Beyond the Meter: Planning the Distributed Energy Future, Volume I: Emerging Electric Utility Distribution Planning Practices for Distributed Energy Resources Utility distributed energy resource (DER) planning challenges and trends Key DER adoption forecast tools and benefits of DER planning Proactive planning process for DER deployment Download Report DER Penetration and Planning The market landscape for electric utilities in the United States is shifting dramatically toward a future with much higher distributed energy resource (DER) penetration. To understand how utility planning is changing, Black & Veatch and the Smart Electric Power Alliance* (SEPA) interviewed five leading utilities across the United States and identified trends in utility planning practices. Each utility is pursuing a different mix of new methodologies and tools for DER planning based on its own unique circumstances and concerns. This is the first in a two-part series. What’s in the Report To assist utilities in addressing this major industry challenge, this report outlines a proactive DER planning process. The five processes are interconnected, where a change in any one aspect will affect the others. The report includes additional insights about: Proactive DER planning process for utilities Key DER adoption forecast tools and benefits of DER planning DERs that are most impactful to utilities Most significant challenges to supporting a high penetration of DERs *formerly Solar Electric Power Association