Advanced Energy Perspectives

Virtually every industry is transforming to incorporate data strategically, and the information age has finally arrived in the electric utility industry. With the deployment of smart meters now approaching 50% of all electric meters, utilities are collecting massive amounts of granular data. The question is, how can utilities best utilize all of this data and make it available—and useful—to customers and third parties?

Energy storage is a game changer. Ultimately, it could free the electric power system from matching generation and consumption on a minute-by-minute basis, saving electricity until it’s needed. Policymakers, utilities, and customers are beginning to recognize its value. Doug Little, chair of the Arizona Corporation Commission, summed up the potential of behind-the-meter (BTM) storage this way: “Energy storage technology is really the 'secret sauce’ for the future of residential rooftop solar.” At AEE, we agree, but add that it could be the secret sauce for numerous other applications - on both sides of the meter. That makes energy storage a key  technology for modernizing the energy grid and leading to an advanced energy future.

Back in January, we published a list of the top 10 public utility commission issues to watch in 2016. With 2016 heading into the home stretch, we check in on the top issues facing utility commissions so far this year. Not surprisingly, the challenges PUCs are grappling with are all over the map: sweeping changes in utility business models, utility M&A, grid modernization, rate design, smart meter data access, demand charges for residential customers, energy storage, electric vehicle charging infrastructure, to name a few. Here is a status check of the Top 10 matters before PUCs to date.  

This post was originally published on SmartGridNews. Read it in full by clicking here.

The rise in customer-sited distributed generation (DG) and the success of energy efficiency (EE) programs in reducing load growth have brought rate design to the fore as utilities look for ways to ensure cost recovery and reduce risk. The large uptick in fixed charge proposals has continued as a result, but now a new trend toward a more sophisticated rate design has emerged - demand charges. Demand charges, the argument goes, are intended to better align revenue collection with cost and provide a strong incentive for customers to reduce their peak consumption. But do they really make sense for residential customers?

Rapid improvements in advanced energy technologies, increased customer adoption of distributed energy resources (DER), and changing public policy goals are driving change in our electric grid. Utilities historically have not taken DER - such as solar PV, demand response, energy efficiency, energy storage, or electric vehicles (EVs) - into consideration in their resource planning. The result is a business-as-usual resource plan, as if no DER were deployed. Cost savings in utility distribution system spending may be going unrealized because of excess capacity or because of investments in equipment for grid services that could be provided by DER at a lower cost. Getting utilities to consider DER in competition with traditional investments can lead to a more flexible, reliable, resilient, and clean grid, all while saving money for customers. The question is: how to do it?