OREANDA-NEWS. Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) announced the launch of multiple technology demonstration projects in San Jose to advance integration of distributed energy resources (DERs), such as solar and battery storage, further unlocking benefits of the electric grid.

PG&E is teaming up with GE to demonstrate a distributed energy resource management system (DERMS), with Enphase Energy to install and test smart inverters, and with SolarCity to install and test smart inverters and battery storage systems for private solar customers. The demonstrations will evaluate to what extent the DERMS technology enhances the stability and power quality of the grid and optimizes solar generation and power-flow management, as more customers adopt solar.

"The rapid growth of distributed energy resources has ushered in a new era of electric distribution, and we're seeing the smarter grid emerging as a reliability, storage and interconnection system that compliments the new energy technologies that our customers are using in their homes. As this dynamic, two-way operating environment develops, PG&E continues to embrace and test innovative technologies that improve electric reliability and equip our customers with valuable services and products that support their choices to adopt clean energy," said Geisha Williams, president, PG&E Electric.

Innovating in Northern California

To support DERMS, up to 150 residential customers and up to 20 commercial customers in San Jose will receive solar smart inverters and/or behind-the-meter battery storage systems. The project will demonstrate how smart inverters and energy storage can be used with DERMS to optimize electric distribution. The demonstration is expected to commence this September and end in December 2017.

These projects are a part of the Electric Program Investment Charge (EPIC) - a program that enables California investor-owned utilities to develop Smart Grid technology demonstration and deployment projects and evaluate how they support safety, reliability, and affordability objectives for the benefit of their customers.

PG&E believes in enabling customer choice and is evolving to meet customer needs:

  • PG&E has more private solar than any other utility in the country, with more than 250,000 private solar customers connected to the energy grid. The company connects approximately 6,000 new solar customers to the grid monthly, or approximately one every seven minutes.
  • One in five electric vehicles (EVs) in the United States is registered in PG&E's service area – more than 200,000 EVs in California and over 85,000 in PG&E's service area.
  • PG&E operates the largest, single-building EV charging installation in the state of California at its Bishop Ranch campus in San Ramon.
  • Nearly 60 percent of the energy PG&E delivers comes from sources that emit no greenhouse gases. By the year 2020, PG&E expects that number will grow to approximately 65 percent.

Similarly, PG&E expects a dramatic increase of DERs connecting to its grid between now and 2025, making it essential to thoughtfully plan and enhance its grid to effectively address that growth. A smarter energy grid provides critical infrastructure for more clean energy options, such as solar and EVs.

Collaborating to bring innovation to clean energy

PG&E is collaborating with multiple companies to execute this technology project in San Jose. PG&E is working with GE's Grid Solutions business to execute the development of the new DERMS system behind this technology project. GE is the world's Digital Industrial Company, transforming industry with software-defined machines and solutions that are connected, responsive and predictive.

Enphase Energy Inc., a global energy technology company based in Petaluma, Calif., is providing solar smart inverters for the project. SolarCity, a nationwide solar power provider headquartered in San Mateo, Calif. with more than 30 locations serving customers across the state – is providing solar smart inverters as well as the residential battery storage systems for the project.

The residential battery storage systems will interface with the DERMS to evaluate whether and how customer-sited energy storage can be used to operationally support the grid during periods of high electric demand.

PG&E is in the final stages of vendor selection for deployment of battery storage systems for commercial installations.