当美国上诉法院维持2016年联邦能源监管委员会的命令时，能源存储业赢得了重大胜利，该命令有效地允许存储的电力与批发电力市场中的传统发电机竞争。

全国监管公用事业协会协会对FERC 2018年2月的命令提出质疑，该命令禁止各州禁止其分销和零售系统上的电力存储资源参加联邦市场。美国哥伦比亚特区的上诉法院在7月10日的裁决中说：“我们在这里没有犯规，所以我们否认请愿书。”

The decision sets up energy storage to be an interface for microgrids and newer sources of energy to access competitive power markets, industry observers said.

It allows homes and businesses to contribute “resilience, efficiency, sustainability and affordability” to the grid, Kelly Speakes-Backman, CEO of the Energy Storage Association, said in a statement. “As our electric system becomes more modernized and distributed, we are seeing the regulatory frameworks at both the wholesale and retail levels adjust to that reality.”

公用事业专员认为，FERC通过限制各州规范分销系统或私人房屋或企业的存储能力，超出了《联邦电力法》​​的权力。

但是，法院说，它必须“裁判FERC与各州之间的《联邦权力法》的管辖权。法院说，FERC命令没有“篡夺国家权力”，并补充说，该机构负责保持批发电价“公正和合理”。

Allowing energy-storage units, regardless of their interconnection points in the electric system, ensures that technological advances are fully realized in the marketplace, leading to greater competition and lower wholesale power rates, the court said.

该裁决说：“如果'直接影响'批发费率是目标，那么该计划就会击中靶心。”法院还指出，区域传输市场创建了针对传统发电的参与模型，这可能会限制新开发的资源的参与方式。

但是，可再生能源支持者对最近的FERC裁决不那么热情。开发商表示，该机构7月16日决定改造《公用事业监管政策法》（1978年，旨在鼓励清洁能源项目的法律），这是对公用事业固定价格合同的要求，这不支持法律的目标。18luck官网

专员理查德•格里克带C’s lone dissenter on the rule change, said that small generators relied on the fixed-price mandate to obtain project financing in some areas of the U.S.

“It is hard for me to understand how the commission can, with a straight face, claim to be encouraging [small-resource] development while at the same time eliminating the conditions necessary to develop [them] in the regions where they are being built,” he said.