Innovation and Disruption at the Grid’s Edge: How Distributed Energy Resources are Disrupting the Utility Business Model

Innovation and Disruption at the Grid’s Edge examines the viable developments in peer-to-peer transactions enabled by open platforms on the grid’s edge. With consumers and prosumers using more electronic platforms to trade surplus electricity from rooftop solar panels, share a storage battery, or use smart gadgets that manage load and self-generation, the grid's edge is becoming crowded.

The book examines the growing number of consumers engaging in self-generation and storage, and analyzes the underlying causes and drivers of change, as well as the implications of how the utility sector—particularly the distribution network—should/could be regulated. The book also explores how tariffs are set and revenues are collected to cover both fixed and variable costs in a sustainable way. This reference is useful for anyone interested in the areas of energy generation and regulation, especially stakeholders engaged in the generation, transmission, and distribution of power.

Part I: Envisioning alternative futures 1. Innovation & disruption at the “grid’s edge” 2. Innovation, disruption and the survival of the fittest 3. The great rebalancing act: Rattling the electricity value chain from behind the meter 4. Beyond community solar:  Aggregating local distributed resources for resilience and sustainability 5. Grid vs. distributed solar: What does Australia’s experience say about the competitiveness of distributed energy? 6. Powering the driverless electric car of the future 7. Regulations, barriers and opportunities to the growth of DERs in the Spanish power sector 8. Quintessential innovation for transformation of the power sector

Part II. Enabling future innovations 9. Bringing DERs into the mainstream: Regulations, innovation and disruption at the grid’s edge 10. Public policy issues associated with feed-in-tariffs and net metering:  An Australian perspective 11. We don’t need a new business model: “It ain’t broke and it don’t need fixin” 12. Towards dynamic network tariffs: A proposal for Spain 13. Internet of Things and the economics of microgrids

Part III. Alternative business models 14. Access rights and consumer protection in a distributed energy system 15. The transformation of the German electricity sector and the emergence of new business models in distributed energy systems 16. Peer-to-peer energy matching: Transparency, choice and locational grid pricing 17. Virtual power plants: Bringing the flexibility of decentralized loads and generation to power markets 18. Integrated community-based energy systems: Aligning technology, incentives and regulations 19. Solar grid parity and its impact on the grid