Distributed Energy Resources  -  September 24, 2020

DERs could lead energy system transformation, study finds

Integrated distributed energy resources could account for at least 50% of all new generation capacity by 2030, a new study found.

Guidehouse’s Energy, Sustainability, and Infrastructure (ES&I) released a new white paper that iDER could enable a more successful transformation of the energy system to meet evolving demand and customer needs if system operations and organization that embrace DER networks and their underlying technologies are embraced. They advocate for increased acceleration by energy providers to transform their business models to accommodate for such a change in the energy landscape.

“The shift away from centralized generation requires integration platforms that can aggregate, organize, optimize, schedule, and settle rapid-fire transactions that are necessary to keep the grid in balance,” Dan Hahn, leader of Guidehouse’s Energy Providers practice, said in a statement. “Nurtured by technology, artificial intelligence (AI), and machine-learning algorithms, iDER solutions may serve specific stakeholders, but they’re also aimed at a common purpose: supporting a sustainable, reliable, affordable, and customer-centric energy system.”

To achieve this transition, Guidehouse suggests that relationships among utilities, suppliers and consumers will be reimagined to integrate DER as standard practice, rather than an exception.

“The only way to meet the sustainability, affordability, and decarbonization goals set forth by public and private sectors is to reinvent utilities and allow for better orchestration of flexible loads, generators, and energy storage to deliver value across the entire Energy Cloud ecosystem,” said Peter Asmus, research director at Guidehouse Insights. “Stakeholders that move now to embrace iDER will be better prepared to reap the rewards sooner.”