilities to maintain the soundness of their distribution grid operations and retail DER programs. Order 2222, passed by a 2-1 vote Thursday during FERC’s open meeting in Washington, D.C., is the culmination of years of work on how to allow DER aggregations to compete in the energy, capacity and ancillary services markets operated by the regional transmission organizations (RTOs) and independent system operators (ISOs) that manage the transmission grids carrying electricity to about two-thirds of the country.