Part 1 of a 2-Part Series
Distributed energy is redefining the power paradigm, and in these exciting, fast-changing times of renewable innovation and connectivity the conversation is more relevant than ever. At RE+ 2025, Stryten Energy hosted a dynamic panel discussion at its booth titled “Behind the Meter, Ahead of the Curve.” Moderated by Scott Childers, the conversation brought together industry leaders to explore how distributed energy resources (DERs) are redefining the power paradigm. With the rise of microgrids, battery energy storage systems (BESS), and regulatory shifts, the panelists shared insights on the evolving landscape of energy resilience.
Meet the Panelists:
- David Johnson, VP of Sales & Marketing, CE+T America
- Jon Parrella, CEO, Terra Flow Energy
- Dr. Vick Singh, COO, Dragonfly Energy
- Moderator: Scott Childers, VP of Essential Power, Stryten Energy
Here are the highlights from the conversation:
Childers: “What’s driving customer demand for behind the meter storage versus traditional front of the meter applications?”
The panel kicked off with a look at what’s driving customer demand for behind-the-meter storage solutions. Dr. Singh emphasized the economic value, “At the end of the day, what we’re really seeing is there’s an economic value to going to behind the meter storage solutions.” He explained that customers are either peak shaving to reduce utility bills or mitigating diesel consumption for backup power. Improvements in battery technology have made these solutions more accessible, “We’ve seen the cost of storage slowly come further and further down over the last decade… and what that’s been able to do is really realize levelized cost of electricity that is competitive with natural gas.”
Johnson added that regulatory changes are accelerating adoption, “Regulations… they’re not able to export power back to the grid any longer, and instead of wasting it, they want to save it. So, there’s a lot more higher battery attachment rate happening because of regulations.”
Childers: “Do you find that smaller behind-the-meter applications are progressing more slowly or facing greater challenges?”
As DERs scale, integration becomes critical. Dr. Singh highlighted the complexity of smaller installations, “I don’t think it’s necessarily slower, but the hurdles are slightly different… making sure all of these different elements communicate with one another and can provide a really clean user experience to the customer.” Dragonfly Energy’s focus on turnkey solutions is central to enabling seamless deployment, “One of our core pillars is system integration… not only distribute them but provide a turnkey solution to the customer that has all those components in it along with the battery.”
Johnson noted growing interest in mid-sized applications, “We’re actually seeing quite a bit of movement in the 10 KW range up to 500 KW range… maybe it’s just starting now, but we are seeing quite a few of those applications.”
Childers: “What are some of the regulatory events that are maybe holding us back?”
While incentives and policies are helping, challenges remain. Johnson pointed to interconnection delays, “Depending on what state you’re in… government can range from 6 to 12 months to get a response from the actual utility to allow the project to move forward.”
Parrella pointed to Texas Senate Bill 6 (SB6) as a key example, “Now the projects that can be responsive loads get prioritized above the others, so they’re moving faster and ERCOT is probably leading the market for shortening interconnection timeframes and being able to get projects online faster… If you’re smaller, like less than 10 megawatts, you don’t have to go through ERCOT to get interconnection. You’re considered a distributed generation resource, a DGR, and so in that situation you’re only dealing with the local utility, and those tend to go faster. So, the smaller implementations, a lot of times they’re easier to implement than the much bigger ones.”
Dr. Singh added that supply chain scrutiny is increasing, “Federal authorities want much more insight into your supply chain… further and further upstream than I’ve ever seen previously.” Companies like Dragonfly evaluate the supply chain and look at it from a long-term perspective to “position ourselves to provide turnkey solutions to our OEM customers, we’re confident that those supply chains are going to be resilient to the shifts in geopolitical winds and these sorts of things… we’re thinking about much more, not just where the cell’s coming from necessarily, but where did the lithium come from that went into a cathode active material that then went into that cell.”
Stay tuned for part 2 of this discussion. Click below to watch the full recording on the Stryten Energy YouTube channel.
