IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - March/April 2017 - 28

at least three DER-avoided cost categories or services,
consistent with the LNBA methodology. The proposed
location for this demonstration is SCE's Irvine substation
in Irvine, where significant residential development at the
former El Toro Marine base is driving load growth (Figure 6). The demonstration will design, acquire, and implement a portfolio of DERs and validate the ability of the
DERs to achieve net benefits consistent with the LNBA
methodology. Then recommendations will be provided to
improve the distribution planning process to incorporate
DERs as alternatives to traditional distribution upgrades.
For demonstration D, SCE has proposed a field demonstration that shows the operation of multiple DERs (both thirdparty and utility owned) to provide grid benefits and assess
how the high penetration of DERs will influence distribution
planning and investments. SCE has proposed to use its IGP
project in Santa Ana to meet the demonstration requirements.
This project will design and deploy control systems and protocols to coordinate and optimize operations of multiple DERs
to provide safe and reliable service to our customers. This
project is described in more detail in the previous section.
For demonstration E, SCE is proposing the construction
and operation of a multicustomer microgrid on a portion of
a distribution circuit in Irvine. The site proposed serves part
of the University of California, Irvine, faculty housing. The
goal is to identify microgrid design requirements to enable
opportunities for enhanced resiliency and demonstrate controls and protocols for safe, minimally disruptive islanding
and reconnection. The site was chosen because several of
these homes were part of the ISGD project and already had
significant solar PV systems installed there.

Conclusions
All of these efforts seek to improve the coordination among
a large set of diverse stakeholders. Customers, their advocates, resource providers, hardware and software vendors,
the utilities, the regulatory commissions, and lawmakers are
working to manage a very different environment than the
status quo. It is still unclear what is the best approach and
how the different technologies will evolve over time. Based
on this uncertainty, it is also difficult to determine the roles
and responsibilities of each of the stakeholders. These demonstration projects in California provide an opportunity for
the industry to hash out this uncertainty and work toward an
effective framework for the future.
The ability to coordinate these projects is key to the overall
success of DERs at higher penetrations. SCE fully understands
the importance of coordinating across the grid among utility
planning and operations, technology adoption by customers,
and innovative third-party providers. SCE's internal coordination is a prerequisite for the company to provide the enablement and optimization opportunities to customers and resource
providers. It is a challenge to break down traditional silos established through specific subject matter expertise and regulatory focus. For example, the distinction between distribution
28

ieee power & energy magazine

operations and customer service has been established at the
point of common coupling, the meter. With DERs providing
energy services, the distinction is no longer useful. Therefore,
the utility integration across the various organizations that plan,
maintain, and operate the grid is a key success component of
the IGP just as well as integrating the customer and third-party
resources to the planning and operation of the grid.
As many have said, this integration and the consequent
enablement and optimization to effectively obtain high penetrations of DERs will not happen overnight. It will take the
collective efforts of California utilities, regulators, service
providers, and customers to meet these objectives. While the
business practices, cultures, and interests of each entity differ, the common objective of decarbonizing the electricity
used in California is a common goal that should assist all
parties in reaching this objective together, in an integrated
and coordinated fashion.

For Further Reading
R. F. Hirsh, Technology and Transformation in the American Electric Utility Industry. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge
Univ. Press, 1989.
A. J. O'Donnell, Soul of the Grid: A Cultural Biography
of the California Independent System Operator. Lincoln,
NE: iUniverse, 2003.
S. Corneli and S. Kihm, "Electric industry structure and
regulatory responses in a high distributed energy resources
future," Future Electric Utility Regulation Series-LBNL,
Nov. 2015.
Southern California Edison (2016, Feb. 8). Modern grid,
modern capabilities. Presented at Distributech Conf., Orlando,
FL [Online]. Available: https://www.edison.com/content/
dam /eix/documents/innovation/smart-grids/SCE%20
Distributech%20Grid%20Architecture%20Presentation%20
2%208%2016.pdf
ARPA-E project descriptions, SCE is partnering with
PNNL, NREL, and GE Global Research (2105, Dec. 10).
[Online]. Available: http://arpa-e.energy.gov/sites/default/
files/documents/files/NODES_Project_Descriptions.pdf
R. Yinger and M. Irwin. (2015, Dec. 29). Irvine Smart
Grid Demonstration Project [Online]. Available: https://
www.osti.gov/scitech/biblio/1234553-irvine-smart-griddemonstration-regional-smart-grid-demonstration-project
A. Valdberg, C. Torchia, and M. Dwyer. (2015, July 1).
SCE's distribution resources plan filing with the CPUC [Online]. Available: http://www3.sce.com/law/cpucproceedings
.nsf/vwMainPage?Openview&RestrictToCategory=DRPAp
plication

Biographies
Robert Sherick is with Southern California Edison, Westminster, California.
Robert Yinger is with Southern California Edison, Westminster, California.
p&e

march/april 2017

https://www.edison.com/content/ http://arpa-e.energy.gov/sites/default/ http://https:// http://www.osti.gov/scitech/biblio/1234553-irvine-smart-grid http://www3.sce.com/law/cpucproceedings

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - March/April 2017