In this episode, host Daniel Raimi talks with Kate Konschnik, a senior lecturer at Duke University Law School who recently joined the Biden administration. Konschnik describes RTOGov, a research initiative that aims to evaluate how decisions are made in US electricity markets and the overlooked importance of regional transmission organizations (RTOs) in the electricity sector. Konschnik and Raimi discuss how different RTOs operate differently across the United States; that transparency matters in RTO governance and decisionmaking; and potential ways that RTOs can evolve to provide more reliable, affordable, and clean electricity in the years ahead.

References and recommendations:

RTOGov, the Regional Transmission Organization Governance project from the Duke Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions; https://nicholasinstitute.duke.edu/project/rtogov

“RTO governance structures can affect capacity market outcomes” by Seth Blumsack and Kyungjin Yoo; https://pennstate.pure.elsevier.com/en/publications/rto-governance-structures-can-affect-capacity-market-outcomes

“Participatory Democracy in Dynamic Contexts: a Review of Regional Transmission Organization Governance in the United States” by Stephanie Lenhart and Dalten Fox; https://nicholasinstitute.duke.edu/publications/participatory-democracy-dynamic-contexts-review-regional-transmission-organization

“History’s largest mining operation is about to begin” by Wil S. Hylton; https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/01/20000-feet-under-the-sea/603040/

How We Survive podcast; https://www.marketplace.org/shows/how-we-survive/