Utility Execs Face Big Changes From New Energy

Distributed Generation Growth Makes Utility Execs Worry about Revenues, Reliability: Study

Lisa Cohn, June 5, 2017 (Microgrid Knowledge)

“…Fifty-nine percent of utility executives surveyed…expect small-scale distributed generation to stress their network hosting abilities and 66 percent of executives said they expect their role to transition toward distributed energy integration and market facilitation, [according to Accenture’s Power Surge Ahead: How Distribution Utilities Can Get Smart with Distributed Generation]…Utility executives say they are worried about the impact on their revenues of the booming growth of distributed generation…Fifty-eight percent of the executives surveyed think distributed generation will reduce their revenues by 2030…[V]ertically integrated utilities must grabble with the one-two punch of lowered energy sales revenues and boosted network costs to provide reliable delivery…[T]he biggest stress on utilities’ network hosting capacity will come from energy prosumers who are investing in small-scale distributed generation. A second challenge is medium- or high-voltage connected distributed generation, including large-scale solar plants…About 60 percent of executives surveyed said they expect increased numbers of grid faults by 2020 as a result of distributed renewable energy…” click here for more

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