Beyond the Meter: Planning the Distributed Energy Future, Volume I: Emerging Electric Utility Distribution Planning Practices for Distributed Energy Resources

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