Electro Power Systems Partners With AutoGrid to Build Software-Defined Power Plants(TM) Using Hydrogen Energy Storage Systems
Marketwired
PARIS, FRANCE and REDWOOD CITY, CA--(Marketwired - Dec 14, 2015) - AutoGrid Systems, a leader in big data analytics and control software for the electricity and energy industry, and Electro Power Systems(EPS), a leader in smart oxygen and hydrogen-based integrated systems for clean energy storage, today announced that EPS has selected AutoGrid's Predictive Controls™ technology to build and operate Software-Defined Power Plants™ with their energy storage systems.
AutoGrid's unique and patented Predictive Controls technology provides EPS customers with the ability to forecast, optimize and control a portfolio of energy storage systems, along with other distributed energy resources such as Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plants, solar power systems and demand response resources, in real-time and at scale. These software capabilities enable EPS customers to create Software-Defined Power Plants that aggregate storage and other distributed energy resources into a single flexible dispatch-grade resource, which they can use to reduce their demand charges, to participate in utility demand response programs or to trade directly in electricity markets.
"Customers around the world are using EPS's proven and cost-effective hydrogen storage systems to help solve their energy challenges," said Dr. Amit Narayan, CEO of AutoGrid. "AutoGrid enables these customers to manage and optimize both these energy storage systems and other flexible energy resources -- enabling them to earn a significantly higher return on their energy storage and other energy assets."
"AutoGrid's software will accelerate the deployment of storage technology into the grid," said Carlalberto Guglielminotti, CEO of Electro Power Systems. "By enabling our customers to use their energy storage systems to reduce demand charges and participate in utility grid flexibility programs and electricity markets, AutoGrid's Software-Defined Power Plant significantly increases the value of our energy storage systems."
Hydrogen Energy Storage Technology In comparison with the most advanced batteries on the market, EPS energy storage systems offer a 50 percent smaller footprint, a higher energy storage density and the lowest marginal cost of energy stored at $50 per kWh. Close to 600 EPS energy storage systems have been installed in Italy, China, Norway, India, South Africa and 13 other countries around the world. The systems' cost, size and performance make them an ideal solution for commercial and industrial customers who are looking to deploy energy storage in their facilities to reduce peak demand charges as well as to create additional revenue opportunities by providing grid support services to utilities and wholesale energy markets.
Lower Demand Charges and Earn Grid Service Revenues Energy storage systems using AutoGrid's Software-Defined Power Plant can significantly lower demand charges, which represent a significant share of the total energy spending of commercial and industrial customers. For example, demand charges for commercial customers in California can be as high as 70 percent of their total electricity bill. Even with PV generation on site, solar production, due to both its variability, is not always available to meet peak demand and address these charges.
In addition, Software-Defined Power Plants address many of the key challenges related to using energy storage to manage demand charges and maximize grid services revenues:
Demand charges are driven by a few, short-duration peaks in building load that are difficult to predict. This is particularly true when building load is highly variable, both temporally (seasonal, daily, hourly) and across a customer base with diverse demand patterns. Further, accurate building forecasts require capturing and predicting the interaction between building loads and solar output. Through accurate forecasting, Software-Defined Power Plants are able to capture the actual peaks and avoid unnecessary discharge cycles, thereby extending the life and value of storage systems.
Without proper coordination between demand and storage, the storage system may end up being oversized and may not provide an adequate return on investment (ROI) for the project to be viable, or might be undersized and may not be able to capture the actual peaks at the facility. AutoGrid's Predictive Controls technology allows customers to predict how their storage system will actually be used, allowing them to ensure the system is correctly sized for the building's demand. In addition, by co-optimizing all sources of flexibility within a building, including demand response and storage, Software-Defined Power Plants create more value for the customer.
Using a Software-Defined Power Plant, storage capacity across many facilities can be pooled to take advantage of the "portfolio effect" and address the variability associated with weather and building loads, allowing customers to maximize revenues from utility grid services and wholesale energy markets.
About AutoGrid AutoGrid transforms data into the cleanest, cheapest source of power. The company's Energy Data Platform (EDP) and suite of Energy Internet applications help global utilities, energy service providers and Internet-of-Things (IoT) vendors improve customer engagement, enhance grid reliability, drive resource flexibility and increase profitability. EDP leverages petabytes of smart meter, sensor and third party data along with powerful data science algorithms to generate a dynamic, real-time portrait of energy consumption and implement actionable programs across connected assets and residential, commercial and enterprise customers.
Utilities such as E.ON, Bonneville Power Administration, Florida Power & Light, Southern California Edison, Eneco, Portland General Electric, and the City of Palo Alto Utilities are using AutoGrid's big data analytics technology to improve the reliability and productivity of their operations. AutoGrid technology is also embedded in software products from leading vendors, such as Schneider Electric, Silver Spring Networks and NTT Data. AutoGrid was named a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer for 2015.
About Electro Power Systems Founded in 2005 as spin-off of the Politecnico of Turin (Italy) and a pioneer of hydrogen technologies, Electro Power Systems (EPS) today operates in the sustainable energy sector and specializes in integrated energy storage solutions and systems. The main areas of focus of the Group are integrated solutions for energy and backup applications in the ICT and data center industry, grid support in countries with heavy penetration of renewables sources, and off-grid power generation in emerging economies. In a nutshell, clean energy storage solutions, at a lower cost, with no need for subsidies.
EPS is today listed on the French regulated market of Euronext, with headquarters in Paris, R&D and Manufacturing in Italy (Turin) and premises in the USA (California and Michigan). In 2010 EPS started the development of the first oxygen and hydrogen battery worldwide, a system able to store massive amounts of energy at a cost lower than any other solution in the market. This innovative technology, covered by 123 patents and patents applications worldwide, is able to store energy exploiting exclusively the water cycle, without any emission or toxic or heavy metals. Since 2012 the product has been pre-commercialized and so far EPS has installed in aggregate 579 systems, 31.7 MWh of energy stored in 18 countries worldwide, including Europe, USA, Australia, China, Indonesia, India and South Africa.
EPS is a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer for 2012
