Preparing Distribution Utilities for the Future - Evolving Customer Consumption in Renewable Rich Grids: A Novel Analytical Framework

The research collaboration between NREL and BYPL focuses on the challenges caused by renewable integration into the power grid at large. Since the challenges and opportunities vary depending on the point of interconnection (distribution or transmission) the research team identified two tracks for research as listed below: 1. Power procurement - This research track focuses on the challenges and opportunities caused by GW scale renewable integration at the transmission level. Specifically, this track focuses on the contribution that utility-scale renewable energy procurement provides to distribution utilities, both from energy and capacity perspectives. In this track of research, utility customers are only considered as traditional (one-directional) consumers of energy. 2. Distributed energy resources - This research track focuses on the challenges and opportunities caused by many small-scale distributed renewable resource integrations at the distribution systems. At the power distribution level, distribution utilities may face not only new solar energy technologies, but also battery energy storage and electric vehicles as well. These three technologies (solar PV, battery energy storage, and electric vehicles) combined, pose unique challenges to distribution utilities. This track focuses on assessing the net-load evolution that distribution utilities observe as these emerging technologies make their way to the grid.