February 10
Bidgely Launches EV Active Managed Charging
Top consumer smart energy news hand-selected and brought to you by the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative.
Member News
Bidgely introduced EV Active Managed Charging to its UtilityAI EV Solution at DISTRIBUTECH International. New Active Managed Charging is now part of Bidgely’s end-to-end EV Solution that also includes EV Detection and Targeting, EV Passive Managed Charging and EV Grid Analytics. Active Managed Charging can be launched in a few weeks without data integration as a turnkey, standalone application.
The 75th community solar development in ComEd’s service territory entered service last week, with the opening of the 2,495 MW Speedway Solar project. The project consists of more than 2,300 solar panels spread across 31 acres of land and will allow more than 350 ComEd customers without the roof space or financial means to install their own solar energy generation to benefit from solar energy use.
The Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative (SECC) this week announced the recipients of the 2023 Best Practices Awards at the 2023 Consumer Symposium in San Diego. The Best Practices Awards, now in their sixth year, recognize leadership from electricity providers in the transition to a smarter, more consumer-focused energy ecosystem.
A report from Consumers Energy highlighted a nearly 20-percent reduction in customer outages last year owing to significant upgrades to its electric grid and the completion of more than 2,000 electric projects. Last year’s efforts led to the replacement of 10,000 power poles with sturdier materials, upgrades and rebuilds of nearly 100 substations, wider-scale deployment of smart technologies and a new pilot project to underground power lines.
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Industry News
The future of all-electric, high-efficiency, grid-interactive homes seems near at hand from the floor of the CES 2023 event in Las Vegas. The massive annual extravaganza has long been the showcase for high-tech consumer electronics, including the latest in “smart” home automation systems, energy controls and electric appliances.
Rhode Island’s top utility regulator says a statewide moratorium on new gas hookups is on the table as the state works to meet its ambitious climate goals. “That doesn’t mean it happens tomorrow,” said Ronald Gerwatowski, chair of the Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission, during a proceeding Thursday. “But it surely begs us all to ask the question: If not tomorrow, then when?”
Solar and battery storage provider Sunrun announced plans on Monday to create a 30-MW virtual power plant by enrolling up to 7,500 existing and new rooftop solar and battery systems in Pacific Gas & Electric’s footprint. Storage systems that enroll in the program will be asked to discharge power to the grid every day between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. from August through October.
The home of the future won’t just be more efficient and powered by cleaner energy than today’s houses. It will interact with the broader energy system in ways that reward the people living there – and that help ensure there’s enough electricity for everyone else. The power grid is already straining to keep up with current demand in the face of extreme weather.
