ISO-NE and NEPOOL launch Emerging Technologies Working Group

ISO New England and the New England Power Pool (NEPOOL) have launched a new stakeholder working group for exchanging information and discussing technical issues related to emerging technologies’ integration into New England’s bulk power system and participation in the region’s wholesale electricity markets. The Emerging Technologies Working Group (ETWG) will meet quarterly, reporting to the NEPOOL Markets, Reliability, and the Transmission committees.

The ETWG replaces the Demand Resources Working Group (DRWG) and Variable Resources Working Group (VRWG). After nearly two decades of innovation and collaboration, the DRWG successfully fulfilled its mission to help facilitate demand resources’ integration into New England’s markets. The new working group largely expands the scope of the VRWG’s charter beyond variable resources (such as wind, hydro, and solar) to more broadly include inverter-based resources, distributed energy resources (including energy storage), and other new technologies that may materialize as the industry evolves.

The ETWG helps advance the clean-energy transition by providing a single standing working group for nascent resources as their needs arise. It also phases out a focus on resources more established in the marketplace, rather than starting and stopping different working groups for specific resources.

Over the coming years, the ETWG will provide a forum to discuss and address the many complex issues associated with the implementation of new rules and procedures that arise from FERC Order No. 2222.