| Renewable energy integration is having its moment in the sun.
While not central to most utility systems today, wind and solar power are growing nationwide, propelled by improving economics, renewable portfolio standards and positive consumer sentiment.
Because these resources cannot generate around the clock, utilities must alter the dispatch of other plants to compensate for their output. This increasing need for grid flexibility is driving investment in fast-acting natural gas plants and energy storage, while disadvantaging baseload coal and nuclear generators.
Amid concerns that these changes could threaten power reliability, the Department of Energy’s grid study concluded last month that increasing wind and solar penetrations have not made outages more likely. While reliability threats could exist in the future, DOE analysts concluded that renewables at present are helping form a diverse, resilient power mix.
The findings confirmed what utilities and grid operators across the country already know — changes to power system planning and dispatch are making it possible to integrate more renewable energy than ever before.
How is the sector doing it? That’s the subject of our latest Spotlight issue, featuring input from utilities and system operators across the country. See an integration trend we missed? Let us know at the e-mail link below.
 Gavin Bade
Editor, Utility Dive
Twitter | E-mail
 News and Trends
| Feature Story Flexibility and pricing reform are also challenges facing operators as they prepare the grid for more renewable energy. |
| Feature Story SCE and APS want to use electric vehicles, water heaters and demand response to help add more wind and solar to the grid. |
| Feature Story Soaking up solar power during the day and dispatching it in the evening is often cited as a renewable-enabling use for energy storage, but in practice the renewable-enabling potential of storage is often not so simple. |
| Feature Story In Texas and elsewhere, reliability concerns are merely a "Chicken Little argument" fossil generators use to advance their financial interests, analysts say. |
| Feature Story A rainy winter and growing solar have CAISO prices going negative and renewable energy going to waste — what should policymakers do? |
| Feature Story By 2021, Xcel expects wind to be its single largest energy resource — and that means big changes to grid operations. Fowke sat down with Utility Dive to discuss what the transition entails. |
| Feature Story With up to 6 GW of gas plants at risk of closure in the coming years, energy stakeholders are scrambling for new compensation techniques and zero-carbon alternatives. |
| Feature Story While it's something to minimize, curtailment is crucial to the functioning of MECO's grid today, and the goal of reaching 100% renewables by 2045. |
Featured Resources | DER flexibility management software helps optimize and control distributed energy resources, improve grid reliability, and drive customer engagement. Learn more. |
| An in-depth analysis of distributed energy storage most common use cases for utilities. Download now. |
| Harness flexible capacity from DERs to balance energy supply and demand in real time, increase the productivity of energy assets, and deliver new energy services to customers. Learn more. |
What We're Reading
 E&E News via Scientific American |
 The San Diego Union-Tribune |
 LA Times |
 Solar Industry |
 PV Tech |
 Greentech Media |
| 
