IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - November/December 2020 - 16

guest editorial

Barry Mather and Guohui Yuan

onward and upward
distributed energy resource integration

WHEN THIS COLUMN WAS WRITten, it is fair to say that most IEEE
Power & Energy Society members have
experienced, or continue to experience,
a significant level of disruption to their
normal work practices. Yet, during this
extended period of wide-scale workfrom-home reality that many of us are
experiencing, the continued availability
of critical services has been impressive.
Most impressive has been the reliable
supply of power to our homes-turnedoffices. The integration of high levels
of distributed energy resources (DERs)
into our power systems, the focus of this
issue, is perhaps even more topical in
our current working environment, where
our working style is decentralized-just
like DERs compared to centralized generators-and overall power system reliability and resilience is more impactful.
With the continued installation of
approximately 100 GW per year globally, the role of grid-connected photovoltaics (PVs) in the power system continues to increase. In the United States,
more than half of the grid-connected
PV capacity is interconnected at the
distribution level. Although other countries have different penetration levels
of DERs, all are generally experiencing higher levels of DER interest and
deployment. A common international
theme is the rapid growth of DERs
driven by customer demand once the
capability to interconnect generation
on the distribution level is realized, folDigital Object Identifier 10.1109/MPE.2020.3016100
Date of current version: 16 October 2020

ieee power & energy magazine

lowed by sustained deployment until
existing technical limits are met. Given
the obvious need for highly reliable and
resilient power delivery and the changing landscape of not only the "type" of
generation but also where it is located
in the overall power system, how can
we effectively plan and operate the
power system with ever higher levels of
DERs? Luckily, there is strong support
for high-quality research focused on
integrating distributed PVs and other
DERs into the electric grid worldwide.
For instance, in the United States, the
U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has
been supporting research in integrating
distributed PVs and other DERs into the
electric grid with millions of dollars
invested each year. These research
programs address system-level issues
in DER integration to meet customer
needs while maintaining grid reliability,
resilience, and security. These activities
are also organized through DOE initiatives such as the Grid Modernization
Initiative and the Energy Storage Grand
Challenge. The DOE collaborates with
14 national laboratories and more than
100 industry partners to develop the
knowledge base and technical capabilities needed to modernize the U.S. electric infrastructure. This research has
helped to accelerate the development
and application of DER technologies
that advance the modernization of energy systems in the United States.
There are more than 2.3 million solar
generators on the U.S. distribution system
today, with steady growth expected in the
future. The integration of electric vehicle

(EV) charging stations, energy storage
devices, and energy-efficient buildings
is also increasing steadily. Managing
many small resources embedded in the
power system is a fundamental challenge
compared to managing the traditionally
centralized grid. Additional challenges
with DERs are the variability and uncertainty in generation and load due to
unforeseen and uncontrolled events. But
DERs can also offer many benefits to
power systems: they are more scalable,
the generation is closer to the load, and
they are more adaptive. As the power system relies more and more on networked
communications and digital technologies and natural disasters such as hurricanes, flooding, and wildfires increase in
severity and frequency, the exposure to
cyberattacks and physical hazards also
increases. Localized DER technologies
can help the power system be more resilient when a disruption does occur. During
hazards, the power system can be reconfigured into independent secure segments
that each contain load and generation.
This can enhance grid resilience to keep
critical services online and restore service
faster with help from the fast-responding
power electronics in solar generation and
energy storage systems.
This is the seventh issue of IEEE
Power & Energy Magazine, since 2009,
that has now focused on the challenges
of integrating DERs into the power
system at scale. Each of the five theme
articles included in this issue focus on
multiple elements of DER integration,
where the DER-centric technology, planning, operating methods, and so on play
november/december 2020

IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - November/December 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - November/December 2020