Testing DERMS and DER aggregators towards Successful Implementation – Challenges and Opportunities

With the rising need for the management of DERs within the distribution system, utilities have been looking into utilizing and deploying and integrating different platforms such as DER aggregators and DERMS. Currently, utilities are at various stages of the development and implementation of their DER management and DERMS strategy. One of the key aspects of platform implementation to guarantee the project’s success is to be able to test and verify different functionalities and requirements at different stages of deployment (e.g., procurement, pre-field deployment, field deployment). This becomes even more critical considering the significant effort required to fully deploy and integrate DERMS into existing utility systems. This panel focuses on the various stages of DERMS and DER aggregator testing associated with implementation phases, test requirements and considerations, available testing tools, and standards. The panel will also investigate current gaps in testing procedures and the need for standardization for DERMS testing and discusses the challenges of standardization considering a wide range of implementation approaches and testing requirements for DERMS.