T&D Grid

This panel at the NARUC Summer Policy Summit examined how utilities, grid operators, regulators, consumer advocates, and the Department of Energy work together to maintain grid reliability during extreme events. The discussion focused on lessons learned from recent winter storms, the role of emergency authorities such as Section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act, and the importance of coordination across regions and fuel types, as well as addressed issues that arise in balancing reliability, affordability, and resilience.

“Some of the Navajo travel back and forth to town and fill up coolers with ice two to three times a week to use for refrigeration. Some have small solar arrays, but generally they’re not big enough for the power to allow them to be self-sustaining.”

“We have provided financial support for Light Up Navajo. That helps pay for crews, who from early in the morning until late at night are putting poles in the ground and pulling wire out to homes that don’t have electricity.”

“I did not expect to see something like the situation in Guatemala in the State of Arizona within the U.S. That was a watershed moment.”

“Once electricity reaches the homestead, the homes can then receive water and wastewater services, including internet connection, which is important for children to study. A great improvement is getting a bathroom in the house.”

Light Up Navajo is a mutual aid project launched in 2019 by the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority with the American Public Power Association to connect homes without electricity under an expedited time frame. The NTUA service territory is 27,000 square miles, spreading across northern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, and a small portion of southeastern Utah. PUF is shining light on this ongoing project, which is seeking energy and utility companies to take part in Light Up Navajo, also providing financial assistance, in coming years.

“A major utility serving a mix of these customers is no longer diversified at scale even though it serves AI operators in multiple jurisdictions. It is exposed to a single wager held by a tiny club of whales.”

“A recent report from the Interstate Renewable Energy Council offers a starting point for regulators evaluating options to strengthen their states’ interconnection procedures.”

“By leveraging load flexibility, utilities can unlock additional capacity rapidly and at lower cost relative to generation and T&D buildout – but this resource has been underutilized to date.”

“The bottleneck is organizational: The absence of shared definitions, common standards, and distributed governance over what gets measured, how it gets validated, and what obligations come with participation in a collective intelligence effort.”