Distributed Generation & Microgrids

Big Microgrid in Bronzeville

Exelon

Exelon subsidiary ComEd began its Community of the Future program in 2016 with the Bronzeville Community Microgrid in Chicago. PUF journeyed there to see firsthand how ComEd is taking Chicago into the future with the first utility operated microgrid cluster.

Idaho National Lab on Distributed Energy

Microgrids

“The Microgrid in a Box can be plugged in just about anywhere. You would need a step-up transformer for the utility connection. Normally, to try to serve a building with it, but also have it tied to distribution, you’d be between the utility distribution transformer and the building.”

Energy is Digital

GE Vernova

“With the energy transition and accompanying rise of distributed energy resources like solar, wind, and renewables, the grid and the data architecture behind it is becoming more and more distributed. But distributed data is a difficult problem to solve.”

PPL and SEPA Fact-Find in Australia

Rooftop Solar

“We push technology hard at PPL mainly because we want to be the best utility in the country, in the world. That’s our goal, and you can’t be that unless you go out and learn from others.”

Consistent Methods to Evaluate DERs

Opposite of Arbitrary and Capricious

The National Standard Practice Manual for Benefit-Cost Analysis of Distributed Energy Resources offers regulators and others a set of fundamental principles that can guide decisions about how to conduct BCAs and which cost tests to use in their jurisdiction.

Integration of Grid-Edge Technologies

Duquesne Light

“The Association of Edison Illuminating Companies’ Distributed Energy Resource Subcommittee is a collective industry organization of utility-only members discussing the integration of grid-edge technologies.”

What California and Texas Have in Common

Guidehouse

California and Texas lack a coherent microgrid strategy. It is time to boldly step into the future with more sustainable solutions that offer much greater value to ratepayers, utilities, and the environment.