This Utility University course is open to any attendee with an all-access or utility all-access badge. These courses are first come, first served onsite in Dallas, however, pre-registration is still required. To pre-register, please visit the registration resource center or reach out to info@distributech.com.

Distributed energy resources (DER) are growing in number and magnitude. Need proof? Consider the case of SDG&E, which currently has 2 GW of distributed generation at approximately 250,000 locations on its system. DERs impact every equation that deals with power, and every database that stores a kW value. However, traditional business processes and solutions that utilities have built over the last century to manage central generation often do not apply to DER.

The utility industry is challenged by the reality that new analytical processes and automation solutions are needed for end-to-end management of DER, including marketing, registration, connectivity, forecasting, bidding, scheduling, dispatch, monitoring, metering, settlement, billing, performance analysis, and cybersecurity. Emerging enterprise DERMS technologies are poised to help utilities meet this imperative.  

The objective of this course is to help electric utilities prepare for the challenges posed by the increased levels of DER, connection processes, customer engagement and programs management, device management, operations, and market management, including:

• The operations planning/engineering processes that typically take place weeks ahead of real-time operations
• Customer programs and device management
• Day-ahead and real-time distribution operations during normal, outage, and emergency conditions
• Aggregation and market operations
• Post-operations reliability and compliance reporting
• DER-related data exchanges between distribution aggregators, DSOs, ISOs, and other entities (e.g. planning, transmission operations, wholesale/retail markets, regulators, aggregators, and other applications). 

Hear and engage with technology experts and utility leaders who will provide a workshop based on first-hand knowledge of developing and supporting DERMS solutions. Utility leaders from NV Energy, Hawaiian Electric, and SDG&E will share firsthand real-life experiences and best practices with DER management challenges and solutions. Time will also be allotted for Q&A between the attendees and the speakers.   

Prerequisites: 

• Participants should have a basic understanding of electric distribution system design, operations, and related OT/IT enterprise systems.

Audience:

• Electric utility operators, engineers, managers, and information technology personnel who are involved in distribution grid management or computer applications selection, procurement, and implementation
• Transmission operations and ISO personnel who need to understand the DER impact on their operations, and their interface with electric distribution 
• Electric utilities that are implementing or planning to implement DERMS