Focus on DERs
NARUC would like to thank the U.S. Department of Energy for their continued support of NCEP.
Jan Brinch has over thirty years of experience in the energy field, providing independent analysis and collaborative stakeholder support to public and private institutions on electricity issues, particularly the integration of distributed energy resources onto the grid.
Kerry Worthington has been supporting regulatory utility commissions for six years and has expertise in policy considerations for transmission planning, distributed energy resources integration, and rate design.
At the National Council on Electricity Policy's annual meeting, a diverse group of more than seventy participants from around the country heard examples of planning, operations, and market developments underway and needed for integrating higher levels of distributed energy resources on the distribution grid, and their impacts and intersection points on the transmission network.
They gained insights and lessons learned from state regulators, energy directors, utility managers, technologists, legislators, and consumer advocates who have been involved in recent DER-related distribution and transmission changes. And they shared their own questions, experiences, and research needs as investments in new energy-related technologies, products, and activities are underway along the transmission and distribution parts of the grid.
Particularly lively were discussions about whether DERs can reduce the need for bulk power investments and utility-scale renewable resources. There was a consensus that storage and distributed generation have the potential to reduce the need for transmission services, but great debate ensued about the role of energy efficiency, demand management, and other forms of non-wires alternatives. The potential exists within a transactive energy system for such programs to have an impact, but reliability and value to wholesale customers will certainly influence their full potential role.