IO NEWS
IO microgrids/nanogrids provide the resiliency and the intelligence to become a standard in the industry. With our patent pending process in responding to the utilities demand response events, we have the technology, equipment and design capabilities to create a repeatable microgrid that can be sold and distributed nationwide to existing solar installers to create add-on sales to their existing solar customers wanting to integrate a microgrid into their existing system.
Pairing energy storage and renewable energy creates possibilities to better manage home energy use, save money and generate income. With advanced inverters and controls, which create a nanogrid, the possibilities are even greater. Consider how a nanogrid compares to a conventional home solar system. Old-style systems may have monitoring equipment that simply tracks solar energy produced, exported and consumed. But a nanogrid allows solar system owners to take action on that information. With advanced controls, they can switch electricity to appliances on or off, decide when it’s best to use solar, switch on a home’s pool pump on a sunny day, run loads such as clothes dryers, or charge their energy storage systems. Users can see in real time the energy they use and produce, helping them navigate energy use to generate savings and income.
Households with nanogrids also can leverage their systems against grid pricing. The grid tends to have an abundance of solar energy, more than it may need, in the middle of the day. So some of it goes to waste. But with energy storage in the mix, a home can store some of solar’s low-cost power and use it at any time, perhaps swapping it out for grid power at another time when electricity prices rise.
The nanogrid user also may choose to dispatch the nanogrid’s battery at a time when the utility calls a demand response event. This occurs when the grid is under strain and the utility offers to pay its customers to lower their energy use. To the utility, it appears that the home reduced its energy use because it takes less energy from the grid. In reality, the home is still using energy but it’s coming from its solar-charged battery, not the grid.
Not only can homeowners benefit from participating in demand response events, they can also yield savings by controlling how and when they use power at home. When combining an intelligent control system with solar or other renewable energy systems and batteries, homeowners can match household energy use with the solar production curve of their solar panels throughout the day. That means they can use solar energy on site and reduce their reliance on the grid.
For more information, contact IO: here.