S5 E2 - What's a Grid Planner to Do?
Consumer-driven distributed energy resources (DERs), such as energy efficiency, distributed generation, electric vehicles and energy storage, are on the rise and here to stay. In many places, DERs are shaping how the grid is operated, managed, and planned. On this episode of Grid Geeks, I speak with Chairman Betty Ann Kaneof the Public Service Commission of the District of Columbia and Lisa Schwartzwith the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory about how regulators, states and utilities are addressing DERs in distribution planning, what new tools and approaches are needed, and what challenges exist to planning the grid of the future, while optimizing DERs on the grid for performance, reliability and cost-effectiveness? (Host Sara Baldwin)