Grid Management Working Group to Address DER Deployment

Grid operations technology and business leaders from utilities across North America will join forces to explore and determine requirements for grid modernization. The Smart Grid Interoperability Panel (SGIP) leads a newly formed utility-focused consortium group to explore the technologies, concepts, capabilities, and architecture principles required to manage a more complex grid.

Citing a rise in the integration of Distributed Energy Resources (DER) into the distribution grid, SGIP President and CEO Sharon Allan collaborated with SGIP member utilities on the formation of The Grid Management Working Group. “Energy regulations and advances in technology are rapidly driving the integration of more DER into the distribution grid,” said Allan. “In order to effectively enable and utilize these resources and maintain grid reliability, we must begin collaborating immediately on the transformation of electric distribution system planning and operations.”

The utility-focused working group will encourage members to share use cases, collaborate on business, technical, and architectural requirements, exchange insights and coordinate on research and development opportunities that will help drive vendor solutions and industry standards.

“We will rely on synergy and cross-collaboration between this new working group and the existing SGIP Distributed Renewables, Generation and Storage (DRGS) working group to leverage work that is currently underway,” said Allan. The DRGS working group provides a forum to identify and define standards and interoperability issues and gaps related to Smart Grid integration of distributed renewable/clean energy generators and electric storage and to initiate priority action plans and task groups to address these issues and gaps.

The Grid Management Working Group will hold its inaugural meeting in Orlando during the 2016 DistribuTECH conference. Open only to representatives of any utility organization attending DistribuTECH, the meeting will be held on Monday, February 8 at 5 p.m. in room W315A of the Orange County Convention Center. The agenda will include a welcome by SGIP President and CEO Allan, and is expected to feature remarks by executives from CPS Energy, Duke Energy, ComEd, and SCE, among others.

“We encourage the participation of all utilities at this meeting,” said Allan. “We want to ensure an active exchange of information.”