Preparing Distribution Utilities for Utility Scale Storage and Electric Vehicles

This NREL-produced report discusses the implications of increases in distributed energy resources, battery energy storage systems, and electric vehicles in India in the coming years. These emerging technologies can pose challenges to distribution utilities, forcing overhauls in planning and operational practices if not properly integrated.

Emerging distributed energy resources (DERs)—such as solar photovoltaics (PV), battery energy storage systems (BESS), and electric vehicles (EVs)—are expected to increase substantially in India in the coming years following policy-driven targets of the Government of India to modernize its electricity system, reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs), and improve air quality. These emerging technologies can pose challenges to distribution utilities, forcing overhauls in planning and operational practices. They can also create challenges in power system infrastructure planning and cause more frequent system operational violations (e.g., network voltage bounds and loading thresholds) if not properly integrated. NREL collaborated with BSES on this framework and analysis.

Read the report, here!