der

  • At a Time of Accelerating Change, Utilities Need to Build Flexibility into Their Strategy for Load Growth

    The past few years have brought decades worth of change to electric utilities. An increasing fraction of supply is coming from intermittent sources like solar and wind. Energy storage technology has become economically viable and has seen widespread deployment. And the industry as a whole is grappling with what seems like insatiable new demand from […]

  • How ADMS and DERMS Are Delivering Smarter Solutions for Utilities and Customers

    Advanced Distribution Management Systems (ADMS) and Distributed Energy Resource Management Systems (DERMS) are crucial grid management technologies in today’s modern power delivery system. ADMS integrates multiple utility operational systems into a unified control platform. It combines functions like outage management, supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems, and distribution automation (DA) to provide operators with […]

  • The Energy Transition Requires a Holistic Approach

    Over the last few years, the energy industry has moved down a path of massive change, disruption, and uncertainty. In the U.S., growth projections over the next 15 years include 2,000 GW of PV solar and wind, 1,100 GW of storage, all seemingly coming from nowhere, driving grid interconnection requests at the end of 2023 […]

  • Powering the Future: How Smart Energy Storage Will Transform Our Power Grid

    The urgency for an energy transition has never been more critical. Climate change, air pollution, resilience, and national security concerns make it clear that minor adjustments to our energy system are no longer sufficient. We must revolutionize the 150-year-old electrical grid, transforming it into a robust energy ecosystem capable of meeting today’s demands and the […]

  • Unlocking the Benefits of Virtual Power Plants with Digital Technology

    Most people, when they imagine a power plant, picture equipment like smokestacks that stretch hundreds of feet into the sky, massive, spinning turbines and the hum of electric transmission lines that deliver power into the bulk electric grid. As power demand increases beyond current power plant capacities and clean energy goals are accelerated, power generation […]

  • Building a Better Grid—Infrastructure Upgrades Require Ingenuity, Innovation, and Investment

    The need for more reliability and resilience of power delivery, both in the U.S. and worldwide, has utilities and grid operators looking for solutions to the challenge of bolstering the electricity supply. Electric grid infrastructure, both in the U.S. and other parts of the world, needs an upgrade. Increased power demand from energy-intensive industries such […]

  • Interconnection Cost-Causer-Pays Model: Is It Fair or Antiquated in the Era of Grid Modernization

    The transition to green energy is often seen through two different lenses: a burden or an opportunity. Grid modernization refers to a comprehensive transformation of the traditional power grid to upgrade aging infrastructure to enhance reliability, resilience, efficiency, and sustainability of electricity generation, transmission, distribution, and consumption. A key element of grid modernization is designing […]

  • Microgrids a Win for Both Owners and Grid Operators

    According to a guidebook issued by Sandia National Laboratories, a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) multi-mission laboratory, microgrids are defined as a group of interconnected loads and distributed energy resources (DERs) that act as a single controllable entity. A microgrid can operate in either grid-connected or island mode, which includes some entirely off-grid applications. A […]

  • Converged Field Area Networks: Modernizing the Grid for a Sustainable Future

    We’ve come a long way since the first waterwheel in 200 BC. Renewable energy sources now make up about 30% of the world’s generated power and are set to more than double as governments and utilities aim to meet their net-zero emission targets by 2050. That’s a tall order, especially for utilities with an aging […]

  • Choosing the Right Distributed Energy Resource

    The decision on whether or not to invest in distributed energy resources is complicated. Evaluating all aspects, including cost, consumption metrics, resource availability, personal goals, and reliability

  • Itron and Duke Energy Florida Collaborate to Deliver Managed EV Charging Program

    Duke Energy Florida Will Use Itron’s DER Optimizer Solution to Monitor Residential EV Charging LIBERTY LAKE, Wash. — March 22, 2022 — Itron, Inc. (NASDAQ: ITRI), which is innovating the way utilities and cities manage energy and water, and Duke Energy Florida, which supplies electrical services to 1.9 million customers throughout Florida, are collaborating to […]

  • Voltus and Coinmint Partner to Reduce Energy Consumption and Bolster Grid Reliability

    SAN FRANCISCO & BOSTON, March 15, 2022 – Voltus, Inc. (“Voltus”), the leading distributed energy resource (DER) software technology platform, and Coinmint, LLC (“Coinmint”) a leading blockchain data center company, today announce they are supporting grid reliability by delivering 100 megawatts (MWs) of demand response to the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO). Located in […]

  • EnergyHub Acquires Packetized Energy to Extend High-Value Grid Service Capabilities

    NEW YORK and VERMONT, March 1, 2022: EnergyHub, the industry-leading provider of distributed energy resource (DER) management solutions (DERMS), announced today that it acquired Packetized Energy, a leading developer of software systems that enable flexible grid services from DERs and provide utilities with deep insight into grid operations. As utilities set aggressive carbon reduction goals […]

  • A Win-Win-Win Solution for DER Owners, the Power Grid, and the Environment

    New distributed energy resources (DERs) are being added to the power grid every day. However, DERs don’t automatically provide owners with the greatest value possible. In many cases, that requires the help of an aggregator, that is, a company that specializes in managing DERs owned by a pool of clients and optimizing performance of the […]

  • GE Digital Will Acquire Opus One Solutions to Advance the Energy Transition

    Combined technology portfolio to enable broad, rapid adoption of renewables and Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) at all points on the grid Creates interoperable portfolio that will help utilities forecast, manage, optimize, and trade renewables coming onto the electric grid Merges a century of continuous GE innovation with a talented team of Opus One engineers and […]

  • Electrification of Everything—Digital Circuit Breakers Support DER Adoption

    The continued push toward electrification creates a need for technologies that provide a way to integrate distributed energy resources (DERs) into the power grid, certainly at the residential level where

  • Sunverge Distributed Energy Resource Control, Orchestration and Aggregation Platform Supports Panasonic EverVolt Residential Battery Storage System

    SAN FRANCISCO (March 2, 2021) — Sunverge, the provider of an industry-leading real-time Distributed Energy Resource (DER) control and aggregation platform, today announced that the Sunverge Energy Platform and the Sunverge Infinity intelligent edge controller are now fully integrated with EverVolt, the residential energy storage system (ESS) from leading technologies and solutions developer Panasonic. The […]

  • Renewables and Distributed Energy Resources Take Center Stage as Power Is Transferred to the People

    2021 Predictions for Energy, Utilities, and Resources Even if the climate crisis is currently having to share headline space with the global pandemic, it has by no means lost its traction. Nor have the perils of climate change lost any of their urgency. Taking a global stance, I would say that the charge to lower […]

  • Transforming the Power Industry with DERMS Deployments and Beyond

    The shift from energy consumers to prosumers is fundamentally changing the relationship between utilities and their customers. Behind-the-meter distributed energy resources (DERs) transform the ways households consume, generate, and store power. In the U.S., there are now about 15 million smart thermostats, 2 million solar installations, and 1.5 million electric vehicles (EVs) on the road. And […]

  • What Is DERMS and How Can It Help Utilities?

    A distributed energy resource management system, or DERMS, is a software platform used to manage a group of distributed energy resource (DER) assets—such as rooftop photovoltaic solar panels, behind-the-meter batteries, or a fleet of electric vehicles—to deliver vital grid services and balance demand with supply to help utilities achieve mission-critical outcomes. As a guest on […]

  • Smarter Grid Solutions finalizes five solutions for flexible solar interconnection to utility grids

    May 20, 2020 — Clean energy software firm Smarter Grid Solutions (SGS) has developed five methods that could double the capacity available for solar panels and other distributed energy resources (DERs) to connect to individual electricity substations. Using the company’s ANM Element software product, utility companies can monitor the amount of power generated by solar […]

  • Technology for Managing Distributed Energy Resources

    With the growth of distributed energy resources, including rooftop solar, wind turbines, battery energy storage systems, electric vehicles, and demand response technology, distributed energy resource management systems (DERMS) are becoming increasingly important for utilities. Brad Williams, vice president of Industry Strategy with Oracle Utilities was a guest on The POWER Podcast. He touched on a […]

  • 2020: A Moment of Truth for Utilities

    The start of a new decade marks a critical moment for utilities. As the pace of change accelerates, industry leaders are facing choices that will determine which companies prosper in the new competitive landscape and which languish as slow-growth commodity businesses. West Monroe’s 2020 Energy and Utilities Outlook provides a guide to planning for a […]

  • The POWER Interview: Google, Utilities Partner for Energy Solutions

    Businesses are putting more emphasis on sustainability, coordinating their operations to ensure financial success while also being mindful of environmental concerns. Investors in many cases are demanding companies embrace sustainability, which often includes being more efficient in their use of energy. That’s one reason behind the growth in distributed power generation, as companies develop their […]

  • Report: Blockchain Not Well-Suited to Transactive Energy

    Blockchain—a distributed database technology that allows a network of parties to securely transact with each other—has been hailed as a game-changing innovation in the power sector for its potential to

  • Unlocking Value at the Grid-Edge: Extending the Reach of the Utility Control Room

    Just 10 years ago, the magnitude of behind-the-meter distributed energy resources (DERs) at the edge of the grid was not materially significant. All that has changed, and we’re now at an inflection point: by

  • EDD to lead $4.9MM U.S. DOE Project for Resilient DER Integration

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Energy has selected Electrical Distribution Design (EDD) to lead a project focused on increasing solar situational awareness and grid resilience through threat detection. EDD, working with project partners PEPCO Holdings (PHI), Clean Power Research (CPR), Florida State University (FSU), Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA), University of Delaware (UD), […]

  • Prepare for More Distributed Energy Resources [PODCAST]

    Paul DeCotis, senior director in West Monroe Partners’ Energy and Utilities practice, was a guest on The POWER Podcast. West Monroe, in partnership with Greentech Media, conducted a survey of more than 1,700 utility customers, 140 utility executives and managers, and more than two dozen regulators in major markets across North America. Its findings were […]

  • How Power Companies Can Influence Customer Behavior [PODCAST]

    It is safe to say that all electricity customers want reliable and resilient power service. One way that some end-users are ensuring they get it is by investing in distributed energy resources and building microgrids. But rather than simply using these systems as emergency backups, more and more owners are finding ways to capture economic […]

  • NYISO Announces Distributed Energy Resource Pilot Projects

    Demonstration of DER aggregations seek to expand market competition and improve New York’s energy infrastructure Rensselaer, NY | The New York Independent System Operator, Inc. (NYISO) today announced the selection of three pilot projects to demonstrate the capabilities of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) and options for their integration into its wholesale markets. These pilot projects […]