Utility Dive outlined the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s Order 2222, quoting AEE’s Caitlin Marquis, speaking at an R-Street Institute event. Read excerpts below and the full story here.

A federal rule intended to lower barriers to distributed energy resources (DER) in wholesale markets still faces many questions about what DER aggregates will look like, how the new parties will interact with existing grid management, and what individual state roles might be… 

The FERC rule makes it easier for DERs to compete with larger power providers in the wholesale market, in part by allowing aggregations to operate together.

But making DERs a larger player also means new rules and conversations about how the newly-approved groupings can be assembled and interact with the rest of the grid. 

To begin with, it's not clear what geographic restrictions DER aggregators will have, Villarreal said — how physically close to one another nodes will have to be. Villarreal thinks this conversation about what's technically possible could bring in some wild speculations, and pointed out that locational marginal pricing aggregates also require physical proximity. But the rules about borderlines aren't yet established, and Caitlin Marquis, a director at Advanced Energy Economy, a clean energy business association, said that's one detail her organization will be looking to hear more about from ISOs and RTOs.

Additionally, AEE will want to see that participation models allow a mix of technologies to make up a single aggregate and that distribution utility guidelines don't create barriers for DERs. AEE will also keep its eye on whether DERs will be permitted to participate in wholesale and retail transactions and what interconnection requirements will look like, Marquis said...

Read the full story here.