Grid Edge & local electricity market
Compensated for allowing devices to provide backup power to a utility
Grid Edge & local electricity market
When electricity demand increases, a utility can draw power from those homes as a vast network of backup energy. Calfornia and Vermont appear to be the leaders for this type of grid management approach. While I like the concept of households and businesses receiving payments or utility credits, there is a lack of verified cases where there is a profit margin above all utility fees. Typically, ROI cases report that the renewable energy production led to utility billing savings to cover part of the usage, not a consistent net profit in the theme of acting as a virtual power plant. However, with nearly five years of data, HouseZero proves that with proper energy efficient building design, even if the primary objective is to reduce building energy usage, there can be a net energy production gain with a combination of building science approaches. -Marky
Researchers develop an approach to compensation for allowing devices to provide backup power to a utility
A team of researchers from several universities and national labs developed an algorithm for running a “local electricity market,” in which ratepayers would be compensated for allowing their devices to provide backup power to a utility. Their paper, recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, described how the algorithm could coordinate so many sources of power.
With this sort of local electricity market noted in the research paper, a utility would call on batteries in the network to boost supply, stabilizing the grid. At the same time, electric water heaters and heat pumps for climate control could wind down, reducing demand.
By contrast, connecting a solar and battery farm to the grid takes years of planning, permitting, and construction.
Source: Grist
Summary - All these energy sources at the grid edge, combined with large battery farms operated by the utility, are dismantling the myth that renewables aren’t reliable enough to provide power on their own.
