New York has launched a process maximizing the use and effectiveness of flexible tools such as distributed energy resources and virtual power plants. 

The Public Service Commission on April 18 initiated the Grid of the Future proceeding (Case 24-E-0165) to control costs and maximize reliability amid the state’s clean energy transition. 

The order seeks to establish which capabilities will be needed, set targets for achieving those capabilities, identify the investments needed to reach those targets and identify the benefits that customers would realize when the targets are met. 

The Grid of the Future proceeding is the latest step in a process underway for over a decade, beginning with Reforming the Energy Vision (REV) in 2014 (Case 14-M-0101). 

PSC Chair Rory Christian said the process began before any current members joined the commission, and the challenges it was intended to address have come to pass. 

“They’re the type of challenges to be expected from any 100-plus-year-old system, built under a set of paradigms that are quickly being made obsolete through the progress of technology and evolving societal needs,” he said. “Challenges that are further amplified by severe weather events that are increasingly more severe.” 

The state’s landmark Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act of 2019 created a statutory requirement for 70% renewable energy by 2030 and 100% zero-emissions energy by 2040.  

The 70-by-30 goal seems increasingly out of reach amid slow regulatory processes and rising costs, but not for lack of effort — state regulators are simultaneously trying to change longstanding power generation and consumption patterns while ensuring the power grid can meet much higher demand with a much more intermittent generation portfolio. 

DERs and VPPs are expected to be an important part of a suite of dispatchable emissions-free resources to keep the lights on, and the Grid of the Future proceeding is designed to help move the state to a place where that is possible. 

Department of Public Service staff will convene at least one stakeholder conference to inform the process in the second half of this year.  

The order directs staff to conduct a Grid Flexibility Study on flexible resources’ status and potential by Nov. 15, 2024. 

The first iteration of the Grid of the Future Plan is due by Dec. 31, 2024; the second, a year later. 

The structure of the plan will evolve with stakeholder input, but initial required elements are: 

• • An inventory must be prepared of the resources expected to be needed, including how much of each is needed, how they will be obtained and what opportunities or barriers exist to securing them. 
  • Key elements of distributed system platforms must be identified; new or revised utility distributed system implementation plan requirements must be recommended. 
  • New or modified compensation plans for flexible resources must be considered, to encourage their best use by customers. 
  • Customer savings and benefits must be identified through better price signals on utility bills. 
  • The needs of market participants such as NYISO and utilities must be identified; the opportunity for changing roles and responsibilities for these participants also must be identified, along with improved interoperability among them. 
  • Changes in technology and information infrastructure must be accounted for. 
  • Rigid physical and cybersecurity protocols must be included. 
  • The plan must address variability and flexibility in the need for deployment and use. 
  • Allocation of costs and benefits among customers must be equitable.