About

Mission

Electrification is accelerating in the United States. Is the distribution grid ready?

The CHARGED Initiative supports states as they electrify their transportation and building sectors, ensuring that the electricity distribution system is ready for this new era, while strengthening affordability and reliability for customers. We believe that when gathered together in a structured, collaborative space outside of traditional regulatory processes, utilities, technical experts, public interest organizations, regulators, and advanced energy companies will generate creative and effective solutions that can be scaled and customized across the country.

CHARGED facilitates this collaboration through multi-stakeholder working groups and convenings to co-develop solutions, state-specific implementation projects, international study tours to countries with advanced distribution grids, and one-on-one engagement with utilities and other partners.

Impact

CHARGED has engaged over 200 stakeholders from over 100 organizations across our workstreams, including:

  • 18 Utilities
  • 45 Advanced Energy
    Companies
  • 23 Public Interest
    Groups
  • 4 Research
    Labs
  • 12 Commissions
  • Hosted 3 annual convenings with over 60 participants at each event including utilities, technology providers, advocacy, and academia.
  • Conducted in-person workshops on flexible grid connection, program harmonization, and data platforms in Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, and New York.
  • Hosted 3 international study tours to Great Britain and Australia with 16 regulators and 5 senior staff to gain experiential learnings and best practices on electrification.
  • Produced 18 reports, factsheets, memos, blogposts, and webinars on CHARGED solutions

How it works

CHARGED is jointly led by three organizations—GridLab, RMI, and Advanced Energy United—that help to manage and guide the initiative.

CHARGED brings together multi-stakeholder working groups that are comprised of external organizations to produce public resources, including reports, fact sheets, and webinars. By bringing together utilities, regulators, and advanced energy stakeholders in these working groups, our aim is that every framework or solution developed has received cross-industry input and will have impact in the real world.

This method ensures that CHARGED is truly greater than the sum of its parts, focused on pragmatic steps that are supported by utilities, regulators, advocates, and advanced energy companies and that benefit the grid and its customers. As a result, CHARGED is a trusted resource for commissioners, commission staff, and utilities seeking durable and actionable guidance for their jurisdictions.

People & Partners

CHARGED is a collaborative effort driven by a steering committee of industry leaders, an implementation team, and a broad participant roster of over 60 active contributors.

Partner Organizations

CHARGED Steering Committee

CHARGED is managed by a steering committee that includes the individuals listed here. In addition, CHARGED leverages an extensive support team with staff from the three organizations along with several consultants with deep expertise to provide a productive experience to participating organizations.

  • Ric O’Connell – Executive Director, GridLab
  • Priya Sreedharan – Senior Program Director, GridLab
  • Ryan Katofsky – Senior Fellow, Advanced Energy United
  • Cara Goldenberg – Principal, RMI
  • Katerina Stephan – Manager, RMI
  • Sara Parkison – Senior Policy Principal, Advanced Energy United
  • Caitlin Odom – Independent Consultant, EnerJade
  • Phillippe Phanivong – Senior Program Manager, GridLab
  • Alex Walmsley – Manager, RMI
  • Grace Weller – Policy Principal, Advanced Energy United