Advanced Energy Perspectives

Keeping up with the influx of new information on distributed energy resources (DERs) can be daunting. DERs are physical and virtual assets that are deployed across the distribution grid, typically close to load, and usually behind the meter, which can be used individually or in aggregate to provide value to the grid, individual customers, or both. A particular industry interest seems to be centered on DERs — such as solar, storage, energy efficiency, and demand management — that can be aggregated to provide services to the electric grid.

Since the U.S. Department of Energy released the 2017 U.S. Energy and Employment Report last month, several reports have come out from industry trade groups, and, though they focus on different things, there’s one overarching conclusion. As the Sustainable Energy in America Factbook says, there’s a new normal in America, and that normal is advanced energy. AEE members are making it so, from energy efficiency and big data to making solar + storage available to everyone.

Today, the Business Council for Sustainable Energy (BCSE) and Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) released their fifth annual “Sustainable Energy in America Factbook.” What’s the big theme that emerges from the book this year? Advanced energy is now the new normal, adding gigawatts of new renewable energy generation capacity and improving energy productivity to meet the demands of a growing economy.

Not too long ago, the media was heralding a possible end to the current era of utilities, calling them “dinosaurs” and debating the speed with which the “utility death spiral” would overtake them. Over the past few years, it’s become clear that utilities aren’t going anywhere anytime soon, but the utility business model is undergoing significant and permanent changes – driven by advanced energy. On that point, this week we saw a lot of thinking, and doing, in the news.