The Integrated Energy Network (IEN) pathway leads to a more interconnected and integrated energy system that provides customers with increased choice and control; the reliability, safety and affordability they expect; and the additional benefits of a cleaner, electrified environment.
The IEN calls for a change in how we think about energy:
- It calls for a much more integrated approach to providing energy services and managing natural resources – a fundamental shift from the planning, operation, and regulation of these systems today.
- It leverages digital technologies that enable levels of integration that would have seemed implausible even a few years ago.
- It requires that technology, policy, regulation, and business models advance in concert for the Integrated Energy Network to be realized.
For long-term energy planning, development, production, delivery and use, we must chart a path away from the status-quo, and toward unprecedented:
- Efficiency
- Sustainability
- Connectivity
- Customer choice and control
Discover The Integrated Energy Network:
Developing a Framework for Integrated Energy Network Planning (IEN-P)
The IEN is considering questions such as:
- How do energy systems and infrastructures need to develop to provide greater value to customers and society?
- What are the greatest R&D needs?
- What are key implications for policy, regulation, and creation of standards?
- How can the energy sector best direct and focus investments today?
- What roles can electricity and electrification play in a cleaner, more-integrated energy future?
With these questions in mind, EPRI is developing action plans to focus our technical expertise on R&D needs for enabling an IEN pathway. These plans include and expand upon the ongoing research & development associated with EPRI’s Integrated Grid, which focuses on optimizing the integration of central-station and distributed energy resources.
EPRI pioneered collaborative research and development in the electricity sector. This groundbreaking work continues as EPRI considers trends, issues and questions raised by the series of IEN discussion papers being released throughout 2017.
This body of research points to the opportunity and necessity to act now – to expand collaboration in research and development.
Producing Cleaner Energy
More Efficient, Environmentally Sustainable and Flexible Generation
Using Cleaner Energy
Energy Efficiency and Electrification
Integrating Energy Resources
New Control Technologies and Markets
Key Actions that Cross Boundaries
Demonstrating Value of Broad Integration