Distributed energy resources (DERs) continue to spread across modern electricity networks with utilities facing the challenge of how to effectively coordinate flexibility wherever DERs emerge on the grid.
Utilities must now manage growing fleets of DER including solar PV, battery energy storage systems, electric vehicles, flexible industrial loads, smart thermostats and other controllable assets. These resources sit both front of the meter (FTM) on the electricity network and behind the meter (BTM) at customer sites.
Corporate sustainability goals, energy transition strategies and investment opportunities are accelerating DER deployment across both categories. To unlock their full value, utilities must coordinate and optimise these resources, regardless of their location on the network.
Both FTM and BTM resources provide grid flexibility, however they differ significantly in ownership, visibility, control mechanisms and operational objectives.
Front of the Meter (FTM) DER
FTM assets are connected directly to the utility network and operate primarily as energy-producing or grid-supporting resources. Their characteristics include:
Utilities can directly monitor and control these assets, therefore FTM DERs provide highly predictable and verifiable grid services.
Behind the Meter (BTM) DER
BTM assets are located at customer sites and primarily support customer energy needs while providing flexibility for grid services. Examples of BTM DER technology include:
Characteristics include:
For customers, BTM assets provide both operational savings and value from flexibility.
The Evolution of DER Control
Many utilities have already implemented Distributed Energy Resource Management Systems (DERMS) to monitor and manage larger FTM DER assets. DERMS provides a high degree of visibility and control, allowing operators to dispatch DER, verify performance and respond to changing network conditions in real time.
Alongside DERMS, utilities have long used demand response and flexibility programmes to engage behind the meter resources and support broader network objectives. Traditionally, these programmes have followed a relatively simple model: operators issue a request for a reduction in demand and depend on aggregated customer participation to deliver the response.
This approach has proven effective for reducing peak demand and providing system-wide flexibility, but it is less suited to addressing the localised network constraints due to DER adoption. As more DER connects to the grid, utilities require greater visibility of where flexibility is located and more precise control over how it is deployed.
Why Grid Topology Matters
For DER adoption, network operators face a simple reality: location matters. Two identical flexibility resources can deliver very different outcomes depending on where their network location.
Managing congestion, voltage constraints and network capacity requires utilities to understand not just how much flexibility is available, but where it is located and how it is likely to respond. This is where traditional demand response programmes can fall short: they may deliver valuable system-wide flexibility, but often lack the visibility and precision needed to address local network issues. As a result, utilities must increasingly coordinate both front of the meter and behind the meter resources within a single operational framework, ensuring flexibility is deployed where it creates the greatest value for the network.
Integrating FTM and BTM DER with Strata Grid
Strata Grid brings FTM and BTM DER into a single coordination layer. By combining asset-level flexibility data with network topology information, utilities can see not only how much flexibility is available, but understand where it sits relative to a network constraint, and how it can address that constraint.
The network-aware view enables more targeted dispatch. Rather than issuing broad demand-reduction requests across a large area, utilities can flex specific assets to address targeted, local network constraints.
Treating FTM and BTM as a single coordinated pool of flexibility, rather than as separate programmes, means utilities can solve local constraints, improve reliability and make better use of existing network infrastructure.
Building the Grid of the Future
The energy transition is increasing both the scale and complexity of distribution network operations. Front of the meter assets provide highly visible and controllable flexibility, while behind the meter resources offer a growing source of flexibility distributed across homes, businesses, industrial facilities and data centres. Neither approach alone is enough to meet the needs of a rapidly evolving grid.
As DER deployment continues to accelerate, utilities will need solutions that can coordinate and optimise both resource types within a unified operational framework. Strata Grid helps utilities gain the visibility and control needed to unlock the full value of distributed flexibility, enabling a more resilient, efficient, and adaptable network.
The grid of the future will not be built on front of the meter or behind the meter resources alone. It will be built on the intelligent coordination of both.