Executive Summary

Beneficial Recommendations

Some recommendations that could be beneficial for utilities and regulators at different stages in the changes to their distribution systems include:

  1. Participate in standards and specification efforts: Participate in some of the efforts that are being undertaken in different areas. For instance, participating in the SIWG effort can provide insights into different smart DER capabilities. Following the DRP process can provide information on avoided costs and DER benefits during planning processes. Participation in standards efforts, such as IEEE 1547 revision and updates to information standards like IEC 61850, DNP3, and SEP2, can allow participants to influence those standards.

  2. Hold workshops on key topics: Hold and/or participate in workshops on different topics to help inform the various stakeholders on ideas and results from your or other jurisdictions. These workshops could cover topics such as DER and distribution automation technologies, distribution planning and operational procedures, and pricing structure tradeoffs.

  3. Undertake pilot projects: Undertake or participate in pilot projects and research demonstrations that can help flesh out the technology requirements and validate the pricing and avoided cost value propositions. These projects can be in conjunction with stakeholder groups, such as DER manufacturers, DER integrators, communities, aggregators, and specific types of customers.

  4. Specify tools: Help specify new tools that could be used to analyze distribution systems, both for planning and for operations. For instance, distribution planning tools do not yet have the capability to assess locational values for DER, while distribution management systems (DMS) do not have the power flow or state estimation applications that could be used for improving the reliability and efficiency of distribution operations.

  5. Determine communication requirements: Determine different communication requirements for information exchanges with aggregators and facilities that are participating in any grid-management or market activities. Use communication standards that exist. Do not forget to include cyber security.