Infotility, Inc. Wins 3-Year DOE-Marin SmartGrid Demonstration Project
Features Infotility’s GridAgents Software Applications for Integrating, Coordinating, and Managing Renewables, Distributed Generation, and Demand Response on the Local Utility Distribution Network.
Boulder, CO – March 2008 – Infotility, Inc., a leading provider of SmartGrid software solutions, today announced that the company has been awarded and has started an expanded R&D and demonstration project funded by the Department of Energy’s Electric Distribution Transformation Program, working with Marin County’s Office of Sustainability, and Pacific Gas and Electric, the San Francisco based electric and gas utility.
The DOE-Marin project field-tests will focus on a group of municipal buildings located on one or two utility distribution feeders, allowing the project team to demonstrate capabilities for coordinating renewables generation and demand response based on local community conditions and requirements, as well as local utility feeder/substation level requirements, and broader CAISO grid conditions.
This three year project represents the convergence of a number of advanced research and development initiatives which share a common vision for building, evolving, and transforming the current electric delivery infrastructure into what many envision to be the next-generation “Smart Grid”. These different but parallel initiatives include (1) Con Edison’s 3G: System of the Future (3G/SOF) development efforts and (2) Infotility’s GridAgents: DER and Distribution Network Control Framework (GridAgents) currently being developed under the DOE GridWise SBIR program funding, and (3) the European SmartGrid initiatives, working with the research organization, ECN-Netherlands.
This “Smart Grid” development convergence will continue to be guided by ongoing industry consortium efforts such as GridWise, with the goal of achieving the DOE Office of Electric Delivery and Electric Reliability (OEDER) long-term electric delivery goals. James McCray, Infotility’s COO indicates that “the DOE-Marin Renewables project provides us with the opportunity to demonstrate GridAgent’s capabilities and flexibility in a mixed use-suburban environments, expanding GridAgents R&D using real use scenarios and equipment integrated on community based microgrids in PG&E’s distribution network. This work will also include focus on integration using much needed industry standards such as IEC 61850 for tying utility substation and SCADA systems together with local renewables and demand response resources.”
Project objectives include:
Development of flexible MicroGrid operations and control strategies for optimizing aggregation of resources, loads, and demand response, as well as asset utilization, reliability, power quality, and security.
Coordinate MicroGrids capabilities with larger energy markets and energy network systems (SmartGrid).
Provide a MicroGrid control system which can aggregate many smaller MicroGrids into the larger grid network for increased reliability, reduced cost, and carbon emissions reduction.
Test integration with alternative, lower-cost communications/networking media (Wireless WiMax; ZigBee, Ultra-Wide Band; PLC).
Integrate and create coordination and interoperability between smart power electronics devices, smart meters, and smart sensors, renewable power systems, and energy markets.
Develop novel Microgrid renewable community aggregation models that scale to other communities and integrate with distribution-level electric networks.
Provide a migration path to more embedded distribution network intelligence, and push towards a self optimizing energy delivery operations and control system.
Evolve advanced distribution control software and integrate with hardware based on open architectures (UCA/IEC 61850) within real world networks.
Facilitate the increased integration of DER into compact and MicroGrid networks.
Address issues around net metering and its inherent restrictions on renewables aggregation and power supply on US networks.
The overall project team includes Infotility, Marin County Office of Sustainability, Marin Energy Management Team, Pacific Gas and Electric, ECN-Netherlands, Xanthus International Consulting, as well as Pacific Northwest National Labs (Project Contract Manager), Department of Energy (sponsor) and potentially, the California Energy Commission.
About Infotility. Infotility is the leading provider of intelligent agent software that enables utilities to dramatically increase the efficiency and utilization of grid assets. Our software, called ‘GridAgents,' has specific applications on SmartGrid based energy networks used for integration of communities of renewables, demand response, and distributed energy resources. Our software can be used for microgrid management, PV and storage, intelligent load control and smart charging applications, and coordinating future assets such as plug-in hybrid cars. GridAgents' software is applicable to any community of smart devices or sensors on the Pervasive Internet in the Sensor-Tagged world, where latency, immediacy, complex analytic/business rules, end-point processing, and security are critical issues, and the overheads of complex database management systems are of concern. Infotility’s headquarters is located in Boulder, Colorado, with a branch office in Novato, CA.
Website: www.infotility.com, Contact James McCray at jim@infotility.com, Phone: 720-210-1984