DER Industry Insights

The 2025 edition of the LBNL "Queued Up" report presents a landmark moment for the U.S. energy grid. After a decade of exponential growth, the interconnection queues saw their first significant volume decrease in years.

AI data centers are replacing the shale boom as the primary driver of U.S. electricity demand. This article explains how fuel price volatility, interconnection delays, and stalled DER capacity are forcing utilities to rethink energy planning as the industry heads toward 2026.

With continuous visibility, utilities can diagnose issues from the control room. This helps Metering and Distribution Ops teams avoid unnecessary site visits and focus limited field time on work that requires human intervention.

DER interconnection delays cost utilities time, money, and trust. This playbook outlines how to cut commissioning timelines from months to weeks by standardizing site builds, simplifying communications, automating workflows, and monitoring continuously.

Today’s utility engineers must connect hundreds of small, independently owned devices (each with their own hardware, firmware, and communications preferences) into the same control environment.

Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) are reshaping the electric grid, adding flexibility, enabling renewable integration and decentralizing generation. But every new solar array, battery system, or a microgrid system also opens another doorway into the utility network.