Our Approach
Accelerating State Energy Regulations
EPDI was founded on a thesis: that the future of the US grid will be shaped in small, understaffed state regulatory offices — where good laws and innovative technology either move forward together or stall indefinitely.
The technology is ready. In many cases, the laws exist. But efforts to build a clean, resilient, and affordable energy system live and die at the state implementation level. For decades, that's where progress has often gotten bogged down, regardless of who's in the White House.
EPDI works directly with state regulatory staff to fix the process failures that delay implementation for years.
The Process Is Broken
The bottleneck isn't political will. It's not technology. It’s not even a lack of capital. It's process.
State after state, the same pattern plays out: ambitious legislation passes, then stalls for years in implementation. Small regulatory teams are left to referee long, drawn-out fights between utilities, developers, advocates, and ratepayer groups – each with their own priorities, their own lawyers, their own definition of success. No shared vision. No clear path forward. Just years of meetings, filings, and false starts.
Same pattern, different states
7 Years
New Jersey passed energy storage legislation in 2015. Seven years later, regulators were still working toward a basic implementation proposal.
0 Recommendations
Illinois passed a law to modernize grid interconnection. Two years later, the stakeholder working group delivered a report with no actionable recommendations.
These aren't outliers. Storage, interconnection, distribution planning, EV infrastructure, virtual power plants – the policy topic changes, but the bottleneck is the same.
The result: hundreds of millions in investment waiting for regulatory clarity. Federal incentives that expire or disappear before states can act. A grid that can't keep pace with the technology that's ready to transform it.
The Research-Implementation Gap
Most efforts in this space focus on research – what policies states should adopt, what regulations should say, what programs should look like. That work is important, but it doesn't solve the process problem.
An agency staffer drowning in a hundred stakeholder filings doesn't need another paper on best practices or webinar explaining technology basics. They need structure: a way to organize the chaos, align competing interests, and move toward a decision. That's a different kind of help – and almost no one provides it.
We Work Where Others Don't
We work at ground level – inside proceedings, alongside staff, building the frameworks and providing the tools that move implementation forward.
Our work is not a consulting engagement that ends with a report. We stay until the work is done: facilitating stakeholder sessions, drafting documents, helping staff hit deadlines they couldn't hit alone.
This only works because we're neutral. We don't represent any stakeholder. We're not funded by companies with financial interests to protect. That lets us build trust with everyone in the room – utilities, developers, advocates – because they know we're not angling for a particular result.
“[The EPDI] process will be a best-practice for future regulatory stakeholder processes that all jurisdictions undertake.”
— VP Govt Affairs, Clean Energy Industry
Case Study
Maryland’s Energy Storage Program
In Maryland, we saw what's possible when regulatory staff get the right support. The Public Service Commission — already managing complex rulemakings on multiple fronts — was tasked with standing up an entirely new energy storage program under an extraordinarily tight legislative deadline. We provided structure — facilitation, frameworks, documentation — and they delivered recommendations in just two months, with input from dozens of stakeholders.
“EPDI delivered under pressure right out of the gate, helping our workgroup achieve tight deadlines with high-quality results”
— Senior Commission Advisor, Maryland PSC
Case Study
VPP Convergence Project
Now we're applying the same approach at national scale. The VPP Convergence Project — with honorary chair Jigar Shah, former director of DOE's Loan Programs Office — has brought together 45+ organizations around a shared policy framework for virtual power plants. Utilities, DER companies, advocates, and state regulators, working toward common ground. It's the first effort of its kind: neutral, transparent, built for the staff who actually implement policy.
VPP Convergence Participants
“We're excited to participate and look forward to the guidance and tools that emerge from the VPP Convergence Project to help make VPPs a reality in New Jersey”
— Kira Lawrence, Senior Policy Advisor, NJBPU
Changing the System
When one state succeeds, others can follow. With the right support, frameworks become templates and lessons travel. The bottleneck that's stalled progress for decades starts to open – not just for VPPs, but for storage, interconnection, distribution planning, EV infrastructure, and every policy challenge that follows.
We're not fixing one proceeding or one state's problem. We're building policy infrastructure that lets states learn from each other and move faster together. That's how the energy transition accelerates.
Work with Us
We welcome conversations with funders and collaborators who share our vision for better, faster energy policy implementation. For partnerships and major gifts, reach out to Executive Director Ted Ko at ted@epdiusa.org. To make a direct contribution, visit our donation page.