Let's Make a Deal ©SHUTTERSTOCK.COM/J DENNIS By Beth Reid, Joe Bourg, and Devon Schmidt Non-Wires Alternatives for Traditional Transmission and Distribution? Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MPE.2021.3134145 Date of current version: 21 February 2022 march/april 2022 C 1540-7977/22©2022IEEE CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION AND ADAPTAtion strategies are having a profound impact on California's regulatory policies, electrical system loads, and resource planning strategies. This changing landscape is ushering in a new era of opportunity for the use of distributed energy resources (DERs) in nonwires alternatives (NWA) applications. For this article, the authors have defined DERs as resource portfolios comprised of distributed generation, energy storage technologies, and flexible loads. Increased loading on transmission and distribution lines and rising demand for energy supplies are creating ieeepower & energy magazine 23http://www.SHUTTERSTOCK.COM/J