The energy sector is at a pivotal moment, driven by unprecedented electricity growth, increasingly complex climate challenges, and accelerating deployment of clean energy technologies. Utilities, policymakers, and stakeholders are working to meet the demands of accelerated load growth while also working to continue reducing emissions and maintaining affordable rates.?
How we work to achieve continued emissions reductions today will shape the grid of the future. While we may not have all of the answers to some of the new questions posed by demand growth, what we do know is that we will need interdisciplinary coordination to integrate new grid technologies, enhance utility planning and operational processes, and deepen customer engagement to make progress.?
The following highlights five actionable trends for 2025. These trends present opportunities while giving regard to key challenges and clear recommendations for how to navigate the evolving energy landscape.
1. Accelerating 24/7 Clean Energy Deployment and Interconnection
Growing electricity demand must be met with clean energy to the maximum extent possible. However, if we fail to address permitting delays, supply chain constraints, and interconnection bottlenecks, this demand risks being met with new natural gas infrastructure or extended reliance on existing coal plants. Innovations in emerging technologies - enhanced geothermal systems, advanced nuclear, and long-duration energy storage - and interconnection rules and reform offer opportunities for addressing these challenges.?
Steps in the Right Direction in 2024
-
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
's transmission planning rule and interconnection queue reform rule aim to address the more than 2,000 GW of proposed projects backlogged, unlocking critical grid capacity and accelerating clean energy deployment.
- Utility pilots, such as
Austin Energy
's geothermal project, and large energy user investments, including
Microsoft
's small modular reactor (SMR) and
美国银行
's carbon capture projects, are paving the way for carbon-free power and grid solutions.
-
Salt River Project
and
Meta
's Eleven Mile Solar Center in Arizona is a prime example of how the pairing solar and storage can create reliable, 24/7 energy.
Going a Step Further in 2025
- Optimize existing infrastructure by leveraging load flexibility, advanced grid modeling, and flexible interconnection strategies to accommodate increased load on the existing grid.
- Implement interconnection reforms to expedite renewable interconnections.
- Develop partnerships and mechanisms to deploy next-generation clean energy solutions, such as SMRs, long-duration storage, and enhanced geothermal systems, in ways that both demonstrate their operational capability and protect customers from new technology risks.
Partnerships between utilities, developers, and policymakers will be a necessary component to accelerating the deployment of next-generation resources. While many of these solutions may take years to implement fully, strategic steps taken in 2025 will set the stage for long-term progress.??
For ongoing news about carbon reduction efforts and clean energy announcements, follow SEPA’s Carbon Reduction Tracker?.
2. Expanding EV Charging Infrastructure?
The growth in the adoption of electric vehicles brings into view the continued development of a robust charging infrastructure. While considerable progress is being made, there are still opportunities to scale deployment and ensure equitable access.
Steps in the Right Direction in 2024
- Growing EV sales signal a demand for expanded charging networks, creating opportunities for utilities, policymakers, and developers to drive innovation in charging technology and infrastructure.
- Adoption of the North American Charging Standard (NACS) is simplifying interoperability, improving deployment efficiency, and instilling consumer confidence.
-
U.S. Department of Transportation
(DOT)
Federal Highway Administration
's (FHWA) National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) formula program provides funding to states for EV charging infrastructure.? This program continues to catalyze investment with $5 billion allocated for national EVSE deployment.
Going a Step Further in 2025
- Expand managed charging programs to optimize EV to grid integration, incentivize customers to reduce peak usage, manage distribution system demand, and improve grid efficiency.
- Partner with developers to deploy charging hubs in underserved and rural areas, ensuring equitable access.
- Consider new financing models and public-private partnerships to overcome uncertainties in federal funding.
By pursuing these strategies, the stakeholders will support continued EVs sales while improving the grid’s capacity for widespread electrification.
3. Strengthening Climate Adaptation and System Resilience?
The U.S. faced 24 events in 2024 that caused losses more than $1 billion, and utilities will continue to integrate approaches into grid planning to address and mitigate climate-related disruptions. The increasing frequency of climate-related disruptions opens the door for increased investments in resilience toward protecting the reliability of the grid and vulnerable communities.
Steps in the Right Direction in 2024
- Utilities like
Pacific Gas and Electric Company
,
Southern California Edison (SCE)
and
Hawaiian Electric
have employed predictive modeling and a wildfire detection system to address these vulnerabilities in the grid.
- Many utilities facing increased wildfires risks are also using Public Safety Power Shutoffs to ensure that their equipment is not involved in the ignition of a fire; storage and microgrids help provide electricity to communities when these proactive power shutoffs may impact them, improving segment reliability during these and other outages.
- Some state regulators began embedding resilience metrics into planning, tying investments to tangible resilience outcomes.
Going a Step Further in 2025
- Invest in emerging technologies like wildfire detection systems, predictive analytics, and AI-driven outage management tools, as well as energy storage, distribution automation, and undergrounding in high-risk areas to continue to reduce risk and enhance overall grid resilience.
- Form partnerships to develop microgrids, solar + storage systems, and clean energy solutions for essential facilities, such as hospitals, shelters, water facilities, and emergency response centers.
- Expand projects that demonstrate the value of neighborhood (e.g.,
Green Mountain Power
's Resilient Neighborhood and (
Tampa Electric
and
BlockEnergy
's Project) and substation (e.g.,
San Diego Gas & Electric
's Advanced Microgrid Projects and
Duke Energy Corporation
's Hot Springs Microgrid) distributed energy resources (DERs) in improving reliability and resilience.
- Embed performance metrics tied to resilience and equity outcomes in regulatory filings and investment plans.
- Deploy advanced monitoring systems and AI tools to improve the detection of outages and expedite restoration efforts during extreme weather events.
- Leverage data-driven approaches to identify high-risk areas and direct resilience investments to communities with the most urgent needs.
- Coordinate climate adaptation priorities, share expertise, and create unified resilience strategies across stakeholders.
- Tap into federal and state funding programs to offset the costs of resilience investments, ensuring equitable access to resources for underserved and vulnerable communities.
These proactive steps will ensure a reliable and resilient grid amidst widening climate risks.
4. Enhancing and Accessing Distribution System Flexibility
A flexible grid is necessary for integrating distributed energy resources, managing bi-directional energy flows, and meeting growing electricity demand.? Technologies, such as Distributed Energy Resource Management Systems (DERMS) can help manage demand-side resources and energy efficiency to access the needed flexibility.
Steps in the Right Direction in 2024
- Utilities like
ComEd
are implementing DERMS to better integrate DERs, facilitate faster interconnections, and to operate conditionally based on real-time grid conditions to avoid costly infrastructure upgrades.
- Emerging advancements in hosting capacity analyses and flexible interconnection standards are making more efficient deployment of DERs possible
Going a Step Further in 2025
- Scale DERMS deployment to expand both the customer and grid-scale value of? DERs.
- Investigate flexible interconnection and hosting capacity analyses to enable operating based on real-time grid conditions to facilitate interconnection.
- Adopt clear and actionable regulatory frameworks that incentivize DER integration.
- Continue to streamline DER interconnection processes across the country to accelerate deployment and reduce barriers.
By investing in grid flexibility, utilities can adapt to the growing complexity of modern energy systems and deliver value to customers and communities alike.
5. Harnessing State Policy Leadership and Innovation
States play a leading role in resilience planning, while also fostering emissions reductions? and equitable electrification. Stakeholders can better align their resilience and equity efforts with state policies and funding opportunities.
Steps in the Right Direction in 2024
- According to
Lawrence Berkeley Labs
14 states now require utilities to develop resilience plans, a number expected to grow as customers continue to experience costly power outages due to increasingly severe weather, floods, and wildfires.?
- Between 2020 and 2024, states such as Virginia, Vermont, Washington, Pennsylvania, Oregon, Colorado, and Massachusetts have embraced the opportunity to include equity-related metrics with traditional planning metrics? through legislation or state-level executive orders that establish environmental justice task forces and offices. These task forces and offices aim to address and mitigate the disproportionate environmental burdens faced by underserved and overburdened communities by prioritizing them in policy decisions, resource allocation, and environmental protections.
- State-led innovation in public-private partnerships that advance goals of equity and affordability include
American Electric Power
Indiana Michigan Power's joint settlement with the
Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor (OUCC)
,
Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana
,
Data Center Coalition
,
微软
,
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
, and
谷歌
for the equitable management of large load requests.
Going a Step Further in 2025
- Scale up state-led efforts to focus on disparities in disadvantaged communities and establish fair cost allocation mechanisms.
- Collaborate with utilities and developers on project designs that prioritizes underserved areas and aligns with state policy objectives.
- Make affordability a core component of policies to ensure a better balance between load growth, interconnection, affordability, and infrastructure needs.
- Develop technical assistance programs to help states and utilities access funding, design programs, and implement clean and resilient energy.
Through continued leadership and collaboration, states can drive progress toward a more equitable and resilient energy future.
Get in touch!
We’d love to hear your thoughts - what are you planning for 2025? What trends did you observe in 2024 and what do you expect to see in 2025? Share your insights with us and join the conversation as we work together toward a clean energy future.
Relevant SEPA Publications from 2024
?????? Marketing manager ??? Lead generation content creator ? Clean energy advocate
2 个月Thanks for sharing! For #3, wondering if you’ve seen any particular trends with how utilities are making updates that allow them to better catch and solve vulnerabilities in the infrastructure? I came across Buzz Solutions earlier this year and their approach and was amazed to learn how manual the current process is.
Connecting dots and people on the path to carbon-free.
3 个月Adding to my morning coffee read list for tomorrow ?