March 29
Liberty Uses Batteries to Create Virtual Power Plant in New Hampshire
Top consumer smart energy news hand-selected and brought to you by the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative.
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Liberty New Hampshire is using residential storage systems to create a virtual power plant. The utility has installed and owns 2,600 kWh of lithium-ion battery storage at 100 homes in its New Hampshire territory. The Tesla batteries charge overnight when demand and rates are low and are used to reduce peak load during times of high demand, provide battery backup for residents during power outages, and to facilitate customer access to time-of-use rates.
Potomac Edison’s EV Driven pilot program has completed installing 59 public charging stations, including 20 fast-charging stations, in Maryland. The program was approved by the Maryland Public Service Commission as part of a statewide effort to help make EV ownership easier and more accessible. It aims to reduce auto emissions and support Maryland’s goal to reach 300,000 zero-emission vehicles by 2025.
As utilities around the country grapple with unprecedented load growth driven in part by both new data centers and manufacturing, many are zeroing in on software. A slew of new options offers ways to bridge the gap between near-term demand and the longer-term solution of building more infrastructure. And while a collection of startups is assembling with load growth-specific solutions, industry incumbents are also stepping in.
Michigan should consider combining community solar with the deployment of cold weather heat pumps in manufactured home retrofits, according to a paper by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The paper was developed by the Lawrence Berkeley lab in response to a request for technical assistance from the Department of Energy’s National Community Solar Partnership by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy.
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Industry News
Home weatherization contractors in the Harrisonburg, Virginia, region are flush with heat pumps, triple-pane windows and insulation. But they’re finding it challenging to identify and connect with low-income residents who could benefit from that full array of at-the-ready, energy efficiency upgrades. Volunteers with the Climate Action Alliance of the Valley (CAAV) are working to address that divide – through trust and listening.
Americans are interested in residential solar, but many get stuck in the planning stage, get caught up on costs, or struggle to find a “trustworthy” solar company, according to a new report. Aurora Solar announced its second annual Solar Industry Snapshot, which examines early 2024 U.S. residential solar trends through three data sources, including Aurora’s solar projects database of more than nine million projects over the past two years and a survey of 1,000 homeowners.
A team of experts from the University of Notre Dame, in collaboration with faculty at the University of Maryland and University of Utah, have found a way to use artificial intelligence to analyze a household’s passive design characteristics and predict its energy expenses with more than 74 percent accuracy, the University of Notre Dame reported.
Demand response can be more than traditional load control if flexible power system support from programs aggregating customer-owned resources is properly valued, new research finds. Utilities that recognize how price-based demand response programs can change customer electricity usage through price signals may find them the most cost-effective planning option, a Berkeley Lab study found.
