Distributed Energy Resources:Two States Make Bold Moves in One Day

March 14, 2017

It was a shot heard around the world – or two shots rather – when yesterday New York and Massachusetts each took bold steps to accelerate distributed energy resources. New York ordered actions that begin placing a value on distributed energy resources, a key move in creating the kind of decentralized grid the state is pursuing under its Reforming the Energy Vision (REV) policy. REV envisions utilities acting as platform managers where a wide variety of players, including ‘prosumers’ – such as households with solar panels -- can buy and sell locally produced electricity and related services. It is widely seen as the most dramatic effort to revolutionize the electric sector now underway in the U.S.