How National Grid is using locational flexibility to deliver distribution-level value

As utilities face increasingly localized distribution constraints, customer DERs offer a new source of flexibility — one utilities can leverage to target the exact places the grid needs it most. National Grid is putting that idea into practice through ConnectedSolutions+, dispatching customer-owned DERs, including thermostats and batteries, to relieve pressure at specific points on its distribution system.

EnergyHub’s DERMS maps participating devices to grid topology, giving National Grid visibility into available DERs by location and the ability to dispatch the right resources exactly where they’re needed. That lets National Grid put existing customer flexibility to work in a new way — not just reducing system-wide peaks, but meeting specific distribution needs, and building the data to prove it’s working.

The larger opportunity is moving from individual locational projects to a repeatable operating capability — one that can work across more locations, grid needs, and DER types, and ultimately integrate distributed flexibility more deeply into grid operations.

Download the case study to see how the National Grid team is mapping and dispatching DERs by feeder, what their first deployments are showing, and what other utilities can learn from their experience.