Full Title: Grid 2020: Towards a Policy of Renewable and Distributed Energy Resources
Author(s): Paul De Martini, K. Mani Chandy, Neil Fromer
Publisher(s): The Resnick Sustainability Institute at Caltech
Publication Date: September 1, 2012
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
The transformation occurring across the world’s electrical systems represents one of the greatest technological challenges industrialized societies have undertaken. Reconfiguring a grid designed to carry power one way from reliable generation sources managed by few agents to a system increasingly laden with unreliable wind and solar energy while involving millions more participants using advanced technologies will introduce a high degree of uncertainty and variability into the future grid. These changes potentially threaten reliability of electrical supply and must be carefully choreographed to avoid widespread perturbations in cost, reliability and efficiency. Yet policy mandates for more and more renewable and distributed energy resources (DER) potentially threaten to outpace the solutions necessary to manage change effectively. This report highlights critical engineering, economic and policy issues that must be addressed to ensure a successful transition.