The electric grid is undergoing a fundamental shift in how it manages supply and demand, with flexibility increasingly recognized as a critical resource—one that may be growing faster than traditional generation capacity. According to Utility Dive, the underlying technology to support this flexibility already exists, but the institutional frameworks and governance structures needed to fully harness it have not kept pace with innovation.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's technical conference scheduled for July 23 focuses on the governance challenges facing the PJM Interconnection, one of the nation's largest grid operators. The conference represents a potential inflection point where regulators and market participants will address the structural gaps preventing broader adoption of flexible resources like demand response and energy storage.
As noted by Jeanine Johnson, a former member of PJM's board, the mismatch between available technology and existing institutions poses a significant challenge for grid modernization. How FERC addresses these governance issues will have far-reaching implications for how efficiently the grid can integrate flexibility resources and adapt to evolving energy markets.