Creating a Resilient, Renewable Grid: Six Challenges Every Utility Must Assess

As renewable energy penetration increases and distributed energy resources (DERs) and electric vehicles (EVs) are integrated into the grid, utilities must make fundamental changes to their grid operations. To address the challenges they face as they transition to a renewable grid, utilities need a road map in place that will help them balance a cleaner energy future with grid resilience and affordability.

This paper outlines six of the primary challenges utilities must address as they integrate renewable energy and move away from fossil fuels. These challenges include suboptimal patchwork solutions that have been put in place to solve daily problems, the inevitable intermittency from solar and other DERs, forced curtailment of solar, and the stress EVs place on the grid.

This is the first of three papers exploring how utilities can create a modern, resilient and renewable grid. The next paper will look at how real-time controls can create a cleaner, more resilient grid. The final paper in the series will look at how utilities can implement a web of microgrids.