Pew Report Charts Path to Accelerate Use of Distributed Energy Nationwide

WASHINGTON—In response to mounting calls to solve our nation’s energy affordability and reliability challenges, The Pew Charitable Trusts has released a report that offers policymakers and regulators actionable recommendations to bring distributed energy resources (DERs) to scale in the United States.

“Distributed Energy Can Unleash the Resilient, Affordable Grid of the Future,” the DER policy playbook, lays out six policies to lower electricity bills, strengthen grid reliability, and help utilities defer costly investments in new power plants. DERs—such as battery storage, rooftop and community solar, and smart thermostats—generate, store, and manage electricity close to the home, business, or facility where it is needed.

“Pew’s DER policy playbook provides decision-makers with actionable steps that can be implemented now to address increasing energy demand, costly utility bills, and more extreme weather,” said Maureen Quinlan, who leads Pew’s DER initiative. “By integrating DERs into the fabric of energy policy, planning, and procurement, legislators and regulators can unleash affordable, reliable energy in communities across the country.”

The playbook was developed over 18 months with guidance from Pew’s bipartisan DER Advisory Council, along with other leading experts. To realize the full potential of distributed energy, the playbook outlines a set of actionable policy solutions for lawmakers and regulators, organized across three key goals: (1) integrate DERs into utility planning and procurement; (2) reduce barriers to DER permitting and grid access; and (3) strengthen community resilience with DER solutions.

In addition to the recommendations, the playbook offers examples of policy successes already making a difference domestically and abroad, including those in New York, Texas, Virginia, Puerto Rico, the United Kingdom, and Australia.

“As a former New York public service commission chair and a CEO responsible for planning and operating Australia’s national grid, I know that incorporating DERs into the grid can relieve pressure, add stability, and provide price relief,” said Audrey Zibelman, a Pew DER Advisory Council co-chair. “This is not a technology challenge; this is a policy problem. Pew’s playbook will help regulators and lawmakers break down barriers and unlock DERs’ full potential.”

Publication of the playbook follows the recent release of Pew’s DER State Policy Explorer, which documents more than 400 DER-related policies enacted throughout the U.S. from 2021 to 2025. In fact, last year saw a 79% jump in the number of adopted DER policies compared with 2024. Yet, despite this positive trend, U.S. DER adoption lags other nations, such as Australia—a global leader that gets 14% of its electricity from rooftop solar, according to the nonprofit Clean Energy Council—leaving vast untapped potential to scale DERs for the benefit of American consumers and the nation’s electric grid.

“The benefits that DERs bring to customers and to grid resilience are too great for us to have barriers to their broad adoption. Now is the time to pull those barriers down and bring more energy choices directly to customers,” said Pat Wood III, a former Federal Energy Regulatory Commission chairman under President George W. Bush (R) and a Pew DER Advisory Council co-chair. “DERs are a proven, quick-to-market, reliability-enhancing answer to customer anxieties about rapid power market growth—a true win-win in this critical moment.”

As state decision-makers explore ways to bring more power online faster and more affordably, Pew’s DER policy playbook offers practical solutions and examples of how to tap into and maximize these critical power options.