Energetics webinar: Unlocking the Potential of Distributed Energy Resources
CLEAResult Energetics has launched a monthly webinar series for utilities, regulators, and state energy offices, and we didn’t go in lightly.
For Episode 1, we went straight into tackling distributed energy resources (DERs) and the data center grid crisis. With power prices on PJM jumping 76% in Q1 2026 and data center load projected to nearly triple by 2030, according to S&P Global, the timing isimpossible to ignore. DERs are the most credible near-term answer, and yet deployment is lagging. That gap is what this episode was built to address.
We brought together three practitioners who have actually done the work:
- Jigar Shah, co-founder of Multiplier and former Director of the U.S. Department of Energy Loan Programs Office, where he deployed $108 billion in clean energy financing
- Wyeth Atchison, Senior Growth Director at CLEAResult, who builds utility DER and demand response programs from the ground up
- Bob Gemmer, Subject Matter Expert at CLEAResult Energetics, who spent 22+ years at the U.S. Department of Energy, managing the nation’s distributed energy and combined heat and power (CHP) research portfolios
Here is what they said.
The barrier is not the technology
Jigar Shah was direct on this from the start. The tools to address load growth exist and are ready. AI and modern grid software can now compress interconnection studies that once took 22,000 engineering hours into less than a day. The challenge isn’t capability: it’s the cultural resistance inside utilities slowing adoption of these tools.
“We have the tools to move much faster. We’re facing a cultural challenge.” — Jigar Shah
Wyeth Atchison reinforced this. Every component of a working DER strategy, including rooftop solar, battery storage, managed EV charging, smart thermostats, demand response loads, and industrial CHP can be coordinated through a distributed energy resource management system (DERMS) or virtual power plant (VPP) to deliver real grid services. The market is moving. Utilities need to move with it.
“It’s not a technology issue. This is an issue of deployment, customer engagement, program design, and the infrastructure to orchestrate all of these assets.” — Wyeth Atchison
What a DER strategy actually works looks like
Atchison laid out a clear framework for utilities serious about making DERs deliver:
- Lead with location and time. Don’t just count megawatts enrolled. Know where on the grid resources are needed and when. This is the foundation of non-wires alternatives (NWA), using targeted DER deployments to defer or replace costly transmission and distribution (T&D) upgrades entirely.
- Stack energy efficiency first. Permanently reduce baseline load before trying to shape it. It’s the lowest-cost move, and the one most utilities are still skipping.
- Build the orchestration layer. A DERMS platform combined with genuine customer engagement enables value stacking, where a single DER asset earning across peak shaving, frequency regulation, and backup power simultaneously.
- Break down internal silos. Demand side management, T&D planning, and network operations teams don’t talk to each other often enough. Until they do, the full value of coordinated programs won’t show up in a single commission docket.
The industrial opportunity nobody is moving on fast enough
Bob Gemmer made a compelling case for industrial self-generation being one of the most underleveraged opportunities on the grid. Industrial facilities consume roughly one-third of U.S. energy but represent far fewer sites than residential customers, a high-leverage starting point for dispatchable capacity.
Gemmer’s argument: the technology works, the potential is enormous, and what’s blocking it is a long-standing cultural divide between utilities and industrial customers, one that the current grid crisis should finally force both sides to get past.
“We know how to deliver power from a 20-megawatt CHP system onto the grid. If that power is underutilized at the facility, it’s available to the grid.” — Bob Gemmer
The program design mistake that keeps showing up
Atchison was equally direct on what utilities keep getting wrong. Programs are designed around devices, not customers. The result is predictable: low enrollment, high attrition, and pilots that work on paper but fall apart at scale.
His prescription: start with customer research. Understand barriers, tolerance for change, and value by segment before picking a technology. Offer direct installation. Make bill savings visible. And design with equity from the start, because grid constraints don’t care about customer class, and programs that only work for easy-to-reach customers will never deliver at the scale the grid needs.
“Two utilities can deploy the exact same device and get wildly different outcomes. The difference isn’t the technology. It’s the quality of the customer journey.” — Wyeth Atchison
The economic and policy case for moving now
Shah made the rate argument plainly. The existing grid runs at only 30–50% capacity utilization. A GridCARE paper he cited finds that every 1 GW of accommodated load growth reduces rates by approximately 5%. Shah noted that if you scale that, rates could fall 20% this decade. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates 80–160 GW of demand flexibility is achievable by 2030, up from 33 GW today.
On policy, Shah pointed to Virginia’s grid utilization law, now being pursued by 26 other states as the leading model for requiring utilities to submit grid data that unlocks AI-driven DER deployment. He also flagged growing regulatory pressure: as utilities come to commissions asking for rate increases, regulators are pushing back and asking whether everything possible has been done on DERs first.
One action each panelist wants to see in the next 12 months
Jigar Shah: Install a DERMS platform. The digital infrastructure to manage demand flexibility at scale has to come first. Everything else builds on top of it.
Wyeth Atchison: Run stacked pilots combining energy efficiency and flexible load management on a constrained substation or feeder. Design for equity from day one. Measure the customer experience as rigorously as the grid impact.
Bob Gemmer: Clear the path for industrial interconnection. The capacity is already there. The barriers are structural, not technical, and they’re costing the grid every day they stay in place.
Questions from the audience
The live session ended with Q&A. Here are some of the questions raised:
- Where does modern rate design actually fit into VPP and DSM program design?
- How do you design DER programs equitably for renters and low-income customers?
- What policy changes should regulators prioritize to shift toward performance-based models?
- How can smaller utilities design cost-effective DER programs given fixed platform costs?
Watch the full recording to hear the panelists’ answers.
Coming up next
This is a monthly series. Episode 2 will go deep on industrial self-generation and combined heat and power, one of the most underleveraged grid resources in the country. There’s a lot more to unpack.
Follow CLEAResult Energetics on LinkedIn so you don’t miss it.
Watch the full recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mD69FLenRH4
Want to continue the conversation?
CLEAResult Energetics works with utilities, regulators, and state energy offices on DER program design, grid modernization, and clean energy strategy. Contact us on our page to learn more.