New Smart Grid Company Intelligently Distributes Generation and Storage of Renewable Energy
Sunverge Energy announced what it says is the nation’s first simple, cost-effective energy management system that intelligently distributes generation and storage of renewable energy. Capturing solar energy and storing it for use when it’s needed most, Sunverge is addressing the inherent barrier to widespread adoption of renewable energy.
With increased demand for renewable energy, the need for utilities to capture and store electricity is likewise increased. Energy storage fulfills two essential roles in the evolving low-carbon, smart power grid: a balance of variable renewable generation and an increase in grid reliability.
"There is little to no remaining debate that solar strategies, when combined with storage and energy efficiency measures, are the most cost-effective and accessible ways to achieve sustainable communities," confirmed Dean Sanders, CEO of Sunverge Energy. "However, while the benefits are known, these renewable technology projects are often overlooked because of high upfront costs."
Today, however, the aggressive expansion of U.S. manufacturing facilities, in response to rising plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) markets, is driving the cost of new battery technologies downward.
"While storing electricity was once thought impractical, Sunverge has emerged to disprove that theory," said Ken Munson, President of Sunverge Energy. "Sunverge immediately saves money for homeowners, improves the bottom line for businesses, reduces local exposure to electricity grid outages and offsets the need for new power generation."
By lowering the cost barriers of traditional solar solutions, Sunverge seeks to propel widespread solar adoption, especially among market segments that have historically lacked access to necessary financing options. The Sunverge Solar Integration System (SIS) represents the newest technology in home energy appliances, allowing ratepayers to capture solar energy at its most plentiful and store it for use during peak demand hours, when cost to produce and deliver electricity is at its highest. Leveraging storage to yield the maximum benefit of captured energy, Sunverge also reduces the size of each system’s solar array.
"In powering a typical residence, a traditional PV system saves 30 to 50% in annual energy costs. A Sunverge SIS meets the same demand at annual savings of 50 to 70% with half the array size," noted Munson. Sunverge also enables electric utilities to access stored renewable power, reducing generation and transmission during periods of highest demand, while improving power quality, reliability and economy. "Wholesale electricity cost during peak demand can be many times greater than off-peak cost and will become even more pronounced as electric utilities continue to adopt new pricing methods, such as time-of-use and critical-peak pricing," said Munson.
The Sunverge SIS is engineered to integrate with today’s smart grid, acting as a gateway that enables utilities to communicate directly with the customer’s home area network (HAN) and empowers consumers to manage their energy needs more effectively and efficiently.
"Bridging the gap between disparate communication platforms and protocols and enabling controlled, end-to-end communication is essential for utility interoperability," said John Lin, Chief Technology Officer of Wireless Glue Network and Sunverge development partner. "The Sunverge SIS energy storage appliance has closed this gap with a true IEC 61850, NISTcompliant platform."
