The rapid growth of generation from variable resources like wind and solar, along with the shift to more consumer-owned generation like rooftop solar and the changes that bring to demand, along with the political push to greater electrification of the economy, is prompting RTOs and ISOs to look at ways to improve their flexibility to maintain reliability.

When Hurricane Ida struck the state of Louisiana last month, nine people died because of "excessive heat during an extended power outage.” Residents like Wilma Banks, a former casino employee with cognitive heart disease and asthma, were dependent on their utility company to support them by powering their medical devices and HVAC systems during this time of need. But as days went on after the eye of the storm ripped through homes and livelihoods, power wasn’t restored.

Sadly, an investigation found that prior to the storm, Ms. Banks’ utility company, Entergy, “aggressively resisted efforts by regulators, residents and advocates to improve its infrastructure.”

Perhaps most sobering is that even in a state like Louisiana, where some of the nation’s most sever and unforgiving natural disasters hit, Entergy’s building stood tall over the city when one million residents remained without power for days on end.

The lingering power outage in New Orleans and surrounding areas served by the vertically integrated power company Entergy caused by Hurricane Ida is just the latest example of the lack of resilience in much of our nation’s power systems. One way to mitigate power disruptions is to develop more microgrids – isolated generation and delivery systems that can operate independently in a limited geographic area from the traditional regional grid.

Community solar is a less well-known but increasingly important option for deploying solar energy, particularly in densely populated urban areas where rooftop space is often shared by multiple tenants.

Community solar is consumer-owned power generation with a twist.

Instead of being owned by a utility, corporation or government, the ownership of these systems is shared by subscribers. Each subscriber gets credit for the generation produced equal to their percentage of ownership in the project. Shares can range from a single solar panel to a majority of the installation, but usually the largest share is less than 50 percent of the total project.

The continuance of utilities and politicians blocking competition from yielding a cleaner, more cost-effective electrical grid is on full display. And the scary truth is: the incentive for politicians to hang onto monopolies is too great. Without monopolies, their vehicle (regulated power rates) to get to their destination (expensive political goals) has no gas, wheels or engine.

Solar power’s influence and potential continues to be attacked by a web of unapologetic utilities, think tanks and associations determined to sink the implementation of rooftop solar power. In order to save their antiquated business model, powerful groups and utilities, from Consumer Energy Alliance to Edison Electric Institute, are lining up to push against the wishes of consumers for cleaner energy, despite the fact that solar is low cost, efficient and abundant.

This week in Georgia, Ohio and Illinois, major utility companies imposed billions of dollars of costs and subsidies on ratepayers while being served with federal subpoenas and announcing major costly delays in projects. These cases aren’t one-offs. In fact, they continue to demonstrate the need for a competitive energy market that drives down the consumer and spurs innovation in the marketplace.

Recent polling demonstrates that a majority of Americans believe competitive markets are more effective at lowering consumer energy costs than energy monopolies. Additionally, Americans see competitive markets as the best vehicle to promoting technological innovation, maximizing energy efficiency, ensuring energy reliability and reducing carbon emissions.

The Senate Finance Committee this week highlighted the important role of energy storage in achieving the transition to a zero-carbon power sector with the advancement of a $259.5 billion clean energy package that includes tax incentives for stand-alone storage and combined solar and storage projects.

The Clean Energy for America Act by Oregon Democrat Sen. Ron Wyden seeks to streamline the tax code to make clean energy tax credits more accessible and effective. The Wyden package differs from President Biden’s American Jobs Plan, which also included an investment tax credit for storage, in that it would replace the current patchwork of 40 clean energy credits with three categories of technology neutral incentives for zero-emission generation.

With the White House focused on a massive infrastructure package, Americans are likely to see a rapid uptick in the development of clean energy. Ideally, that would provide consumers even more opportunities to choose their energy sources.

President Joe Biden’s infrastructure plan would increase the availability of renewables, outpacing the current rate of more than 20 percent of all U.S. electricity generated in 2020, and create job opportunities.

Technological innovation and the rapid pace of change offered via digital technologies and the Internet of Things (IoT) is prompting wide-scale shifts across the economy. These transformative technologies weren’t created by or exclusively for the utility industry, but their wide availability and rapidly falling costs have allowed them to be applied in the production, delivery and management of electricity. For utility customers, that means a movement toward dispatchable energy resources (DERs), demand-side management, smart grids, and other innovative products and services.

The Conservative Energy Network (CEN) have launched UtilityPlaybook.com to track the ways monopoly utilities use their influence and power to block competition and maintain outdated fossil fuel and nuclear power plants. The new website also includes some of the great work being done at the nonprofit Energy and Policy Institute to track corruption and dirty tricks by incumbent utilities – moves that are slowing the transition to a clean energy future while charging ratepayers full freight for dirty energy.

Advocating for economic freedom and free enterprise to improve human and environmental conditions, Nick Loris’ policy paper explains how innovation and competition will solve climate change’s most difficult challenges. Rather than harmful regulations and excessive spending proposals like the Green New Deal, Loris outlines how capitalism is not the problem, but the solution.

The paper, “Free Economies are Clean Economies,” investigates and analyzes the correlation between economic freedom, limited government, open markets, private property rights, and environmental performance around the world.