Bloomberg reported in February of Eversource’s announcement to sell 50% of its shares across two offshore wind projects in the US to Global Infrastructure Partners, LP. This came on the heels of another sale to Orsted A/S (50% stake) on another project in January of this year. This deal is supposed to be completed in the summer and bring in more than $1 billion, helping to offset previous losses of nearly $2 billion due to delayed or cancelled projects.

In the article, Niki Hsu a Bloomberg Intelligence analyst said that “Utilities really are trying to focus on their regulated businesses only…It’s less risky.” And she’s not wrong.

With the federal emphasis on clean energy, coupled with global decarbonization targets, and customer demand, utilities are looked to provide energy to communities with distributed energy resources, like solar and wind, but what are they truly responsible for?

Delivering safe, reliable energy come hell or high water.

It is a critical need to diversify the US’ energy portfolio mix, but it also needs to be done in a way that makes sense for everyone. And while there’s been a historic federal funding move from the Biden Administration to help offset infrastructure and innovation costs, it seems it may have come too late for Eversource.

According to Eversource CEO’s interview with Bloomberg analysts, “Moving forward, Eversource will focus on the delivery of clean safe, and reliable energy.”

As utilities transition back to safer waters, smart grid providers would do well to pay attention. Big projects mean big opportunities, but the real name of the game is grid reliability and visibility. Utilities are on the hook for providing seamless experiences so well managed, impactful solutions will be key to unlocking potential not only in traditional utilities offerings but in (re)opening the doors to new projects as well.