Introduction
At ISO New England, we strive to ensure the region’s electric power grid is prepared to provide reliable, cost-effective electricity today, tomorrow, and throughout the decades ahead. We do so through our three critical roles, authorized by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) — operating today’s power system, overseeing the wholesale electricity markets, and planning the power system of the future.
Through our independence, our expertise, and our ongoing collaboration with the New England states and other stakeholders, the ISO serves a critical role in ensuring the reliability of our power grid through a period of rapid change. An evolving public policy landscape and uncertainties related to energy and resource adequacy, extreme weather, changing technology, and growth in electricity demand — including the national increase in data centers — make our roles as stewards and planners more vital than ever. Energy affordability is also a key regional focus.
A Long-Term Vision with Near-Term Priorities
Our highly skilled workforce is managing today’s grid minute by minute, and also planning the future grid from decade to decade. This Regional Energy Outlook outlines our key initiatives and projects designed to ensure reliable, cost-effective electricity right now, and far into the future. These initiatives all require different, carefully considered approaches, but all work in concert to deliver on our central mission.
Our foundational Forecast Report of Capacity, Energy, Loads, and Transmission (the CELT Report) and our economic studies look 10 to 25 years into the future to project how demand for electricity and the mix of generating resources might change. While state decarbonization goals aimed at the electrification of transportation and heating will increase demand significantly, the size and timing of these changes are uncertain — so the innovative modeling of these longer-term forecasts, highlighted in the first sections of this outlook, is crucial.
We have also developed a multi-year roadmap aimed at ensuring reliability through the uncertainty of the next five to 10 years, made up of key projects central to our mission. These fall under several main categories: Markets & Operations, System Planning, and Technology and Security. Highlights of these initiatives form the latter sections of this outlook.
The ISO has successfully operated and planned the region’s power system and administered the wholesale electricity markets for more than 25 years. We’ve done so through collaboration with the region, an emphasis on innovation, and a commitment to our uniquely independent role. As the future grid comes to life in the years ahead, it will be increasingly important for all stakeholders — including consumers — to understand how our electric power system works, and the roles we each can play in ensuring it is cost-effective and reliable for generations to come.