Going to the Next Level: The Growth of Distributed Energy Resources [Guest Editorial]

The six articles in this special section focus on distributed energy resources (DERs). Since the first issue in this magazine on DER grid integration in the summer of 2009, DERs, specifically, solar PV-based systems, have evolved considerably to meet the needs of the power system from a planning and operations perspective. The result of this evolution is the theme of this issue: DERs play a major role in the power system. When relatively small numbers of PVs were first being installed, they were often showcases or demonstrations for the underlying technology, which was still quite expensive. The grid integration of these systems was a great research project, but many impacts we now see regularly simply did not exist at the earlier low-penetration levels. Now, nearly every distribution utility has experienced at least a few instances and challenges of DER integration within its service territory.