On September 17th, 2020, the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued the groundbreaking new Order 2222 that will enable aggregators of distributed energy resources (DERs) located on utility distribution systems or behind a customer meter, including small energy storage resources, to participate in organized wholesale electricity markets. This fundamental shift allows regional transmission organizations and independent system operators to determine their own path to this goal, but is driving the change by insisting they submit their plans by June 14, 2021. “We find that existing RTO/ISO market rules are unjust and unreasonable in light of barriers that they present to the participation of distributed energy resource aggregations in the RTO/ISO markets, which reduce competition and fail to ensure just and reasonable rates,” reads the new FERC order. “These restrictions on competition can reduce the efficiency of the RTO/ISO markets, potentially leading an RTO/ISO to dispatch more expensive resources to meet its system needs. By […]