In a time where decarbonization mandates and sustainability goals are reshaping how utilities deliver and manage energy, electricity providers continue to grapple with complexities related to renewable energy integration, fluctuating energy demands, aging infrastructure and more. As a leading innovator in distributed energy resource (DER) management, Itron is at the forefront of this transformation, offering cutting-edge technologies, tailored solutions and seasoned expertise for utilities to successfully navigate an evolving DER landscape.

We are excited to share that Itron was recently recognized as a Representative Vendor in the 2023 Gartner Market Snapshot and Market Guide for Distributed Energy Resource Management Systems (DERMS), which provides research and insights into the evolving DERMS market, functional requirements and regulatory mandates for cities and utilities across the globe. 

Renewable and distributed energy technologies continue to proliferate the grid and it has become more challenging than ever before for utilities to uphold power quality, balance supply and demand and ensure sufficient distribution capacity. Itron has the complete program solution to help utilities do exactly that. With our industry-leading distributed energy resource management system (DERMS) platform, DER Optimizer, we support a myriad of behind-the-meter appliances and leverage them to ensure grid optimization. In addition, built upon the foundation of Itron’s Demand Response Management System (DRMS), IntelliSOURCE® EnterpriseTM, Itron’s DER Optimizer solution enables utilities to expand their legacy demand response programs to include a wide range of DERs, including electric vehicles, smart inverters, battery storage systems and other flexible loads. The DER Optimizer leverages native integrations with Itron’s distributed intelligence (DI) platform and networks to deliver real-time DER analytics and optimization at the edge with latencies that cannot be matched through purely cloud-based solutions. With analytics, forecasting, DERMS, customer outreach services and Distributed Intelligence smart meters and networks, Itron provides turnkey solutions to enable utilities to advance distributed energy and decarbonization objectives, while optimizing and enhancing their distribution grids.

A few key findings from the Gartner report include:

• “Distributed energy resources deployment continues to accelerate as DER proliferation and penetration increase, which are driven by government incentives and mandates. Pilot projects are demonstrating technical results, but value realization with additional revenue remains challenging.
• Utilities are finding it complicated to integrate and orchestrate DERs due to the number of participating systems and closed vendor-centric ecosystems.
• Distributed energy resource management systems is heading into the Trough of Disillusionment on the 2023 Gartner Hype Cycle™ for Digital Grid
• Transformation Technologies, meaning that no single vendor can meet all use cases for all utilities. More mergers and acquisitions along with some vendor partnerships are expected.
• The lack of consistent data that reflects customer-owned assets accurately blended onto a full network model remains the key weakness of DERMS implementations. Some vendors are addressing this issue with network model managers.”

To download the report, visit our landing page. To learn more about use cases and opportunities to integrate distributed energy resources with Itron’s DERMS solution, visit www.itron.com/DERMS.

Gartner, Market Guide for DERMS, 28 November 2023, Lloyd Jones, Jo-Ann Clynch

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