Regulatory Sandbox
Overview
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, with support from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Electricity, provides technical assistance to state public utility commissions, state energy offices, municipal utilities, and rural electric cooperatives to consider, develop, and implement regulatory sandboxes or other innovative approaches like pilots and novel programs for deployment of advanced grid technologies for transmission and distribution (T&D) systems. Technologies such as smart reclosers, advanced conductors, Volt/VAR optimization, advanced flexible transformers, and many others can increase T&D capacity and improve reliability and electricity affordability.
About Regulatory Sandboxes and Similar Mechanisms
Regulatory sandboxes offer a structured environment for testing new technologies and business approaches under modified rules to increase the speed of adoption. These mechanisms aim to deliver solutions at scale by reducing regulatory barriers to utility innovation and supporting testing and scaling of new technologies and practices.
Recent research, Regulatory Sandboxes and Other Processes to Expedite Utility Adoption of Advanced Grid Technologies, identifies the value proposition for regulatory sandboxes and other innovation vehicles, catalogs their use in the electric utility sector, and provides emerging best practices for designing and implementing such approaches for advanced T&D technologies.
Sandbox Exploration
Tailored virtual educational briefings to increase understanding of sandboxes and other innovation vehicles and ways they can support deployment of advanced grid technologies.
Sandbox Expert Assistance
Deeper engagement to address limited questions/issues related to development or implementation of sandbox-type mechanisms for advanced grid technologies.
Sandbox Deep Dive
Sustained, end-to-end support for states and utilities that are looking to newly design and implement a sandbox or other innovative approach to support deployment of advanced grid technologies.
Recent Publications
Contact
Apply now! Email Grace Relf at [email protected] with questions or to request a general or tailored educational briefing under the Sandbox Exploration option.