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DISTRIBUTED ENERGY RESOURCES
funding to electric co-ops willing to deploy
a distributed energy resource management
system, known as DERMS
(Figure 4), to monitor and control DERs.
Part of the project's research is to study
and measure how a DERMS set-up can
assist with outage restoration.
Naylor added, " Candidly,
I don't believe
any additional government policies
are necessary to support future growth
in DERs. Our experience has suggested
that consumers are already actively pursuing
DERs due to extreme weather
events. That being said, I believe it is important
for stakeholders to work with the
various electric markets [such as ERCOT]
to encourage DERs are properly integrated
into the market construct. ERCOT
has created an Aggregate DER [ADER]
Task Force for this. If DER resources are
properly integrated into the market, then
utilities can capture those incentives and
pass them on to their customers.
" Rayburn is also a task force member
in ERCOT's ADER Task Force, working
with the task force to identify ways to
allow for more participation into these
market functions and with other cooperatives
on the Task Force to study and
prove cost savings models and boost
grid stability, " said Naylor.
Grid stability is a particular concern
in Texas, where winter storms and
extreme summer heat have brought
concerns about the state's grid and its
power supply. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott
and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick last summer
said there needed to be an immediate
review of all policies related to the
state's grid. There are plans to build
more natural gas-fired power plants,
and more transmission lines to move
electricity. And along with large-scale
infrastructure, state utility commissioners
in the past few years have called for
more deployment of DERs.
Naylor said that with Rayburn, " We
see more use cases for 'Resiliency as a
Service' as a unique rate structure that
can assist large industrial consumers
with efficiently and effectively managing
their electrical demand. While most are
standby generators, batteries are also
making inroads as a solution.
" Rayburn officially launched its DER
program in early 2023 by partnering with
Generac Grid Services to establish a
home generator program with one of its
member distribution cooperatives: Farmers
Electric Cooperative, " said Naylor.
" To date, Rayburn has seen an increase
in participation levels totaling approximately
1 MW of capacity, which is the
equivalent of powering 1,000 homes on
average. " Rayburn was able to successfully
dispatch these resources during
peak times in the ERCOT market this
past summer.
Naylor said electric utilities should
" certainly " support the owners and operators
of DER projects. " Utilities are
already positioned to assist their customers
for these resources, and they
need to be actively involved in the interconnection
process to ensure safe and
reliable operations of the DER projects
as well as the grid. DERs have enormous
potential to benefit the system and, if
utilities can work collaboratively with the
owners/operators, the benefits can impact
the entire community. "
Putting Power Where It's Needed
" Distributed solar, commercial-scale
solar, means we build facilities where
power is most needed, such as on
large rooftops of warehouses, municipal
buildings, and other high-demand
areas, " said Abhi Parmar, chief investment
officer for Altus Power, a Connecticut-based
clean power company. " This
proximity reduces reliance on long-distance
transmission, lowers costs, and
benefits the local community. "
Parmar told POWER: " The Altus Power
project at the Morgan Stanley campus in
Purchase, New York, is a great example.
Altus owns and operates a solar array on
the carport at the campus. Roughly 40%
of the clean power generated goes to
power the campus itself and the remaining
60% is sent to the ConEd grid, allowing
New Yorkers to subscribe to the Altus
Power Community Solar program, saving
money on their electric bills while supporting
a greener community. This model
is powerful in that it not only brings the
benefits of renewable energy to local
households at lower rates, it also creates
a sustainable business model that benefits
everyone involved-the community,
the landlord, and the grid. "
Emporia's McLaughlin told POWER,
" One of the most promising technologies
for residential power is bidirectional
charging, or V2G, which allows electric
vehicles to feed electricity into the grid
during peak demand or into homes during
a power outage for backup. This flexibility,
together with solar and battery
storage, enables customers to lower
energy costs, mitigate peak loads, and
improve grid reliability. "
McLaughlin added, " The 'Bring Your
Own Device' ConnectedSolutions program
in Massachusetts and Rhode Island
works in conjunction with a number of
utilities and Emporia Energy to integrate
home batteries and other DER technologies.
Holy Cross Energy's lease-to-own
battery programs with Emporia include
offerings at reasonable costs to Colorado
residents with zero-dollar down and
zero-percent interest. These sorts of initiatives
advance the deployment of the
DERs and help in making the energy grid
resilient and stable. "
Said ABB's Nelson: " The market for
DERs is changing fast, driven by increasing
demand for renewable energy solutions
and the need for greater energy
independence. As the demand for electricity
continues to increase, electric utilities
may struggle to meet the needs of
the customer as quickly as desired. It's
possible that by adding solar and storage,
the increased demand could be
supplemented with the DERs instead of
4. A distributed energy resource management system (DERMS) helps monitor and control the
use of DERs across a network. Source: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)
January 2025 |POWER
www.powermag.com
an expensive grid upgrade. " ■
-Darrell Proctor is a senior editor
at POWER.
23
http://www.powermag.com
pwr_january-2025

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