High-voltage transmission, electricity capacity markets, Interconnection Queues, Regional Transmission Organizations (RTOs), load forecasting — not exactly the stuff of tantalizing communications. Yet they matter a lot for America’s transition from fossil fuels to clean energy, from expensive to more affordable power on monthly bills, and from rising blackout risks to more reliable electricity in the face of extreme weather.
Over our years working toward the transformation of America’s biggest regional grids, PJM and MISO, we’ve often pulled back the curtain on the complex and byzantine world of RTOs. With opacity comes special-interest influence, and with education and access can come accountability and reform.
Since we began working in MISO, the Midwest grid operator has advanced the nation’s biggest portfolios of long-distance transmission lines needed to support more affordable and reliable power.
Major work lies ahead to ensure power lines can get built in the upper Midwest, and to overcome monopoly utility obstructionism in the Gulf South.
In PJM’s Mid-Atlantic and Ohio Valley region, there’s an urgent need to rein in skyrocketing costs and deal with data center demand. It’s a critical opportunity to usher in the battery storage, clean energy, and consumer protections that best meet our need for reliable, affordable energy.
A look at what's worked
Being visual to teach technical content
To help elected officials and other energy-sector influencers in PJM learn about solutions that can make a timely difference for dealing with the electricity needs of data centers, we developed a set of catchy graphics to make our educational content sticky for weary state legislators and other state officials.
To help build support for the development of new long-distance power lines in the upper Midwest, we used animation and the concept of a relay team for an upbeat explainer video that answers the question of why new power lines matter to you — whether they’re near where you live or much farther away.
To help ensure the narrative around PJM’s skyrocketing 2025 electricity costs points to the true culprits, we pulled together data, citations, and artwork for an interactive online infographic that has since been featured in blogs, reporter outreach, and social shares.
