Siemens and EnergyHub Join Forces for Next Generation DER Management
Posted February 9, 2023
- Accelerated DER growth to challenge state-of-the-art grid management
- Open and modular approach will improve DER flexibility
- EnergyHub is a leading provider of grid-edge flexibility with nearly 1 million DERs under management
- Siemens brings extensive power grid expertise, global footprint to partnership
- Cooperation based on complementary portfolio elements, supports transition to distributed grid for net zero world
Siemens has partnered with EnergyHub to expand its ecosystem of partners for its grid software business. EnergyHub provides a top-tier grid-edge management solution, which combines its DERMS platform with turnkey program management to enable utilities to scale grid-edge flexibility. EnergyHub controls all classes of DERs including thermostats, electric vehicles, energy storage, and solar inverters. The company works with over 60 North American utilities to manage more than 1.3 GW of flexible capacity. Siemens is a leading provider of grid planning, operations and maintenance software and brings extensive power systems and grid control domain expertise to the partnership.
The companies will interface their complementary solutions to empower utilities to move towards a holistic and scalable end-to-end next generation DER management solution. This means utilities will have better DER visibility, forecasting, and management, which will enable them to better plan, operate and maintain an increasingly DER-centric grid in the future by breaking down silos across utilities.
“Utilities have to re-think how to manage power grids because DERs will continue to grow significantly over the next decade. Knowing about DER contributions to our power grids is very important to shift loads to periods when there is less stress on the grid. Siemens and EnergyHub will be strategically cooperating on complementary portfolio elements for a next generation DER management by combining Siemens’ network expertise with EnergyHub’s proven grid-edge capabilities. This partnership will enable utilities to reach net-zero by leveraging DERs as a non-wire alternative solution such as investments in hardware. Ultimately, this will enable utilities to unlock unprecedented levels of DER flexibility and resilience of the power grid,” said Sabine Erlinghagen, CEO of Grid Software at Siemens.
CLICK HERE to read the full press release.
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Tantalus Completes Alpha Testing of TRUSense™ Gateway
Next-generation offering gives utilities new levels of reliability and resilience with data visibility behind the meter
Posted March 7, 2023
BURNABY, BC – March 7, 2023 – Smart grid technology leader Tantalus Systems (TSX: GRID) (“Tantalus” or the “Company”) today announced the successful completion of alpha testing for the Company’s new TRUSense Gateway, a next-generation offering that accelerates the benefits of distributed intelligence by accessing and analyzing data from behind the meter to improve resiliency and reliability and enables utilities to solve the broadband divide by leveraging fiber deployments.
Leveraging the capabilities of the technology acquired in our purchase of Congruitive last year, Tantalus developed the TRUSense Gateway to serve as a multi-purpose socket-based device that delivers secure and interoperable integration of behind-the-meter distributed energy resources (“DERs”) onto the distribution system. Coupled with the high-resolution measurement of power delivery, transient power events and local conditions such as sags, swells, outages and phase information, utilities will be able to pinpoint vulnerable distribution equipment such as transformers, understand the true impact of electric vehicles (“EVs”) and other DERs on the distribution grid, build robust demand-side flexibility programs and mitigate the frequency and duration of power outages. In conjunction with expanding cybersecurity requirements, the TRUSense Gateway is a highly secure platform leveraging cutting edge VPN technologies, secure boot, encryption of all data at rest, security-enhanced Linux and multiple firewalls that segregates data from behind-the-meter devices from utility operational data.
This solution comes at a time when many utilities report that they are massively under-prepared to deal with the accelerating adoption of EVs, rooftop solar and other devices. Tantalus’ inaugural Utility of the Future study, released last month, revealed that 69% of North American utilities surveyed reported being only a little or not at all prepared for the impact of EVs on their distribution grids. That same study showed that modernizing and digitizing the distribution grid—which includes access to interoperable data from behind the meter—was a high priority for 50% of utilities, and a mid-level priority for 43% of those surveyed.
“Completing the alpha testing of the TRUSense Gateway marks a critical milestone towards the commercialization of the TRUSense Gateway at a time when utilities are witnessing a true inflection point for the grid,” said Tantalus President and CEO Peter Londa. “Utilities are in dire need of a solution that will allow them to analyze and integrate data from EV chargers and inverters located behind the meter directly into mission-critical systems. Similarly, electric cooperative and public power utilities are being called upon to solve the broadband divide by leveraging fiber deployments to ensure equal access to the internet across the country. By providing these capabilities, our TRUSense Gateway solution allows utilities to achieve new levels of resilience and reliability today while accelerating their goal of becoming a utility of the future.”
CLICK HERE to read the full press release.
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Advanced Energy Job Opportunity: Administrative Assistant III
Posted February 6, 2023
Job Description
North Carolina Advanced Energy Corporation (Advanced Energy) is a nonprofit energy consulting firm headquartered on NC State University’s Centennial Campus in Raleigh, NC. We strive to ensure that energy is clean, affordable, reliable, efficient and safe for all people. We work with electric utilities; state, federal and local governments; manufacturers and a variety of public and private partners in five markets: residential, commercial and industrial, motors and drives, renewables and electric transportation.
At Advanced Energy, we know that our organization thrives only when our employees are valued and supported. You will be aided in your career goals and be put in a position to excel. You’ll work on teams that promote idea sharing and challenge you to learn and expand your expertise. You’ll also be encouraged to seek work-life balance, with flexible hybrid schedules and an array of leave options so you can spend time with family and pursue personal interests.
We are also committed to fostering, cultivating and preserving a culture of diversity and inclusion. Our staff is the most valuable resource we have, and we appreciate that our employees come from varied backgrounds, cultures and experiences. By providing a supportive and respectful environment that promotes creativity and collaboration, Advanced Energy makes a lasting, positive difference in all of the work we do.
Benefits – Visit our website for more information and a full list of employee benefits – www.advancedenergy.org.
Position Overview
Coordinate and perform administrative support activities for assigned business unit(s) and/or team(s).
Essential Functions
Administrative Support
- Perform front office duties including welcoming visitors, answering multi-line telephone, providing information to callers and/or routing to other personnel and mail distribution. Will rotate regularly as receptionist as well as providing backup coverage during absences
- Maintain calendars and scheduling for business units and teams
- Create, update and maintain documents, reports and files (including presentations, graphs, spreadsheets, mailing lists, etc.) using MS Office software
- Perform data entry into applicable databases
- Coordinate staff travel and lodging
- Respond to customer, supplier, vendor and public inquiries
- Troubleshoot and remedy office equipment issues and provide support to staff
- Transcribe minutes during meetings
- Provide back-up support for other administrative assistants as needed
- Assist with accounting processes such as processing credit card reconciliations and logging deposits
- Prepare check requests for payments
- Maintain and operate billing processes for teams to submit to accounting for invoicing
- Assist with data collection, preparation and reporting
- Prepare and disseminate surveys to internal staff and/or external clients and compile information
- Recommend and coordinate vendors supplying AE with products or services such as coffee, office supplies, beverages, etc.
- Assist with facility management by coordinating with cleaning crew, landlord or other relevant parties to address concerns
- Provide USPS and FedEx shipping support
- Mentor and provide training for junior administrative staff
- Provide Human Resources administrative support as needed
CLICK HERE to read the full job description.
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Tantalus Tantalus Releases Results of its Inaugural Utility of the Future Survey
Utilities cite the impact of electric vehicles on the grid, new and potential government regulations and economic volatility as highest levels of concerns
Posted February 6, 2023
BURNABY, BC – February 6, 2023 –– Smart grid technology leader Tantalus Systems (TSX: GRID) today announced the findings of its inaugural Utility of the Future Survey. The survey asked utilities about their concerns and priorities, including what they feel most and least prepared for, as well as how important it is for them to modernize and digitize their grid.
Based on the results from the survey, utilities are most concerned about the impact electric vehicles (EVs) will have on the reliability of the distribution grid, regulatory requirements to decarbonize their systems and the current state of the economy in the United States. Utilities are also concerned with cybersecurity threats, hiring and retaining staff, the increasing number of extreme weather events and planning for future technology innovations.
Relative to these concerns, the survey found that utilities are least prepared to address the expected impact EVs will have on grid reliability as adoption rates accelerate, new regulations tied to decarbonization and conservation and how the state of the U.S. economy is impacting their communities. Utilities are also struggling to prepare for increasing staff attrition rates as many employees reach retirement and integrating an increasing number of rooftop solar installations across their service territories.
In order to prepare for and address these concerns, a significant majority of utilities are seeking to modernize their electric distribution grids, with 94% of respondents confirming that grid modernization is a high or mid-level priority and only 6% saying modernization is a low priority. Further, only 11% of utilities have already taken the necessary steps to modernize their grid or feel prepared today to modernize and digitize their distribution grid.
“We pride ourselves on building a robust and collaborative user community of utilities and are pleased to share insights into the growing list of challenges that are confronting the electric utility industry,” said Pete Londa, Tantalus President and CEO. “Our purpose is to help build sustainable utilities for the future and we are prioritizing our efforts to deliver solutions that specifically address the concerns expressed in this survey with the goal of improving utilities’ preparedness to support their communities.”
The online survey was fielded between October 24 and December 16, 2022 and gathered 116 responses from Tantalus’ customers across North America. The survey evaluated the respondents’ level of concern with respect to several issues relative to the utility’s preparedness to address those issues.
To learn more about how Tantalus can help utilities tackle their largest challenges today while helping them prepare for the uncertain future, please check our website at www.tantalus.com or contact us at [email protected]. For a full copy of the survey results, click here.
CLICK HERE to read the full press release.
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ESIG White Paper: Heat Pump-Friendly Cost-Based Rate Designs
Posted February 2, 2023
“Heat Pump-Friendly Cost-Based Rate Designs“ is one of eight white papers from ESIG’s Aligning Retail Pricing with Grid Needs Task Force. The task force examined ways that retail pricing may be used more widely and more efficiently to allow flexible demand to respond to grid needs as the role of demand becomes increasingly important for the reliability of the grid. It brought together experts in rate design and electricity markets, transmission and distribution planning and operations, consumer advocates, and others to explore current issues, potential solutions, and practical implementation challenges involved in utilizing the flexibility in price-sensitive loads.
All of the white papers can be found here.
A Summary of “Heat Pump-Friendly Cost-Based Rate Designs” by Sanem Sergici, Akhilesh Ramakrishnan, Goksin Kavlak, Adam Bigelow, and Megan Diehl
The economics of heat pumps relative to natural gas heating will be an important driver of customer adoption of these technologies and will determine the extent to which ambitious building electrification goals can be met in a timely manner. If the operating costs for heat pumps turn out to be favorable compared to the operating costs for natural gas equipment, it is possible to see a significant uptake of the heat pumps even before the technology cost declines. In this white paper, we examine the role of alternative “cost-based” and “cost-reflective” electricity rate designs in improving the economics of heat pumps by reducing their operating costs. We use a proprietary dataset of gas and electricity usage for 80 single-family residential customers of a large investor-owned utility for modeling customers’ electric and gas heating bills before and after electrification. We find that the operating cost gap is positive for all 80 customers under the default electricity rate (energy costs for operating the heating equipment are higher post-electrification). However, moving to one of the three alternative rates flips all 80 customers from a positive cost gap to a negative cost gap, in which energy costs for operating the heating equipment are lower post-electrification.
CLICK HERE to download the report.
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