January 5
Uplight to Acquire DERMS Provider AutoGrid
Top consumer smart energy news hand-selected and brought to you by the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative.
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Uplight announced an agreement to acquire AutoGrid, a virtual power plant and distributed energy resource management system (DERMS) provider. The capabilities of Uplight and AutoGrid will be combined in a single platform to integrate, orchestrate and monetize distributed energy resources (DERs). Uplight says the AutoGrid acquisition can lead to more customers enrolled in utility energy programs, more DER connections and more program options for utilities, grid operators, energy producers and businesses across increased market segments and geographies.
Electric vehicle charging software company WeaveGrid and Wallbox, a provider of electric vehicle charging solutions, partnered to expand access to utility managed charging programs for North American Wallbox owners, beginning with Xcel Energy’s Charging Perks Program in Colorado, where Xcel Energy currently serves around 1.3 million residential customers.
Joint efforts by ComEd and Summit Ridge Energy led to completion of three community solar projects and 8.7 MW of renewable energy for Illinois’ Dekalb County. Of these projects, two were located in Sandwich, Illinois and a third in Lee, Illinois. They incorporated more than 15,000 solar panels spread over 46 acres, capable of providing energy for between 1,000-1,200 average homes. With their completion, the number of community solar projects in ComEd’s northern Illinois region increased to 103.
A 175-MW solar array, located on 1,310 acres, was officially placed into commercial operation in December and is now generating and delivering electricity to Colorado Springs Utilities customers. Pike Solar is owned and operated by Deriva Energy, a Charlotte, North Carolina-based independent generation developer. The plant is providing energy to the public power utility’s customers through a 17-year power purchase agreement.
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Industry News
New state incentives are pushing Mainers to adopt “whole-house” heat pump systems, making efficient electricity the primary home heat source and discouraging the secondary use of oil or gas. Federal tax credits are still available for a wider range of heat pump installations, and the state offers rebates for low-income households to install a heat pump as a supplemental heat source.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported California as the reigning MVP for electric vehicles and EV charging locations throughout the country in 2022. California has dominated the charts in that regard every year since 2016. When 2022 closed out, the state now accounted for 37 percent of all U.S. registered light-duty EVs and 27 percent of its charging locations, with 1.1 million vehicles on its roads and more than 14,000 charging locations.
FERC’s annual smart metering and demand response assessment highlights annual increases averaging around eight million new smart meters. The assessment, compiled as a statutory requirement annually, quotes 2021 smart meter data as the latest, with numbers of 111.2 and 115.3 million smart meters from the EIA and Institute for Electric Innovation respectively. These correspond to respective penetrations of 68.3 percent and 70.8 percent, based on a total of 162.8 million metering endpoints in the U.S.
The U.S. Department of Energy recently finalized new energy efficiency requirements for residential refrigerators and freezers that the agency estimates will save consumers more than $36 billion over three decades. The new standards have support from product manufacturers and conservation advocates. The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM) said the rules will save energy while preserving “choice and innovation.”
