Takeaways from NARUC’s Summer Policy Summit: load growth uncertainties and no simple solutions
The recent summit in Florida explored themes such as load growth uncertainties, how industry players and utilities are powering data centers with clean energy, and the growing emphasis on supply-side solutions for large loads
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Kathy Hu
Research Analyst, Grid Edge
Kathy Hu
Research Analyst, Grid Edge
Kathy specialises in utility grid modernisation and distributed energy resource (DER) research across North America.
Latest articles by Kathy
View Kathy Hu's full profileOn July 14th – 17th, 2024, NARUC hosted its summer policy summit in West Palm Beach, Florida. The summit brought together regulators across the state to moderate critical policy discussions with utilities, developers, system operators, and other stakeholders.
Unsurprisingly, the main theme among electricity committees was large load growth. The discussions had a strong focus on planning and ratepayer impacts.
Please fill out the form at the top of the page to download the full list of key learnings, and read on for a sample of one of our biggest takeaways:
Load growth uncertainties are driving utilities and system operators to rethink utility planning
Despite widespread acknowledgement that large load growth is coming, many questions have been raised about the actual numbers. The uncertainty around load growth forecasts has driven conversations around tighter forecasting and planning cycles, especially in integrated resource planning (IRP). Early adopters such as Georgia Power shared that it is working with its state utility commissioners to update its IRP more frequently to reflect projected load growth, which traditionally gets updated every three years.
Regulators highlighted the need to foster better collaboration around data sharing to accurately forecast and plan for future grid needs. On the transmission system operator side, PJM shared that they are currently refining their Manual 19 process, which entails surveying utilities within its service territory annually for load forecast adjustments.
As part of compliance, utilities are now responsible for reporting whether load forecasting revisions must be made due to large loads. PJM kicked the survey off in mid-July 2024 and will reveal results in early 2025.
Learn more
Please fill out the form at the top of the page for our full list of key takeaways, which includes insights into how industry players are exploring new rate structures with utilities to power data centers with clean energy, the recent emphasis on supply-side solutions over demand-side ones for large loads, and other topical discussions that took place at the summit.