There’s a perfect storm looming for the utility industry. The rapid penetration of distributed energy resources (DER) is posing many operational challenges for our power grids. At the same time, market and regulatory dynamics are shifting rapidly as policymakers implement new rules incentivizing or even mandating increased reliance on DER assets such as rooftop solar PV, advanced batteries, and electric vehicles. Concurrently, the pace of recent technological innovation has been fast and furious, even as a more empowered customer base demands more and better products and services. With all of these factors converging, how do utilities and energy retailers prepare for, and then weather this perfect storm?
This roundtable will focus on how to best navigate a rapidly changing industry where DER assets emerge as dominant new sources providing an increasing array of grid services. Participants include the following three individuals from Generac Grid Services: Michael Goldman, who drove one of the industry’s most forward-thinking distributed energy control projects; Jessie Mehrhoff, who led the virtual power plant research service for one of the market’s leading analyst firms (Guidehouse Insights); and Eric Young, who has more than 20 years of experience helping utilities make sense of digital disruption.