Impacts of DER, Storage, and PEV: The Advanced Distribution Planning Challenge

The accelerating adoption of localized, distribution-based technologies is challenging a growing number of utilities as they plan and implement system investments. As policies and incentives are adopted and foundational technology costs decline, distributed energy resources (DER), energy storage, plug-in electric vehicles (PEV), and targeted demand and energy management solutions are multiplying on a regional and national basis.

Traditional planning methods and tools are no longer adequate to identify and plan for investments that will outlast the near-term changes impacting distribution systems. Increasingly, utilities must plan for localized generation and loads while taking into account existing constraints and complex, unanticipated interactions between discrete components of the system. Advanced Distribution Planning (ADP) is a practice that addresses these challenges and enables utilities to manage system investments with optimized recommendations. This paper explores these challenges in detail and presents ADP as an innovative, revolutionary solution.