Given how long we’ve been waiting – nearly three years now – for FERC to issue a final order directing RTOs/ISOs to develop rules for aggregated distributed energy resources (DERs) to take part in wholesale markets, it may seem that actual DER participation is still years away. In reality, several types of DER – from energy storage to distributed solar to electric vehicles and more – are slowly breaking through barriers to participate in wholesale markets, providing value to their owners and the electric power system as a whole. Read on for five real-world examples of DER participation in wholesale markets across the country. These examples provide just a glimpse of the value DERs could bring to wholesale markets, if they were given more of a chance. A final rule from FERC requiring systematic removal of barriers to DER participation in wholesale markets would unlock more of this value for wholesale markets and for consumers.

Move over, California, there’s another trailblazer in the West making its mark as an advanced energy success story. Through new market opportunity and steady, sustained job growth, Colorado is seeing the fruits of its policy leadership: advanced energy job growth of 4% last year, double the state’s overall employment gains, for a total that exceeds hospitals and doubles extractive industries like mining, oil, and gas. All over the state, Coloradans are making a living making the way we produce and use energy cleaner, more efficient, and cheaper. California may be bigger, and may have gotten there first, but Colorado is giving the Golden State a run for its money. 

“Indiana – a State That Works.” That’s the state’s motto, and every Hoosier knows it. What Hoosiers may not know is that the cost of doing business in Indiana has gotten higher due to significantly increased electricity rates over the past few years. If you ask business owners across the state, they will tell you that their energy-related costs have gone up, leaving them with less money to spend on expanding their business, hiring more employees, or investing in their own companies. The ability to control energy costs and sources is critical, especially for companies that consume a large amount of energy. Fortunately, advanced energy offers an opportunity for Indiana to offer low-cost and reliable energy to businesses. At the same time, advanced energy has become a significant source of  employment in the state – more jobs than auto parts manufacturing, twice as many as in schools and universities, and growing four times as fast as Indiana jobs overall.

In July, associations representing utilities and state regulatory agencies asked the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to overturn portions of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s landmark Order No. 841. In that order, FERC adopted critical regulatory reforms that require regional wholesale electricity market operators to remove barriers to the participation of energy storage technologies in their markets. Last week, AEE led a broad coalition of clean energy associations and public interest advocates in formally intervening in the case to urge the court to uphold FERC’s bipartisan effort to remove regulatory barriers to the growth of electric storage. The entire advanced energy industry has much at stake.

Last month, elected leaders in the Old Dominion crowed as CNBC crowned Virginia “The Best State for Business” in the United States. Here is what you might not know. Not only is Virginia a good place for business in general, it is a good place for advanced energy businesses – and workers – in particular. As shown by AEE’s new Virginia employment fact sheet, more than 100,000 people in the Commonwealth are employed in the industry. That is more people than are employed in every hospital across the Commonwealth, and over twice as many as work in Virginia’s real estate sector. And advanced energy employers say there are lots more Virginia jobs on the way this year.