Decisions on electric transmission, grid stability, extreme weather, climate impacts and leadership await the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the independent national agency that regulates the power grid, as it enters the new year with an interim chairman at the helm and down a member.
“FERC’s significance is perhaps greater than it ever has been,” Todd Snitchler, CEO of the Electric Power Supply Association, an industry trade group, said in an interview. “I don’t think it’s a little-known agency anymore.”
As climate effects grow more prominent, utilities push toward zero-emissions electricity and questions remain about how to connect new sources to the grid, the agency known for acronym-heavy jargon is more firmly in the public eye, grid experts said.
