Potential Impacts of Advanced Metering Infrastructure on Renewable Energy Policy

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Overview

Report cover one-page Potential Impacts of Advanced Metering Infrastructure on Renewable Energy Policy summary.
This Solar America Board for Codes and Standards (Solar ABCs) white paper summarizes the findings and recommendations of Potential Impacts of Advanced Metering Infrastructure on Renewable Energy Policy. Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) allows the utility to communicate with the customer, the customer to communicate with the utility and, in many cases, allows the utility to gain rapid feedback on the condition of and events occurring on its electric grid. This white paper is a primer that gives the reader an overview of AMI and also identifies possible impacts on renewable energy policy and the integration of renewable energy generation into the electric utility grid.

Why the Report is Important

Renewable and distributed generation will be integral parts of the future grid. As AMI is adopted, regulator decisions on AMI adoption will impact renewable energy policy and utility integration. Policy makers and regulators need to become educated on these and other potential impacts and the solar industry needs to become engaged in the regulator process of AMI proceedings.

Solar America Board for Codes and Standards Recommendation

The following list presents some of the areas that will be most affected.

Furthermore, as AMI projects are designed, it is likely that their implementation may affect current utility practices as well as local, state and federal policies. Due consideration to the impact of any plan that may restrict existing, successful policies should be given to ensure that the recognized societal benefits are maintained.