The DOE Bets on the Future of Energy Management
The U.S.DOE recently announced $61 million for ten pilot projects that will deploy new technology to transform countless residences and work environments into advanced, energy-efficient “connected communities.”
Connected communities of grid-interactive efficient buildings (GEBs) use smart controls, sensors, and analytics to communicate with the electrical grid to reduce the amount of energy required during periods of peak demand. This capability is used to optimize buildings and distributed energy resources to lower utility bills, reduce grid system costs, and decrease carbon emissions while maintaining the comfort of building occupants.
Distributed energy resources (such as batteries, generators, as well as renewable resources) form microgrids, local energy grids with control capability. The microgrid can detach from the conventional grid to operate autonomously when needed.
A recent DOE study estimates that by 2030, GEBs could save up to $18 billion per year in power system costs and cut 80 million tons of carbon emissions each year.
The DOE selected Ohio State University (OSU) as one of the ten projects. The OSU project managers will use the $4.2 M award to “investigate the capacity of Ohio State’s existing on-campus connected community to provide essential but overlooked ancillary grid services from a diverse range of grid-interactive technologies in a cyber- and data-secure environment.” Ohio State estimates the project will deliver a 35% energy reduction over the 2017 baseline.
For more information and to read about the other nine projects, click the link below:
https://microgridknowledge.com/energy-flexibility-microgrids-doe-connected-communities/
Contact Onyx
Contact us today at (877) 916-3688 for proven energy management services that lower the cost of powering your home or business.
