May 21 2014
Today at the National Town Meeting on Demand Response and Smart Grid, Silver Spring Networks, Inc. announced enhancements to its Demand Response (DR) portfolio including an open, smart grid-enabled mobile thermostat app, as well as an expanded version of Silver Spring Demand Optimizer Application.
Silver Spring customers such as Baltimore Gas and Electric Company (BGE), Hawaiian Electric Company, Inc., Modesto Irrigation District (MID), Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), Pepco Holdings (PHI), Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD), and others have leveraged Silver Spring‘s advanced metering technology to empower over 1 million customers to participate in DR programs designed to reduce peak consumption, such as dynamic pricing. Silver Spring has delivered over 18.5 million DR-ready, ZigBee-enabled endpoints globally, and Silver Spring’s broad partner ecosystem has also enabled new solutions that will help reduce utility peak load and increase customer participation in DR programs.
“Silver Spring’s open standards-based IPv6 network creates a continuous connection between utilities and their customers enabling innovative strategies for energy management and control,” said Matt Smith, Senior Director of Utility Solutions, Silver Spring Networks. “With deep adoption of our network and some of the greatest customer engagement success stories in the market, this latest extension of Silver Spring’s demand response portfolio will now offer utilities even more ways to empower their customers, grow program participation rates, and more precisely manage load.”
“We launched a residential Peak Time Rebate program, called the BGE Smart Energy Rewards® program, to empower our customers and allow them to benefit from smart meters directly,” said Ruth Kiselewich, Director, Demand Side Management Programs, BGE. “Silver Spring’s smart grid network is instrumental to the program which is helping us keep our customers’ energy costs down during summer peak hours.”
“We know our customers want to engage in ways that can help them save money and energy,” said Craig Sherman, Senior Demand Side Specialist, SMUD. “Silver Spring’s multi-application smart grid network is enabling us to offer our customers a range of smart grid-based demand response programs, helping us increase participation and satisfaction of SMUD customers.”
Delivering Open, Smart-Grid Enabled Mobile Thermostat App
Silver Spring’s expanded DR portfolio aims to help utilities transform their relationships with customers by helping them reduce bills and actively manage energy consumption, regardless of their location, and even where they don't have access to residential broadband. Today Silver Spring introduced the CustomerIQ Thermostat App, which includes both Web interfaces and a mobile app that gives utility customers smart thermostat status and remote control capabilities. The app leverages the connectivity and reliability of Silver Spring’s IPv6 standards-based network, combined with smart thermostat technology from Carrier and Energate, and can work with any ZigBee Smart Energy Protocol device. The app is available for iOS and Android devices and a web version is also available for CustomerIQ web users.
Expanded Silver Spring Demand Optimizer Application Delivers More Value
Silver Spring today also unveiled enhancements to its Demand Optimizer Demand Response Management System (DRMS) Application that delivers precision forecasts, near real-time Measurement & Verification, DR portfolio optimization and DR program management. The new Silver Spring Demand Optimizer 1.1 introduces enhanced big-data analytics along with support for additional protocols and devices, allowing for fully automated two-way demand response over the smart grid or the Internet.
The updated Demand Optimizer 1.1 will provide utilities with several key benefits, including:
- Additional device choice for fully automated DR, by offering support for Direct-to-Grid™ Communications devices from Eaton’s Cooper Power Systems and OpenADR 2.0b compliant devices.
- The ability to preview a DR event and forecasted load reductions in detail before dispatching to customer end devices. This reduces dispatch errors and enables better targeting of relevant participant populations for maximum load shed.
- Saving a DR event to a template library for future use, modification, and dispatch. This allows for one-click dispatch during time-sensitive situations.
“Hawaiian Electric is deploying smart grid technology to modernize the electric system and provide a solid foundation for our community’s energy future,” said Dan Giovanni, Senior Vice President, Operations, Hawaiian Electric Company, Inc. “Silver Spring’s smart grid DR solution and new Demand Optimizer software will help further the use of demand-side resources to improve service and integrate more low-cost renewable energy to reduce Hawaii’s dependency on expensive imported oil.”
For more information on Silver Spring’s Demand Optimizer Application, visit: www.silverspringnet.com/demandoptimizer.
Silver Spring at National Town Meeting on Demand Response and Smart Grid This Week
To learn more about Silver Spring’s Demand Response solutions and offerings, please visit the Silver Spring Booth (#14) at the National Town Meeting on Demand Response and Smart Grid on May 20-21 in Washington, D.C.
Silver Spring will also present on “The Continuously-Connected Utility: Leveraging the Smart Grid for Real-Time Insights” at the National Town Meeting’s “Making the Grid More Efficient Without the Customer” break-out session on Wednesday May 21 from 1:15-2:15pm EDT.
For more information, visit: http://www.demandresponsetownmeeting.com/
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