With a major grid expansion on planning boards around the country, grid-enhancing technologies will be key to getting the most out of current and future systems, experts said.

Former FERC Commissioner James Danly told a House Oversight subcommittee that federal subsidies overvalue some resources, while undervaluing others, putting the future of the grid at risk.

FERC Commissioner Mark Christie brought his message of the need for grid reliability to the Gulf Coast Power Association's MISO-SPP Forum, saying the U.S. is "heading for a very dark place."

The power industry is facing an increasingly delicate balancing act as policies drive some generators to retirement, while major new loads are popping up and making planning more difficult.

Utility executives told state regulators that natural gas and nuclear power will be part of the electric mix for decades as the industry decarbonizes.

Both FERC Chairman Willie Phillips and Sen. Joe Manchin want to pass policies this year that speed up the roll out of transmission, they said at the NARUC conference.

The New York Power Authority and the New York University Tandon School of Engineering announced a partnership that could help utilities prevent costly and time-consuming large power transformer outages through a novel monitoring technique.

ISO-NE, MISO, PJM and SPP released a report calling for improvements to the coordination of the electric and natural gas systems.