PLMA's Strategic Vision (strategic plan) identifies “sparking DER innovation” as a major focus of the organization's mission and ongoing work. The mission of PLMA's “Spark DER Innovation” initiative is to stimulate DER advancement within the energy industry by providing a process/platform for identifying industry needs and accelerating innovation.

As part of this strategic effort, PLMA launched its Innovation Forum in 2020, and has hosted two events within this forum to date:

1. DER Challenge Identification Workshop
2. DER Challenge Definition Roundtable

The third event in the DER Innovation Forum, Innovation Stories, invites four peer-selected organizations to present the stories behind their promising innovations, and how these innovations connect back to the previously identified DER challenges. 

Stories and Presenting Organizations include:

Story #1: The Shared Customer and Grid Benefits of Load Flexibility in DER-equipped Buildings
by Southern California Edison (SCE) + Extensible Energy 

Story #2: Load Flexibility in the Home: A Joint Proof of Concept
by Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) + Ynventive + support from Panasonic

Story #3: Fairmont Heights: A Future Connected Community Model
by Potomac Electric Power Company (Pepco) + Emera Technologies + Housing Initiative Partnership

Story #4: Giving Back: Making the Most of EVs Using Bidirectional Power
by Eaton Research Labs

The DER Challenge categories these Innovation Stories address are: