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Distributed Energy Resources (DER) / Microgrids

Lawrence Berkeley National Lab is developing methods and tools for conducting an integrated assessment of DER and forecast patterns of DER adoption for individual customers or groupings operating as a µGrid ("microgrid"). A customer adoption model (DER-CAM) has been developed that looks at on-site electricity and heat requirements and develops an optimal plan for customers to meet this requirement at overall minimum cost over a test period. DER-CAM is fully technology neutral, i.e. given end-use energy service requirements, details about the economic environment, e.g. utility tariffs, and list of possible technology options, and other restrictions, e.g. emission limits, payback requirements, or carbon targets, DER-CAM finds the optimal combination of equipment to install and how to operate it. The solution considers the simultaneity of technology choices, e.g. heat activated cooling lowers the electricity requirement and therefore the size of on-site generation. Both heat and electricity storage is considered. DER-CAM has been applied to various case and policy studies, and on a broader policy level, ongoing work attempts to comprehensively estimate the benefits of distributed systems. Additional information is available here.

Project Team:

Chris Marnay (Project Lead)
Michael Stadler
Kristina Hamachi LaCommare
Judy Lai
Nicholas DeForest
Jon Donadee
Jan von Appen