EPRI Launches FLEXIT Initiative to Streamline DER Integration

The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) has launched an initiative to simplify the integration of aggregated consumer technologies such as rooftop solar, electric vehicles (EVs), and smart thermostats into utility operations. The effort is designed to increase grid flexibility as demand grows, while also supporting resilience and affordability.

The Flexible Integrated Technologies Initiative, known as FLEXIT, has more than two dozen initial utility members representing 45% of U.S. electricity customers. Participating utilities include Ameren, Arizona Public Service, Baltimore Gas and Electric, Commonwealth Edison, Dominion Energy, Duke Energy, Exelon, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, National Grid, Nebraska Public Power District, New York Power Authority, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Pepco Holdings, PECO Energy, Sacramento Municipal Utility District, Southern California Edison, Southern Company, Salt River Project, and Xcel Energy.

In addition, more than 40 technology providers are involved, including distributed energy resource (DER) manufacturers, aggregators, and DER management system providers.

“Leveraging grid flexibility to improve asset utilization is essential to affordability,” said Rob Chapman, EPRI executive vice president and chief commercial customer officer. “With the number of DER devices expected to quadruple over the next five years, FLEXIT serves as a foundational building block to efficiently scale these resources and streamline their integration into grid operations.”

With DERs such as smart appliances, EVs, and battery storage expected to expand rapidly, utilities see benefits in simplifying integration with aggregators to strengthen flexibility and reliability. FLEXIT is designed to improve coordination by standardizing awareness of available resources, maximizing service while maintaining safe operations, and unifying technical protocols.

“Effective load management and new storage technologies are essential to balancing and backstopping the increasingly variable and distributed load on the grid,” said Mike Delaney, vice president of Utility Partnerships and Innovation for Pacific Gas and Electric. “DERs—including EVs, batteries, heat pumps, and electric water heaters—provide tremendous potential to balance variable generation on the grid but may present reliability challenges if not coordinated properly. By leveraging open standards like IEEE 2030.5 and OpenADR, EPRI’s FLEXIT project aims to enhance communications, minimize customized integrations and—if successful—reduce integration costs for DER aggregators and load management programs, benefiting all customers.”

As part of FLEXIT, EPRI is convening a working group to gather stakeholder input and develop consensus around its workstreams. The project is focused on harmonizing existing standard services, communication protocols, and cybersecurity requirements so utilities can integrate DER services into grid operations reliably and securely.