reviewed both internally and externally prior to publication for purposes of external review and the study benefited from the advice and comments from a dozen individuals representing wind industry consulting firms, state agencies, wind turbine manufacturers, and other federal laboratories.

Between 2003 and the end of 2015, over 75,000 wind turbines, totaling 934 MW in cumulative capacity, were deployed in distributed applications across all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. In 2015, 28 states added 28 MW of new distributed wind capacity, representing 1,713 turbine units and $102 million in investment. While the number of units installed increased slightly, capacity additions and investments decreased compared to 2014, when 63.6 MW of new distributed wind capacity from nearly 1,700 turbines was added, representing $170 million in investment across 24 states. In 2015, 4.3 MW of small wind (turbines up through 100 kW) was deployed in the United States, representing 1,695 units and over $21 million in investment. This is slightly higher than in 2014 (3.7 MW of small wind, approximately 1,600 units, and $20 million in investment), but down from 2013 (5.6 MW, approximately 2,700 units, and $36 million investment). U.S. small wind manufacturers accounted for nearly 100% of 2015 domestic small wind sales. A total of 23.7 MW of capacity was installed in 2015 using turbines greater than 100 kW in distributed applications. Three of the five manufacturers and suppliers of these turbines, representing 9.4 MW and ten turbine units, were not based in the United States. A total of 14.3 MW and eight turbine units were from the two U.S.-based manufacturers or suppliers. Ohio, Nebraska, and Connecticut led the United States in new distributed wind power capacity additions in 2015 as a result of larger project installations in those states. California, New York, and Minnesota led the nation for small wind capacity deployment in 2015.

Accurate valuation of existing and new technologies and grid services has been recognized to be important for stimulating investment in grid modernization. Clear, transparent, and accepted methods for estimating the total value (i.e., total benefits minus cost) of grid technologies and services are necessary for decision makers to make informed decisions. This applies to home owners interested in distributed energy technologies, as well as to service providers offering new demand response services, and utility executives evaluating the best investment strategies to meet their service obligation. However, current valuation methods lack consistency, methodological rigor, and often the capabilities to identify and quantify multiple benefits of grid assets or new and innovative services. Distributed grid assets often have multiple benefits that are difficult to quantify because of the locational context in which they operate. The value is temporally, operationally, and spatially specific. It varies widely by distribution systems, transmission network topology, and the composition of the generation mix. The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) recently established a benefit-cost framework that proposes a process for estimating multiple benefits of distributed energy resources (DERs) and the associated cost. This document proposes an extension of this endeavor that offers a generalizable framework for valuation that quantifies the broad set of values for a wide range of technologies (including energy efficiency options, DER, transmission, and generation) as well as policy options that affect all aspects of the entire generation and delivery system of the electricity infrastructure. The extension includes a comprehensive valuation framework of monetizable and non-monetizable benefits of new technologies and services beyond the traditional reliability objectives. The benefits are characterized into the following categories: sustainability, affordability, and security, flexibility, reliability, and resilience. This document defines the elements of a generic valuation framework and process as well as system properties and metrics by which value streams can be derived. The valuation process can be applied to determine the value on the margin of incremental system changes. This process is typically performed when estimating the value of a particular project (e.g., value of a merchant generator, or a distributed photovoltaic [PV] rooftop installation). Alternatively, the framework can be used when a widespread change in the grid operation, generation mix, or transmission topology is to be valued. In this case a comprehensive system analysis is required. Valuation Process The elements of the valuation framework are shown in Figure ES.1. Step 1: Define Question. The first step in the valuation process is to formulate the question the analysis will answer. Typical questions take one of two forms:  load characteristics (such as the load shape and peak demand);  existing assets (including generation, transmission, distributi...

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