Beyond Batteries: Building the Bridge to New Orleans’ Energy Future

As a part of my work internationally for the UN Environmental Programme and with the Grid Wise Architectural Council in the US, I am often asked to advise communities in their efforts to reform their utility sector. Some community leaders in New Orleans asked me for their help. As background, the New Orleans City Council is exploring the use of some settlement funds and has asked for proposals within Docket UD-24-02.

The recent proposal by the Alliance for Affordable Energy (AAE) and Together New Orleans (TNO) to launch a Distributed Energy Resource Program (DERP) is a well-intentioned step toward a cleaner, more resilient energy future. Their vision—leveraging solar-plus-battery systems to create a citywide virtual power plant—is compelling. A fine blog post by Arushi Sharma Frank, https://arushisharmafrank.substack.com/p/batteries-utilities-cost-shifts-understand, rightly highlights the need to move beyond the “cost shift” narrative argued by the utilities and certain policy makers and embrace the grid-supporting potential of distributed energy resources (DERs).

In the post, there is a thorough discussion of all the embedded efficiencies in the current utility regulatory model and other countries, such as Australia, which have made significant strides in reimagining the future utility model. However, there is no discussion of how they got to that understanding. A close friend of mine, Mark Patterson, was instrumental in the effort when he worked for Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). With the support of the Australian government they took on a multi-year effort to understand the grid as the complex system that through a systems thinking lens. After understanding the interdependencies they developed a transition plan to meet their future goal of a highly functioning distributed, modern and customer focused utility system. They did the hard work of planning for the future before building.

Network of Structures

But even good steps forward, like DERP, can fall short without a long-term plan. While DERP proposes incentives for battery installations and participation in demand response programs, it stops short of offering a roadmap for the kind of systemic transformation it claims to advance. It is one thing to purchase batteries—it is another entirely to redesign the policies, planning frameworks, and regulatory structures needed to integrate them into a truly decentralized, dynamic grid.

We need a bridge to the future—not just building blocks.

That’s why New Orleans’ focus must include more than battery deployment. We must also invest in “Grid Transition Planning”—a structured, expert-led effort to map the pathway from today’s centralized grid to tomorrow’s participatory, performance-driven, and resilient energy system. It must understand the interdependencies of the system and chart a path to make an electrical grid that is truly responsive to the needs of New Orleans citizens.

Programs like DERP are important. But in their current form, they risk replicating past efforts: limited-scale incentives without structural change. Without strategic planning, market reform, and regulatory innovation, we will once again build pilot programs without a pathway to permanence. The utility business model won’t change. Customers won’t be fairly compensated. And critical infrastructure investments will remain reactive, rather than anticipatory, costing ratepayers more in the long run.

In contrast, a “Bridge to the Future” approach, as outlined in ProRate’s proposal to the New Orleans City Council (Docket UD-24-02), offers exactly the kind of transformative work the DERP implicitly points toward. This includes:

·       Distribution system planning that integrates DERs, electric vehicles, and load flexibility into future grid architecture.

·       Community-led engagement to ensure planning is inclusive, equitable, and transparent.

·       Tariff innovation that enables dynamic pricing, empowering customers to shift energy use and contribute grid services.

·       Performance-Based Regulation that aligns utility incentives with public outcomes like equity, resilience, and emissions reduction.

New Orleans has a rare opportunity: to lead—not by deploying a few batteries, but by becoming a national model for how communities transition to a clean energy future that is equitable, reliable, and resilient.

Let’s not confuse momentum with destination. DERP is a promising step. But if we stop at battery incentives without reimagining how the grid is governed, operated, and compensated—we’ll have missed the moment.

We need a strategic roadmap to plan the path, not just funding the steps