At its 134th Annual Meeting and Education Conference, the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) welcomed nearly 1,300 attendees to cover a range of energy and utility issues. The event featured three days of well-attended general sessions, 20 concurrent panels on focused, topical areas, and several NARUC subcommittees sessions. Of particular interest was the 5th meeting of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s Joint Federal-State Task Force on Electric Transmission led by FERC Chairman Richard Glick and Maryland Public Service Commission Chairman Jason Stanek. The task force, comprised of all FERC commissioners and two state representatives of each NARUC region was held before a standing-room-only audience. The agenda title for this meeting was “Addressing Regulatory Gaps/Challenges in Oversight of Transmission Development” which covered extensively the potential for an Independent Transmission Monitor, their role, and to whom would they report.
While electric transmission was not a particular focus of this NARUC event, its importance was emphasized in many sessions. One example of the importance of the timely upgrading and expansion of the transmission system was highlighted during the session “The Inflation Reduction Act: Your Electricity System Planning Assumptions are Now Wrong.” The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) have billions of dollars targeting the development and interconnection of Clean Energy technologies. But as noted in the session, without timely transmission capacity increases and efficient movement of the clean energy around the grid, the Clean Energy investment are pointless. The transmission system must be upgraded in a timely manner to bring the substantial benefits to consumers and the environment that are enabled by an efficient electric grid. It was noted in the session that the benefits far outweigh the costs of expanding the transmission system.
CTC Global, who participated in and was a sponsor of the NARUC event notes that Advanced Conductors, including CTC Global’s ACCC® Conductor, when used in the existing system as well as in new transmission expansion enables cost-effective grid upgrades which increase grid efficiency, decrease CO2 emissions, reduce the amount of capacity needed to serve the loads, and improve system resilience and reliability. Dave Townley, Director Public Policy stated “Using Advanced Conductors to rapidly expanding grid capacity is good for the consumer, the environment, and the grid.” For more information please visit www.ctcglobal.com