SETO: Solar's next big innovation lies in grid integration

According to a new study out today from RMI, leveraging distributed grid assets to their full potential would result in a wide range of positive outcomes, including reducing the need for future gas, reducing net generation costs by as much as 20%, and providing much-needed flexibility.

Getting to that level of integration, the report noted, will require updated grid planning and operations to support everything from enrollment to dispatch.

The U.S. solar industry, already a primary driver of the domestic clean energy economy, is primed to incubate many of the innovations needed to leverage distributed assets and realize the potential described in the RMI report, said Becca Jones-Albertus, who leads the Department of Energy’s Solar Energy Technologies Office. 

“Sometimes when people start thinking about innovation, they want to be narrowly focused on materials in the solar panel, and whether they are next-generation,” Jones-Albertus told Latitude Media. ”But the reality is the solar industry is incredibly innovative. You don’t get the kind of growth rates we’ve had over the past decade without immense innovation everywhere across the supply chain, from project development through manufacturing.”

Today, SETO is backing projects like robotic solar installation, she added, but also incentive tools to get solar and storage on the rooftops of multifamily buildings, and new approaches to community engagement.

That said, one of the areas where the most innovation is still needed, Albertus-Jones said, is grid integration.

“As we’re taking the grid from traditional, large power generators, and making it more distributed and digital and variable with a lot of solar, wind and battery storage, we need tons of new technologies,” Jones-Albertus told Latitude Media. More importantly, she said, “we need those technologies to become trusted by utilities and adopted.”

SETO, which has a wide view on the solar innovation landscape, is keeping track of “a lot of really interesting new ideas around how to see and control distributed energy resources, including virtual power plants,” Jones-Albertus said.

The potential for those resources is “tremendous,” she said, but integrating them with the grid is a tall order at present, one that involves developing the technologies, working with utilities to get adoption, and getting customer assets on board. “And of course, we’re increasing solar deployment so rapidly that we need these solutions immediately,” she added.

The evolving utility role

When it comes to integrating solutions like virtual power plants, traditional utilities have generally proven to be a tough market for startups. But Albertus-Jones said SETO is seeing that start to change. 

“We are seeing a growing number of utilities who are really interested in these technology solutions, and who are partnering with the companies and researchers who are developing them, and then implementing them,” she said.

However, she caveated, that trend does not on its own address the need for innovation in grid integration.

“One of the challenges in this space is that a lot of utilities are used to having their own customized solutions,” Albertus-Jones added. “And of course, if everything is individually customized it’s much slower to scale, and we really need solutions that can be broadly adopted. We have thousands of utilities in this country that are needing those solutions.”

That tension — between the industry’s comfort with the traditional way of doing business, and the need for rapid change — defines the innovation gap SETO has identified. And it may include new approaches to essential elements such as customer enrollment, Jones-Albertus said, as opposed to what may be considered more traditional innovations in recycling or efficiency.

The bright spot of a changing utility dynamic is one that is resonating across the department. Jigar Shah, who leads the Loan Programs Office, told Latitude Media he’s begun to see “a concerted effort” by utility companies in the last year to reach out to tech companies and say “we need your help.”