Potential for feeder equipment upgrade deferrals in a distributed utility

This analysis is an initial assessment of the resource potential for applying distributed utility (DU) technologies to meeting load growth on feeders within substations. DU concepts allow major utility investments in transmission and distribution equipment upgrades to be deferred or avoided by applying technologies such as generator sets, fuel cells, battery storage, or demand-side management (DSM) to the building and industrial loads served by the feeder. By applying these technologies at the feeder level, the economic and operational benefits to the utility of reduced need for new generating and transmission capacity can be compounded dramatically. These additional benefits result from avoiding distribution equipment upgrades resulting from load growth and from downsizing feeder equipment during normal replacement cycles.