I'm surprised this didn't touch on some of the other distribution grid ideas that have been piloted. At a past job I helped create software that valued power from DERs based on real-time grid conditions [1]. The idea was that some distributed generation was worth more to the distribution operator because it alleviated other problems in the grid such as congestion.

1. https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/opus-one-tests-...