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The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (“NARUC”) and National Association of State Energy Officials (“NASEO”) released an August 2023 report titled:

State Microgrid Policy, Programmatic, and Regulatory Framework (“Report”)

The Report references the role of the following:

• NASEO-NARUC Microgrid State Working Group
• Kelsey Jones, NASEO
• Will McCurry and Kiera Zitelman, NARUC

Acknowledged in the Report is the importance of the reliability and resilience of the United States electric grid. Outages of increased duration, scale, and impact on power customers and communities are noted due to:

• Extreme weather
• Physical attacks on grid infrastructure
• Cyber-attacks on grid infrastructure

Therefore, the two organizations note that regulatory attention has “shifted toward innovative investments to improve grid resilience.”

The role of microgrids is noted to have been a focus of various federal and state actions as a tool that is described as potentially helping:

. . . mitigate the impacts of power outages, integrate more clean energy within the grid, support more localized control of electricity generation, and other goals.

Because of the interest of various Governors and State Legislatures in microgrid’s, NARUC and NASEO decided to create a framework to serve as a resource and guidance for developing a state microgrid policy, program, or regulation.

The Report is described as providing:

• Background information for state energy offices and public utility commission consideration regardless of a state’s microgrid landscape utilizing examples from across the country
• A reference for state officials to consult when faced with new statutory authority or a non-legislative impetus to revise existing or create new microgrid programs and/or regulations
• Serve as a tool for various interested parties to understand the complex policy and regulatory environment of microgrids

Key sections of the Report include:

• State Microgrid Landscape
• Shared Public Utility Commission and State Energy Office Needs
• State Energy Offices: Steps for Developing a State Microgrid Policy or Program
• Public Utility Commissions: Steps for Developing State Microgrid Regulations

A copy of the Report can be downloaded here.