Siemens has released key insights into how electric utilities in the United States and Canada are managing the rapid adoption of behind-the-meter distributed energy resources (DERs) in its new report “Seeing behind-the-meter: How electric utilities are adapting to the surge in distributed energy resources.”
Data from the study reveals the extent to which utilities are challenged by behind-the-meter distributed energy resources and the benefits that increased DER visibility could enable.
Study findings
Key findings include the importance of investing in technologies to boost visibility behind the meter, prioritizing DER management programs for a more reliable and stable grid, and strengthening customer trust to boost participation in management programs.
Siemens partnered with Oxford Economics – a pioneer in thought leadership, global economic forecasting, and econometric analysis to survey 100 decision-makers from electric utilities in the United States and Canada.
behind-the-meter DERs challenges
“The complexities associated with behind-the-meter DERs are a significant challenge to electricity distribution utilities in North America. Technology can help by providing actionable insights into the opportunities and challenges of these resources to improve grid resilience,” said Marcus McCarthy, SVP of Siemens Grid Software, US and Mexico.
"The software and digitalization tools we implement today, will not only increase capacity, but aid in reliability laying the foundation for an autonomous and advanced clean grid of the future."
Study reveals a rise in active energy producers
Behind-the-meter visibility is a challenge in designing cost-effective programs and monitoring
The report highlights the steady transformation of passive energy consumers into producers, consequently altering the energy market. This transition is an opportunity to tap into alternative sources of power and increase the resilience of the grid to meet sustainability goals.
However, according to the study, behind-the-meter visibility is a challenge in designing cost-effective programs and monitoring. At least half of the utilities surveyed have experienced an increase in the adoption of solar panels (64%) and electric vehicles (50%) over the past three years. Batteries are expected to gain popularity with over half (59%) of respondents expecting increased penetration in the next three years.
Operational challenges due to lack of visibility
Findings from the survey highlight that there is a lack of clarity in understanding DER’s location, size, and activity.
70% of respondents said they rely on interconnection requests and/or integrations with platforms like distributed energy resource management systems (DERMS) to gather information about the location of behind-the-meter DERs. Utilities surveyed estimate that they only have visibility into, on average, 36% of DERS on the grid through platforms like DERMS.
Customer adoption challenges
Nearly three-quarters of utilities said that customer adoption creates challenges
As a result, the report indicates that behind-the-meter DERs create an operational issue for utilities.
Nearly three-quarters of utilities said that customer adoption creates challenges, including voltage visibility and control issues, back-feeding, protection and control coordination issues, distribution transformer and conductor overloads, and masked or hidden loads.
Grid optimization via demand-side programs
The study points to demand-side management programs (which incentivize customers to modify energy consumption patterns) as a solution.
More than two in every three utilities surveyed are implementing demand-side management programs and plan to expand this in the next five years.
DER management programs
Only 35% of customers participate in DER management programs versus 54% for incentive-based demand-side
However, only 37% have currently implemented DER management programs (involving communication and management by grid operators of DERs to deliver grid services and balance demand with supply) as this involves the additional hurdle of customer opt-in.
The results of the survey found that, on average, only 35% of customers participate in DER management programs versus 54% for incentive-based demand-side programs.
The future of the grid relies on visibility
More than half of respondents expect visibility into the behavior and location of all behind-the-meter DERs to benefit their operations department by reducing their SAIDI (System Average Interruption Duration Index) and SAIFI (System Average Interruption Frequency Index) metrics and increasing productivity.
Moving towards the future of autonomous grids, three key findings from the report may be relevant. First, invest in the technologies that boost visibility behind the meter, a necessity for utilities to successfully navigate the energy transition and future-proof the grid. Second, prioritize strategies like demand-side and DER management programs for increased flexibility behind the meter. Finally, strengthen customer trust to boost participation in management programs.
