Just a few short years ago, distributed energy resources (DERs), such as rooftop solar, electric vehicles and battery storage, were barely on the radar for utilities: the scale was just too small. But fast-forward a few years and there’s been a systemic shift, with total DER capacity forecasted to reach 387 gigawatts by 2025.

The rapid emergence of such a large influx of DERs has captured the attention of virtually all utilities today. The widespread adoption of distributed, bi-directional and intermittent resources at the grid’s edge represents a fundamental move away from a power system dominated by large fossil fuel power plants. This playbook takes an in-depth look at the future of power systems and grids, including:

• How policy, economics and consumer demand are driving this transformation
• The complex questions raised by the proliferation of DERs  
• Why a changing grid needs a distributed energy resources management system (DERMS)

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