ORIGINAL REPORTING: The Rise Of Distributed Energy Resources Goes On

DERs in 2016: What experts expect for a booming sector; Tax credit extensions can be a big opportunity for utilities and DER developers in the upcoming year

Herman K. Trabish, January 4, 2016 (Utility Dive)

Editor’s note: The excitement around DER has accelerated since this piece was written, both in the policy arena and the marketplace.

More affordable wind, utility-scale solar, and distributed solar are continuing to leverage new applications in energy storage and smart devices and synergistic distributed energy resources (DERs) are attracting corporate buyers, shared renewables developers, and even mainstream energy sector players. Utilities have increased efforts to incorporate DERs into planning processes, transforming some formerly hostile regulatory proceedings into collaborative, solution-oriented rate design conversations. The growth is already making the grid more reliable and resilient, making it likely Clean Power Plan goals will be met more easily and cost-effectively than expected.

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One broad subject DER experts are talking about is the disruptive force of combined DERs. Navigant expects demand response (DR) to be the most widely deployed set of DER technologies in 2016 and going forward, with solar the next biggest deployment among DERs. The combination of solar and storage will be the fast-growing and the most disruptive of the DERs, with standard offerings expanding to include a “full suite” of DERs, including load management and electric vehicle charging… click here for more

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