How to Manage DER Integration with Grid Orchestration

Renewables are the future of energy. The signs are all around us. Global annual offshore wind installations are expected to increase by 50% by 2027. Together, solar panels and wind accounted for almost 90% of all new global renewable energy installations in 2022. And the International Energy Agency estimates 2023 solar investment at $380 billion, set to outpace oil exploration and production spending for the first time.

The growth of distributed energy resources (DERs) is further evidence of the shift to renewable power sources. As DER integration increases, so do the associated challenges and complexities – from DERs’ complex, bidirectional power flow, to their potential to expose utilities to violations, to their massive strain on existing grid infrastructure.

For utility leaders, properly managing DER integration is a huge technological undertaking. But by transforming how you manage the grid today, reaching a renewable energy future can happen faster — and with far fewer bumps along the way.

Below, we’ll discuss how grid orchestration can play a vital part in managing DER integration, and why the shift to renewables requires software.

Every grid is seeing a sharp increase in the number of DERs connecting to them – such as electric vehicles (EVs), solar panels, smart thermostats and more. We use the term "integration" to describe and quantify this influx. In other words, it is a measure of the amount of DERs "integrating" with a given grid, in relation to the total generation resources. While every grid has a different amount of DER integration, all grids are experiencing increases – both in terms of quantity and associated complexity.

Until recently, the grid was built on a one-way power flow where energy was sent from generators to users. This centralized approach allowed utilities to carefully plan ahead, make accurate forecasts, and keep the grid in balance.

But the rise of DERs introduces risk and uncertainty into the mix. Increasingly, utilities must cope with complex bi-directional power flows involving millions of energy sources.

To frame the scale of this challenge, consider the growth of the EV market.

By 2027, EV charger installations in the US are expected to grow fourfold —reaching nearly 18 million installations. And by 2030, an estimated 200 million EVs will be on the road. These are truly dramatic increases that will place huge new energy demands on the grid.

And of course, meeting downstream energy demands is just one half of the problem. If too much energy is generated by consumers and sent back to the grid, this leads to its own problems in the way of grid imbalances.

How can utilities navigate this increasingly complex environment?

One thing is certain: increasing DER integration can’t be handled with the old way of doing things. You need full visibility across all the DERs coming online, or face the risk of backfeeds, voltage issues, etc. And you need to be able to cut through the complexity of the different types of DERs, their multidirectional power flows, their varying capacities, and more.

And if your utility still relies on traditional grid management (and point solutions), the volume of DER data you’ll soon have to handle will become overwhelming.

It’s simply too hard to control and too hard to predict.

That’s why forward-thinking utility leaders are turning to grid orchestration.

What exactly is grid orchestration? According to Gartner, it involves:

“Prescribing and negotiating interactions between components – to enable recomposition and forming processes.”

That’s a pretty complex description. Translated into more rudimentary language, it basically means bringing different systems and data together, so they exist and interact in the same space, rather than sitting in silos.

In the context of overseeing a DER ecosystem, grid orchestration brings an essential level of control and clarity. It allows utilities to visualize and orchestrate potentially millions of energy sources in a centralized way.

Grid orchestration further allows utilities to control the amount of downstream DER data sent back to the grid. As a result, you can prevent your control teams from being swamped by data — a crucial intervention to ensure your staff can work efficiently and make informed decisions.

Decarbonization is the greatest challenge the grid faces — and both risk and unpredictability are part of the package. But by replacing grid management with grid orchestration, utilities can create a solid foundation for planning and executing their journeys to Net Zero.

GE Vernova’s robust, yet simple-to-use grid software solutions can help utilities not just manage, but orchestrate their renewable ecosystems.

For instance, take our GridOS® Distributed Energy Resource Management System (DERMS) and Advanced Distribution Management System (ADMS). With traditional grid management, these solutions would run in silos, with little to no interoperability, making it difficult to manage DERs and understand their impact on the wider distribution grid.

However, GE Vernova’s GridOS DERMS and ADMS run on the , which eliminates silos and lets these two solutions work cooperatively. This approach allows utilities to connect, see, and optimize DERs end-to-end.

Benefits of ADMS and DERMS working together include:

In a DER-heavy energy future, grid orchestration is truly the way forward.

For more information on the power of ADMS and DERMS combined, check out our whitepaper on the topic.