DERMS: Fact Versus Fiction | Debunking Six Myths about DERs and DERMS

Industry pundits say that starting in 2021, annual capacity from distributed energy resources will surpass centralized generation worldwide

This is pretty mindboggling for that to have happened so quickly. I wonder by the end of the decade what portion of residences and businesses will have some sort of DER of their own-- that should be a compelling number to track as well. 

Great white paper. I appreciate the clear positioning of DERMS w.r.t. DRMS, ADMS, etc to make sense of the alphabet soup of related acronyms. It's exciting to see how modern enterprise software intersects with electricity principles and fundamental physics of the grid.

Hi , Eric 

Although it is a timely subject , Enbala does not accept yahoo.com as an email provider. Therefor, I could not reach to this white paper. 

Would you make favor by dropping it to my email address:

amalkhashab@yahoo.com

Best Regards.

Thanks for this post Eric. FYI - as with Amal I had trouble accessing the white paper.  It would help if "ordinary" e-mail addresses would work.

But the post got me interested in finding out more about DERs and Enbala. 

It is worth noting the Vision of Enbala, the company that commissioned this study:

In 20 years, the electricity industry as we know it will no longer exist.
The grid, its operating systems and utilities as we know them today will disappear, and the grid will invert.
In the Grid 2.0 world, load-side assets will follow generation, reversing a long history of generation following load. No more ramping up CO2 emitting plants. Instead, clean, sustainable distributed energy assets will be tapped so that load is instantaneously increased or decreased to match demand, as it occurs. Energy storage assets become central to the balancing of the grid. In this new energy economy, these assets deliver new, unprecedented value streams for utilities, energy retailers and the customers they serve. The distributed energy economy is here. Are you ready for it?

I am late coming to this discussion, but I have to admit that I find it stunning in its scope, at least to a non-expert (to say the least) in this field.  I find it scary, but inspiring.

As a consumer, I am skeptical that the technology providers can deliver on what they perceive as our best interest, in this case providing electricity when and where I need it.

With respect to this Vision and Myths described in the White Paper, a few questions occur to me:

1. Let’s get specific: I have to admit that the precise definition of “DER” escapes me.  So I can´t know what a DER Management System really does.  The Wikipedia definition says “…electrical generation and storage performed by a variety of small, grid-connected or distribution system-connected devices referred to as distributed energy resources (DER).”  Some gas turbine power seems to be included in this definition.  But, nuclear does not.  I´m afraid that neither Enbala´s “Energy Balance” video nor the “Defining DERMS: A Research Report» are much help.

2. So, I have to ask:   Do DERs include either large or small nuclear as «clean and sustainable»? I will assume not, though I may stand to be corrected.  What if those sources turn out to be cost effective and reliable? And what about if fusion becomes possible?

3. Do large scale (GW) wind plants qualify as DER?

4. The 20 year horizon leaves time to answer those questions. But will it be the expectation that if we find out in 10-15 years time that non-DER power is, after all, the best solution to de-carbonizing, do we then reverse the trend as projected in the graphs? Is that really a reasonable plan? Surely, DERs should be built out with that possibility covered?

So, I find myself confused sbout what Enbala’s vision means.   Is size the issue? Location? Sustainability? Renewability? 

I tend to think that we better hold off on disposal of our non-DERs such as gas powered generation until those answers are more visible.

While I wholly buy in to the hope for that Vision, at least my present understanding of it,  the controlling factor must remain decarbonization at an acceptable cost. 

My fear is that the path to DER may cloud the larger issue, especially if the meaning of DER is fuzzy.