Fostering DER integration in the electricity markets

This chapter provides insights into the participation of distributed energy resources (DERs) in the electricity markets. The massive integration of distributed energy generation coming from renewable energy sources (RES) with intermittent character, together with the empowering of the customers and the emergence of new agents, such as electric vehicles, are forcing the power systems to evolve. In this context, the provision of flexibility services that has been traditionally done by a reduced number of big generation plants will be also done by the new DERs. Throughout the chapter, a review of the possibilities of the DERs to provide flexibility services, the needs of those services in the future power systems and the current market framework will be reviewed. Eventually, the need to develop market-based solutions (local energy markets) to overcome the limitations of DERs participation in the current electricity markets will be analyzed.