Distributed generation (DG), particularly customer-sited solar and battery storage, is increasingly influenced by a diverse set of policy and incentive mechanisms implemented by states and electric companies. These incentives, including upfront rebates, performance-based payments, export compensation mechanisms, tax incentives, and behavioral rate structures play a critical role in shaping customer adoption and long-term distributed energy resource deployment. This project reviews existing incentive-based distributed generation programs across the United States, with a particular emphasis on Midwest electric companies in the U.S. The study evaluates the combination of policy levers and how they contribute to sustained distributed resource growth. In addition, the research assesses how DG programs and adoption drivers are currently represented in Integrated Resource Planning (IRP) processes. This project evaluates current modeling approaches and explores opportunities for more integrated representations of DG within planning models. The findings highlight the importance of layered policy frameworks and improved modeling approaches to support more accurate forecasting of distributed generation and its role in future power system planning.
Authors Naga Srujana Goteti