In an article for Utility Dive about power sector trends to monitor this year, United's Harry Godfrey highlighted a growing trend toward distributed resources and demand response technologies as utilities aim to maximize current grid infrastructure and meet rising energy demand.
2026 will be a year of reckoning for the electric power industry.
Major policy changes in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which axed most subsidies for clean energy and electric vehicles, are forcing utilities, manufacturers, developers and others to pivot fast. The impacts of those changes will become more pronounced over the coming months.
Market forces will also have their say. Demand for power has never been greater. But some of the most aggressive predictions driving resource planning may not come to pass, leading some to fear the possibility of another tech bubble.
At the same time, each passing day brings more distributed energy resources onto the grid, increasing the opportunities — and expectations — for utilities to harness those resources into a more dynamic, flexible and resilient system.
Large and small load flexibility will play a more active role in grid management
New generation capacity takes years to build, but large commercial and industrial customers want power now.
Some hyperscalers and utilities are exploring ways for data centers and other large loads to connect to the grid faster by agreeing to flex during the few hours or days each year a system reaches peak demand. They can do this by powering down their operations, powering up their own generation or storage, or paying other users on the system to reduce consumption.
The idea of load flexibility is not limited to data centers. The proliferation of distributed energy resources, such as rooftop solar, home batteries, electric vehicles and smart appliances, as well as more sophisticated tools for managing those resources, have given rise to the virtual power plant, in which thousands of individual utility customers can participate.
Harry Godfrey, a managing director with Advanced Energy United, said he sees the trend toward distributed resources and demand response technologies growing, especially with rapid demand growth raising the pressure on utilities to squeeze more out of existing resources.
“I think we are starting to see more awareness of the value that these resources can provide [and] the speed with which they can provide that value — the value both to the grid, but also to individual consumers,” Godfrey said.
Read the full article here.