The Solar Energy Industries Association and Current Energy Group released a whitepaper addressing challenges facing the nation’s electric grid, including rising electricity demand, elevated energy prices, and aging infrastructure. The report, titled the Distributed Capacity Procurement Framework, presents three pathways for integrating distributed energy resources such as solar panels and battery storage systems into grid operations.
According to Samantha Weaver, SEIA’s senior director of state regulatory affairs, traditional utility-focused approaches to meeting electricity demand require supplementation with distributed resources deployed at greater speed and scale. The framework aims to provide regulators and policymakers with practical guidance for modernizing grid infrastructure to support contemporary economic needs.
The whitepaper establishes ten key principles and policy tools for implementation, emphasizing two central concepts: employing the least restrictive approach suitable for specific needs, and prioritizing third-party-owned or customer-owned distributed energy resources over utility-owned alternatives except in limited circumstances. Matthew McDonnell, managing partner of Current Energy Group, noted that competitive procurement of distributed resources can reduce electricity costs while strengthening grid performance through market-based solutions.
The analysis indicates that competitive procurement of third-party-owned distributed energy resources may lower consumer electricity bills by reducing utility dependence on higher-cost wholesale market purchases for meeting capacity requirements. Multiple states have recently enacted legislation to expand distributed energy deployment, including community solar programs and battery storage systems, with some implementing virtual power plant aggregation strategies to maximize resource value.
The framework builds on work by SEIA’s Distributed Power Project team and incorporates expertise from the Coalition for Community Solar Access following its integration with SEIA.
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