DER Benefits Analysis Studies: Final Report

The electric power industry in the United States is undergoing dramatic change. Once totally controlled by utilities that had monopolistic holds on the supply, transmission and distribution of electricity in their service areas, the electric power system is being deregulated, introducing competition among electricity providers who can distinguish themselves by price, services and other factors.The new electric power system will feature advanced technologies and services that can be used on-site or located in close proximity to the load, instead of depending solely upon large, central station generation and transmission. Using a variety of advanced modular generating technologies (including small-scale renewables), distributed energy resource (DER) plants supply base-load power,peaking power, backup power, remote power and/or heating and cooling, and in some cases supply higher and more reliable quality power. Currently, DER represent a minor part of the electric supply system. If the potential of DER is to be realized in the new electric power market, a full understanding of the value and benefits these technologies provide to the electric system is necessary. Thisreport includes 30 key quantitative studies reporting on the values and benefits of distributed energy generation technologies (including renewables) in various applications, as well as a matrix that permits key comparisons.