From Net Load Modifiers to Firm Capacity: The Role of Distributed Energy Resources in Resource Adequacy

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Li, Yujia, Moreira, Alexandre, Heleno, Miguel
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Li, Yujia
Moreira, Alexandre
Heleno, Miguel
author_facet Li, Yujia
Moreira, Alexandre
Heleno, Miguel
contents Distributed energy resources (DERs) such as rooftop solar, battery storage, and demand response offer substantial potential for power system reliability, yet integrating them into resource adequacy (RA) frameworks as firm capacity contributors remains difficult across jurisdictions. Existing analyses often treat these barriers as isolated technical problems at individual stages of the RA participation process, overlooking the cross-stage dependencies that prevent reforms at one stage from producing scalable participation. This paper introduces a four-gate compliance pathway (entry and classification, metering and verification, accreditation, and enforcement), preceded by an upstream forecasting layer, as a unified lens for tracing where DER capacity value is lost at the institutional interfaces between these stages. Using a document-grounded comparative synthesis of tariff provisions, compliance protocols, and regulatory documents across five jurisdictions spanning U.S. capacity markets and European capacity remuneration mechanisms, we show that these barriers persist despite substantial variation in market design and regulatory structure, indicating that the problem is structural rather than jurisdiction-specific. We identify three cross-stage coupling mechanisms that explain why gate-level reforms have repeatedly failed to scale DER participation, and derive coordination principles for end-to-end compliance redesign. The central finding is that compliance architecture, rather than DER technology itself, is the binding constraint on translating DER capability into firm RA contributions.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_00287
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle From Net Load Modifiers to Firm Capacity: The Role of Distributed Energy Resources in Resource Adequacy
Li, Yujia
Moreira, Alexandre
Heleno, Miguel
Systems and Control
Distributed energy resources (DERs) such as rooftop solar, battery storage, and demand response offer substantial potential for power system reliability, yet integrating them into resource adequacy (RA) frameworks as firm capacity contributors remains difficult across jurisdictions. Existing analyses often treat these barriers as isolated technical problems at individual stages of the RA participation process, overlooking the cross-stage dependencies that prevent reforms at one stage from producing scalable participation. This paper introduces a four-gate compliance pathway (entry and classification, metering and verification, accreditation, and enforcement), preceded by an upstream forecasting layer, as a unified lens for tracing where DER capacity value is lost at the institutional interfaces between these stages. Using a document-grounded comparative synthesis of tariff provisions, compliance protocols, and regulatory documents across five jurisdictions spanning U.S. capacity markets and European capacity remuneration mechanisms, we show that these barriers persist despite substantial variation in market design and regulatory structure, indicating that the problem is structural rather than jurisdiction-specific. We identify three cross-stage coupling mechanisms that explain why gate-level reforms have repeatedly failed to scale DER participation, and derive coordination principles for end-to-end compliance redesign. The central finding is that compliance architecture, rather than DER technology itself, is the binding constraint on translating DER capability into firm RA contributions.
title From Net Load Modifiers to Firm Capacity: The Role of Distributed Energy Resources in Resource Adequacy
topic Systems and Control
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.00287