DOE awards NARUC $14.2 million to train state utility regulators
The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) received $14.2 million in grant funds from the United States Department of Energy and the National Institute of Standards and Technology this week to support training of state utility regulators.
These funds were spread across five cooperative agreements, dedicated to training, education and peer collaboration in areas of interoperability, cybersecurity, carbon capture and energy justice. As a result, NARUC’s Center for Partnerships & Innovation will create and undertake several new efforts, such as a grid data-sharing collaborative among utility stakeholders, transmission planning research and an energy resilience reference guide.
“These awards affirm the value and quality of resources that NARUC — through CPI — is able to provide to our members and the broader utility stakeholder community,” Paul Kjellander, NARUC president from the Idaho Public Utilities Commission, said. “We look forward to working with our federal partners on these exciting new initiatives.”
Such initiatives include:
- A one year smart grid partnership with NIST Engineering Lab to support Regulator Smart Grid Engagement;
- Two years of direct technical assistance on interoperability with NIST Engineering Lab in support of Direct Technical Assistance for Public Utility Commissions on Interoperability;
- A five year collaboration with the DOE Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management for the DOE-NARUC Coal Modernization and Carbon Management Partnership;
- Separate five year partnerships with DOE’s Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response, as well as the Office of Electricity, to aid Programmatic Collaboration and Coordination with State Energy Regulators
“NARUC truly values our collaborations with DOE and NIST, which enable the CPI team to identify emerging challenges and connect state utility commissions with expertise and strategies to navigate the complex decision-making their positions require,” Danielle Sass Byrnett, CPI director, said. “Thanks to this generous federal funding, CPI will expand its reach in building relationships, developing resources and delivering training that provides answers to state commissions’ questions.”
These awards supplement existing cooperative agreements between CPI and the DOE that include both support for a natural gas partnership and a nuclear energy partnership.
