In 2025, MEPPI’s Digital Solutions Division focused on delivering practical tools that empower customers to monitor and control their distributed energy resources (DERs) from the control room down to the customer’s home. At MEPPI, we are engineering the digital infrastructure of the future with our DERMS and DER Gateway solutions. MEPPI’s team is on the ground listening to our customers and keeping track of what is going on in the industry with the goal of designing, building and delivering solutions which add value to our customers and the industry. Drawing on this knowledge, we’ve identified key trends which will shape 2026 and beyond.

Industry Outlook

·       Data Center Load Growth

o   Data center demand will continue to dominate the market.

o   Bloomberg projects 106 GW by 2035, with load demand outpacing generation growth, creating significant grid challenges.

·       Photovoltaic (PV) Growth

o   PV adoption will remain slow as the industry adjusts to the “One Big Beautiful Bill” (OBBB) regulatory framework.

o   Expect incremental progress rather than rapid acceleration.

·       Flexible Interconnections

o   Expansion will accelerate in states such as: New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Colorado, Illinois, and California.

o   These interconnections will help alleviate congestion and improve grid adaptability.

·       Utility Interoperability & Partnerships

o   Utilities increasingly desire system interoperability.

o   Partnerships and M&A activity will grow as companies seek to integrate technologies and scale solutions.

Customer Needs & Challenges

·       Infrastructure Timelines

o   Long lead times for new transmission and distribution infrastructure will pressure utilities to control demand, increasing reliance on demand response programs.

·       System Interoperability

o   Continued focus on interoperability across platforms and vendors.

·       AI Deployment

o   Realizing AI’s full potential will require new partnerships between utilities and technology vendors for integration and scalability.

Regulatory & Market Changes

·       DER Market Recovery

o   After slowing due to federal policy shifts, the Distributed Energy Resource (DER) market will rebound as state-level policies take priority.

·       Behind-the-Meter Generation

o   State regulators will revisit restrictive generation policies, enabling data centers to self-supply generation, as seen recently in Georgia.

 

What is MEPPI DERMS and how can it help Utilities address these challenges?

MEPPI is an end-to-end DERMS solutions provider, delivering comprehensive Distributed Energy Resource (DER) management from the grid to the grid edge. This unique level of control empowers ambitious deployments with precision, scalability, and efficiency.

MEPPI DERMS offers a pragmatic and flexible path to DERMS adoption. Unlike traditional ADMS or DRMS systems, our platform is designed for rapid innovation and seamless scalability. Backed by a sophisticated suite of tools and in-house subject matter experts, we deliver tailored solutions that maximize value for our customers.

Our DERMS solution helps utilities unlock the full potential of existing DER assets while onboarding new resources and programs. Through real-time monitoring and management of current network configurations, utilities can optimize performance and reliability across their systems.

Beyond managing front-of-the-meter (FTM) and behind-the-meter (BTM) assets, MEPPI DERMS delivers operational solutions even in environments with limited or imperfect data. Our patented approach eliminates the dependency on complete telemetry and network models—requirements that often slow competitors’ implementations and drive-up costs. As a result, MEPPI delivers faster, more cost-effective solutions with lower maintenance requirements.

MEPPI DERMS is built to solve the growing data center challenge with its real-time control algorithm and grid-aware connectivity. Our system can reduce data center interconnection timelines down to a few months while limiting any control actions due to generation gaps or grid constraints.

MEPPI DERMS is built with interoperability in mind. MEPPI’s pre-built adapters from common OT/IT systems, standards-based communication, and in-house team of integration experts allow MEPPI to easily and securely fit within the utilities OT/IT ecosystem.

Learn more about MEPPI DERMS: https://www.meppi.com/products/der-management-systems