In an effort to provide a common foundation of terminology and knowledge on the energy transition now underway in the United States, three energy industry nonprofits have, for the first time, partnered on a new, online resource guide of key articles, reports and other materials on distributed energy resources (DERs).
Co-authored by the Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA), Advanced Energy Economy (AEE) and the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), “Distributed Energy Resources 101” is intended to be broadly accessible to regulators and other policy makers, as well as journalists, researchers and general readers.
The guide defines DERs as “physical and virtual assets that are deployed across the distribution grid, typically close to load, and usually behind the meter, which can be used individually or in aggregate to provide value to the grid, individual customers, or both.”
The guide notes that utility capital expenditures for grid modernization aimed at integrating DERs are now running at around $100 billion per year — even as demand for electricity remains flat — trends that could end up raising electric rates in the coming decade. Working together on the guide, SEPA, AEE and RMI all seek to optimize the use and value of DERs, while minimizing rate impacts, by providing a core of basic understandings that can be used as a starting point for ongoing discussions.
As embodied in the articles chosen for the guide, these key understandings are: DERs can provide positive value to the grid and utility customers; integration of DERs requires new planning paradigms; and solutions for the challenges ahead will be rooted in information sharing and collaborative partnerships.
The guide is one of a range of free, online resources SEPA offers via sepapower.org.
News item from SEPA