We are getting a clearer picture of the Energy Department's direction under Secretary Perry.

In the four months after Perry requested special report on threats to baseload power plants, we saw an unprecedented number of prebuttals from groups worried that it would assist in President Trump's mission to revive the coal industry.

We finally got the end result last week. While some environmental groups didn't like the report, it was a straightforward account of the factors changing the grid -- not a booster for coal, or any other technology.

But there are still a lot of outstanding questions. Are emerging distributed resources discounted in the report? Where does climate change fit in? How does the report inform policy going forward?

This week, we’ve got a wide-ranging interview with Travis Fisher, a senior advisor at the Department of Energy, who took the lead on the study. He talks to us about the process, critical reactions, key findings, and recommendations for market designs.

Recommended reading:

DOE staff report on electricity markets and reliability: http://bit.ly/2wlKV1v

DOE's Grid Study Is a Rorschach Test for the Future of Electricity: http://bit.ly/2xubKA5

GTM Squared -- Getting Into the Weeds of DOE’s Grid Report: http://bit.ly/2wfTEUq

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