What Can US Utility Regulators Learn From Australia’s Distribution Market?
Nearly two years after launching the CHARGED Initiative, a delegation of U.S. state utility commissioners toured Australia to study its high‑penetration rooftop solar market and distribution‑grid innovations. They observed South Australia’s SA Power Networks using dynamic operating envelopes and the low‑cost CSIP‑Aus communication protocol to flexibly curtail export without costly DERMS. Australian regulators and retailers emphasized a customer‑first mindset, branding distributed assets as “Customer Energy Resources” and rapidly piloting virtual power plants and managed EV charging. The visit highlighted stark contrasts with the U.S., where fragmented oversight and hardware‑centric controls slow DER integration.
Two Paths to Power Data Center Demand
Two contrasting megaprojects aim to meet soaring data‑center power needs: a $33 billion, 9.2 GW natural‑gas plant in Ohio and a 300 MW iron‑air battery system in Minnesota. The Ohio venture, backed by Japan and SB Energy, carries a staggering $3,586/kW price tag and...
The BESS Deployment Gap: Structural Barriers in Eastern U.S. Markets
Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) deployment in the United States is heavily skewed toward California and Texas, where utility‑scale storage now exceeds 20 GW. Eastern RTOs such as PJM, MISO and SPP lag behind, not because of technology limits but due...