Advanced Energy Perspectives

This is a guest post from AEE affiliate member Navigant. To learn more about Navigant, click here. To learn more about membership in AEE, click here.

Disruption is a prevailing and uncompromising theme of technological innovation in the 21^st century. Technologies that can slice through preexisting layers of regulatory and business model processes to directly connect customers to the goods and services they seek are gaining traction across global markets. As a result, the regulatory compacts and constructs that have governed various forms of natural monopolies in energy markets face formidable challenges from distributed energy resources (DER). Chief among these challenges is a growing demand from customers to integrate these cutting-edge products to the electric distribution grid.

From solar photovoltaics (PV) and energy storage to demand response (DR)-enabled thermostats and electric vehicles (EVs), technologies with capabilities that were previously only provided to electric grids from supply-side resources are becoming available to the average consumer. Navigant Research expects the installed cost for PV in global markets to fall below $1.50 per watt by 2024, while the North American market for EV services and equipment is expected to grow to more than $4 billion by 2025. These trends fueling DER adoption bring with them complications for network operators, requiring nuanced coordination. This tangible convergence of DER interconnections to networks ill-suited to integrate demand-side behaviors is ground zero for DER disruption of the global energy landscape. The answer? Integrated Distributed Energy Resources (iDER) portfolios – and they’re coming.

The Obama Administration’s landmark Clean Power Plan (CPP) is currently on hold due to an unprecedented stay issued by the U.S. Supreme Court. A legal challenge to the sweeping rule to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from electric power plants was to be expected. But this court case is not what it seems.

The states and powerful interests suing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) say they are trying to rein in an agency that has overstepped its legal bounds. What they are really engaged in is a last-ditch attempt to slow down, if not reverse, changes in our electric power system that are well underway. 

Here’s what’s already happening:  

Apple's new 50 MW solar farm, built in partnership with AEE member First Solar, will supply Apple’s data center in Arizona.

They say, “if you build it they will come,” but in the case of advanced energy, they might just build it themselves. Major companies are making major investments in renewable energy development: Amazon, Johnson & Johnson, and Apple are upping their commitments. Plus, energy storage (and particularly solar + storage) continues to change the game. That’s what in the news this week.

Ohio’s electricity system is at a crossroads. The freeze of the renewable portfolio standard (RPS) and the energy efficiency resource standard (EERS) implemented by SB310 in 2014 will be lifted on January 1, 2017. Over the last two years, policy uncertainty has undermined investment in Ohio’s advanced energy industry. Meanwhile, utilities are warning of closures to uneconomic plants, which would leave customers exposed to reliability issues and rate hikes. To provide a data-driven perspective on Ohio’s energy challenges, AEE Institute has published a report assessing four possible scenarios for meeting the state’s energy needs and ensuring reliability. This analysis, which is based on the use of AEE Institute’s modeling tool, shows that Ohio can chart a long-term energy strategy that promotes affordable and reliable power by taking advantage of cost-competitive advanced energy technologies, while also benefiting the state’s economy.