This report from West Monroe Partners surveyed 1,700 customers, 140 utilities and 24 regulators across North America to assess the impact of customer demand for distributed energy resources (DERS) from strategy through technological needs and system integration. Among utilities, 92% have DERs on their system and 40% view DERs as an opportunity. Approximately 28% of aggregated communities are adding DERs to their systems. In addition, 40% of regulators are looking at performance-based ratemaking. This paper is relevant for utilities, regulators, energy customers, investment/financing, technology and business leaders.
Key words: energy management, market sizing, systems integration, DER, utilities, regulatory policy