Workshop Report: Rural Electric Cooperative Distributed Energy Resource Business Model Development Workshops

Technical Report · Fri Jan 10 00:00:00 EST 2025

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/2502021· OSTI ID:2502021

Farr, Sophie ^[1]; Brush, Chloe ^[1]; Talamo, Julia ^[1]; Jenkins, Jennifer ^[2]; Schmitt, Nathan ^[2]; Newcomb, Charles ^[2]; MacDonald, Suzanne ^[1]; Preziuso, Danielle ^[3]; Baring-Gould, Ian ^[1]; Baranowski, Ruth ^[1]

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1. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
2. Mana Group Consulting, Durango, CO (United States)
3. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

The United States' energy future is being shaped by decades of technology innovation, rapidly changing consumer requirements, and governmental focus on securing reliable, low-cost energy sources. With expanded electrification and increased emphasis on grid reliability coupled with the heightened complexity and risks associated with transmission infrastructure, the use of distributed energy resources (DERs) is more commonly being considered a safe, efficient, and cost-effective way to maintain grid resilience and reliability. Amidst improvements in performance, decreasing costs, and unprecedented federal policy support for DERs, electric cooperatives are considering new opportunities to use these assets to ensure secure and reliable operations for millions of customers. In light of these developments, a series of workshops were held to collaborate on the development of business models for DERs in rural electric cooperative ecosystems. The first workshop was held July 11, 2024, at the Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association Inc. headquarters in Westminster, Colorado (hereafter referred to as the "Tri-State Workshop"). The second workshop was hosted by PNGC Power on Oct. 9, 2024, in Portland, Oregon (hereafter referred to as the "PNGC Power Workshop"). These workshops convened representatives from G&Ts, distribution cooperatives,2 the energy industry, the financial community, the U.S. government, national and regional organizations, and national laboratories to share perspectives on the unique needs, challenges, and opportunities that they face as DERs are further integrated into the grid. The workshops were designed to address the following objectives: (1) develop the enabling attributes of electric cooperative DER business models, (2) explore pathways for generating community benefits from these assets, and (3) identify technical challenges and market risks for DERs in rural electric cooperative service territories. This report outlines key findings and major themes identified by workshop participants that federal agencies, G&Ts, distribution cooperatives, and other entities can consider to advance electric cooperative DER business models.

• Research Organization: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Wind Energy Technologies Office
• DOE Contract Number: AC36-08GO28308
• OSTI ID: 2502021
• Report Number(s): NREL/TP--5000-92427; MainAdminId:75667; MainId:94208; UUID:c29291b8-5e64-4d6a-8421-70aea18ac070
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
DERs
POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION
WIND ENERGY
business models
distributed
distribution cooperatives
energy resources
generation
rural electric cooperatives
transmission cooperatives
wind