Over the past few years, industry activities to create standards for distributed energy resources (DER) management systems have primarily focused on the behaviors of individual DER units and open communication protocols over the field networks that connect directly to these devices. To better integrate and manage many diverse distributed energy resources, EPRI has been developing functional requirements and communication protocols for distributed energy resource management systems (DERMS) operating in a grid-tied mode (EPRI reports 3002002464 and 3002001249). A recent publication from the Argonne National Laboratory provides the guidelines for implementing advanced distribution management systems (DMS). These activities are intended to provide the industry with a point of reference and to provide guidance to research and standards development organizations.
