Distributed Energy Storage

The best known example of distributed energy storage is the electric vehicle. Electric cars and plug-in hybrid/electric vehicles (PHEVs) have large batteries to store energy and are typically charged at the consumer’s premise. The complement to smart charging is distributed storage, where cars participate in both net metering (vehicle-to-grid (V2G) energy outflows) as well as demand response programs. Electric vehicles and other distributed energy storage devices have the potential to take advantage of dynamic pricing: charge and store energy when prices are low and supply energy when prices are high. This energy arbitrage has obvious financial incentives that provide benefits for consumers and utilities alike.

From a utility perspective, distributed storage enables peak-shaving (energy outflows during demand peaks) and valley-filling (off-peak charging) programs, which can provide several benefits to utilities:

• Distributed storage has the potential to reduced peak loads. During peak periods, each kW of energy consumed through local storage is a kW not required from the utility’s own power supply.
• With net metering, distributed energy can be a potentially low-cost energy supply. Utilities can use price signals to provide incentives for distributed generation to flow into the grid when the utility’s price of energy is high.
• Distributed storage can help increase the aggregate supply of energy during peak demand periods, potentially at lower costs than through other generation sources.

Enabling these applications requires the utilities to provide price signals to consumers and their distributed energy sources, which is similar to the standard demand-side management application enabled with a two-way Smart Grid communications network.

The multi-tier Smart Grid architecture from Trilliant provides the necessary components to enable the future of distributed energy storage. With a multi-tier network that reaches into the home, the SecureMesh communications infrastructure provides the two-way communication to enable net metering, HAN communications, and dynamic price signals. The UnitySuite Demand-Side Management application provides the demand response, direct load controls, and customization through SOAP-based APIs to enable the future of net metering and V2G applications.

Read more about Smart Grid Consumer Solutions from Trilliant.