Episode 20: The ROI of Energy Security Investment with Karen Wayland

It’s going to take time and precision to build the grid of the future. Managing reliability carefully and investing in the right technologies as we transition to a grid increasingly based on clean energy will be key to success. These are the messages of Dr. Karen Wayland, a noted policy expert who focuses on the path to grid modernization and infrastructure improvements aimed at a cleaner, more efficient, more secure #gridofthefuture. Wayland is CEO of GridWise Alliance , an organization made up of energy utilities and technology leaders. She was recently interviewed by Kevin Lanahan, NYISO Vice President of External Affairs and Corporate Communications, for our latest Power Trends podcast. In the wide-ranging conversation, Wayland explores the diverse technology portfolio necessary to deliver a modernized grid, including new transmission, distributed resources, and smart energy communication systems. Specifically, Wayland sees “autonomous healing” grid technology as a way to address outages caused by extreme weather.  In the future she sees tools on the electric system that can automatically reroute power when a line is down to reduce the impact away from concentrated populations, for example.  “Reliability can't be compromised,” she said. “And we also can't compromise that affordability part of grid modernization… If we are going to get to a decarbonized, flexible grid, we have to be smart about understanding what the best return on that investment's going to be.”For more on the market changes that will help bring New York to a clean-energy future, listen now.For more about how we are addressing a zero-emissions grid with market-based solutions, visit the 2040 Power Grid webpage.  Learn MoreFollow us on X/Twitter @NewYorkISO, LinkedIn @NYISO, Bluesky @nyiso.comRead our blogs and watch our videos