Case Study: Large Investor Owned Utility achieves control of growing distributed renewable generation on the grid with GE Digital's DERMS

Large Investor Owned Utility Manages Renewable Energy on the Grid

Large Investor Owned Utility was seeing rapidly growing distributed photovoltaic penetration across three southern states, creating reverse power flows, voltage swings and increased cycling of protection and regulation equipment during low-load periods. GE Digital, alongside the U.S. Department of Energy, was engaged to address these operational risks using Distributed Energy Resource solutions, including a Distributed Energy Resource Management System (DERMS), sensors, energy boxes and smart meters.

GE Digital implemented two pilot DERM projects (in collaboration with DOE) that combined field devices (smart inverters, volt‑Var control, sensors, energy boxes and smart meters), detailed system modeling and Power‑Hardware‑in‑the‑Loop testing to evaluate local versus centralized voltage management. The work delivered a Distributed Energy Resource Management System (DERMS) to manage and mitigate the impacts of growing distributed renewable generation and storage, completing 2 DERM projects and improving voltage control and operational resilience on the grid.