EPRI
The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) Smart Grid Demonstration Initiative is a seven-year international collaborative research initiative that demonstrates the integration of distributed energy resources (DER) in large-scale demonstration projects.
The initiative, which began in 2008, is leveraging multimillion-dollar smart grid investments in the electric utility industry for a goal of shared learning that covers technology, deployment and program results among 23 utilities.
This four-year update picks up where the three-year update (EPRI Report 1023411) left off. In 2011, EPRI primarily reported on examples of the people, equipment and work being performed by members of this initiative. This year as the initiative moved past the halfway mark, the research has progressed into a stage where solid results are becoming available and can be shared among the collaborative. Although two utilities joined the initiative in 2011, Ergon Energy from Australia and Hawaiian Electric Co., others have been deploying equipment to the point where data collection and analysis have enabled completion of case studies focused on specific portions of the demonstrations.
Each case study completed to date provides an overview and background information followed by the approach and methodology and continues through the results, lessons learned and concludes with key recommendations. Some case studies also list unresolved questions uncovered in the demonstration and provide a guideline for continued study.
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