Storage Order upheld. Not only upheld; upheld very quickly. The D.C. Circuit saw this as an easy case flowing from EPSA. But this case has bigger implications than for storage, it affects both demand response and distributed energy resources.

Opt-outs for DR are on the books today, but are in trouble under the language of the courts order. And whether states may opt-out of DERs hasn't been addressed yet, but the order gives FERC a clear path to move forward w/out them in a DER order.

Why? Per the Court : State op-outs are a "state effort that aims directly at destroying FERC’s jurisdiction" by
“'necessarily dealing with matters which directly affect the ability of FERC to regulate comprehensively and
effectively' over that which it has exclusive jurisdiction"

and therefore “invalidly invade the federal agency’s exclusive domain.” This same reasoning applies to state opt-outs whether DR, DER, or storage.

Does that mean states authority is gutted? Not at all. States retain tremendous authority to shape the regulatory/investment environment that unlocks these technologies. If FERC one day makes a claim that a state measure goes too far and seeks to preempt it --

That's a new case that the court will have to decide on the facts. There will be a lot of scope to define the limits of FERC's authority going forward. But one thing is clear: the days of categorical state bans on resource participation in federal markets are over.