Get a free preview of Jeff St. John's take on the best the grid edge has to offer in 2017.
| | | An update on the latest progress (and conflict) in the Golden State as regulatory proceedings guiding DER integration unfold | | by Jeff St. John | | This year has already brought a lot of regulatory activity around distributed resources in California. Much of it is happening at the nitty-gritty level where working groups hash out metrics and methodologies, or administrative law judges weigh the merits of data access and market openness. With some of the key policy efforts reaching their halfway mark in terms of schedule, there’s still a lot of work left to do. California hasn’t yet delivered on the broader vision of a grid that connects utilities and customers in an interactive, integrated way. The CPUC is still working on a framework to value DERs as distribution grid assets. The role for distributed energy as a market participant is currently limited to pilot projects, and CPUC and grid operator CAISO have yet to decide how to manage their overlapping responsibilities when it comes to DERs. This is a free preview of Jeff St. John's weekly grid edge update for GTM Squared members. Click here to join. Technology-specific proceedings -- net metering and time-of-use rates rates for solar, energy storage mandate for batteries, rebates for batteries and fuel cells, and demand response dockets for demand-side energy management -- aren’t yet well coordinated. The state’s Distributed Energy Resources Action Plan created in mid-2016 helps provide a framework for getting there, but still leaves gaps in creating a holistic regulatory framework. This leaves us with plenty of context for discussions at this week's conference on California's Distributed Energy Future. (Squares can watch the live stream of the event here.) Two key proceedings aimed at finding the value of DERs as replacements for distribution grid capital investments -- the Distribution Resources Plan (DRP) and integrated distributed energy resources (IDER) proceedings -- are bringing the most activity. Over the last few months, there have been some important updates on how these two efforts are coming along -- and where conflicts may be stalling progress. Distribution Resources Plan: Finding the value of DERs Commissioner Picker’s Distribution Resources Plan proceeding was created in 2014 as part of AB 327, the state law that led to the NEM 2.0 decision, as well as many other updates to state energy policy. The key goal of the DRP is to push the state’s investor-owned utilities -- Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison, and San Diego Gas & Electric -- to discover the value of DERs as part of their multibillion-dollar distribution grid budgets. | | |
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