The distributed energy revolution is already underway. In 2008, New York City boasted a fleet of backup generators estimated at about 2 gigawatts, or roughly 20% of the annual coincident peak demand. Nearly 15% of homeowners in the United States own a backup generator, according to Generac, a manufacturer of generators based in Wisconsin. By contrast, the distributed generation revolution is only just beginning. In 2015, only about one million homes, or slightly less than 1% of all homes, had installed rooftop solar panels in the United States, according to the EnergySage .
Unlike backup generators, rooftop solar panels are almost always interconnected with the electric power grid. This is because solar panels seldom produce sufficient power to supply all of a home’s electricity needs at a given time. In addition to relying on the grid as a source of supplemental power, home and business owners with onsite solar systems typically sell a portion of the electricity they generate to distribution utilities under an arrangement known as net metering. To do so, they need to be interconnected with the electric grid.
The reason backup generators are rarely interconnected with the electric grid is that the interconnection process is frequently expensive and administratively cumbersome.
The cost and complexity of interconnecting distributed generation with the electric grid has been described as the Achilles heel for distributed energy.
Many of the value streams created by DG are difficult to capture without significant levels of interoperability. The result is that DG cannot always monetize the full scope of benefits it provides without significantly expanding the capital costs via an enhanced interconnection technology. The development of “plug-and-play” interconnection technologies that enabled greater levels of control, islanding detection, stability, protection, forecasting and similar functionalities would be a game changer.
The key to capturing the full value of interconnection is the […]
