As part of a two-year research and development study to evaluate the effects of distributed generation (DG) on the California utility grid, the California Energy Commission (CEC) has contracted Reflective Energies to monitor up to a dozen generation and interconnection sites throughout the state. To help gather the necessary real-time and logged data from each site, Reflective Energies is using an enterprise energy management system from Power Measurement Ltd. (Victoria, BC), a provider of enterprise energy-management systems.
The Power Measurement system consists of a network of ION 7600™ energy meters installed at selected customers' sites, each communicating with a centrally located PC workstation running the ION Enterprise™ software. The goal of the study is to assess, with real-time data, the impact of commercially installed DG units on the grid, and to use the data to evaluate the interconnection requirements necessary to ensure the safety and reliability of the state's electrical distribution network.
