Monitoring for impacts of distributed resources: Initial planning considerations

This paper presents a strategic overview for the planning and implementation of monitoring programs to evaluate and analyze impacts of distributed energy resources (DER) on electric distribution systems. The paper presents technical considerations for determining measurement strategies to evaluate specific operational impacts, to inform analytic study of distribution circuits, and to help anticipate future needs driven by increasing penetration levels of DER. A systematic selection of data is recommended, with an eye toward future growth of data volumes and opportunities to interface with multiple models and applications.