Brattle: DERs Could Avoid $614B in US Power Costs Through 2050
BOSTON – November 06, 2026 -- Removing policy barriers to distributed energy resources (DERs) would avoid an estimated $614 billion in US power system costs through 2050, according to a Brattle Group report prepared for The Pew Charitable Trusts. The savings would offset roughly half of projected household electricity bill increases, excluding inflation-related rises.
DER capacity would more than quadruple to over 400 GW by 2050
The report covers distributed solar, battery storage and demand flexibility such as managed EV charging across residential, commercial and industrial customers. Brattle estimates the policy changes would add more than 400 gigawatts (GW) of DER capacity, nearly one-third of the current US generation fleet. The added capacity would lower the risk and cost of overbuilding conventional infrastructure against uncertain demand.