The U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) chose DERMS provider, Smarter Grid Solutions (SGS) to implement a Strata Grid Distributed Energy Resource Management System (DERMS) at NREL’s Energy Systems Integration Facility (ESIF).
The ESIF is one of the nation’s premier energy systems integration laboratory facilities focused on development and deployment of clean energy technologies and resilient distribution systems. NREL sought a DERMS capable of replicating utility control and the monitoring of distributed devices from small residential systems to the grid substation level.
Example use cases of SGS’ Strata Grid DERMS system include the autonomous operation and coordination of modern grid devices, leveraging DERs for improved grid planning and operation, and demand-side management and customer engagement through bidirectional communication with utilities and energy market operations.
“SGS is excited to partner with NREL on their research in the DERMS realm. With NREL’s research leadership and SGS’ industry-leading DERMS solutions, we expect to see very interesting and exciting learnings from this partnership,” Jon Grooters, Director of Utility Solutions at SGS, said.
“DERMS-related research is core to the integrated, multi-disciplinary work happening at ESIF. We have confidence we are developing a powerful toolbox with SGS to address both existing and future use cases,” said Sarah Williams, NREL ESIF research project manager.
DERMS can enhance control and visibility for utilities and electric cooperatives, allowing their operators to manage incoming renewable energy resources and grid-edge devices for improved reliability, resilience, and efficiency of the electrical system.
About Smarter Grid Solutions
Smarter Grid Solutions (SGS) is a leading provider of distributed energy resource management system (DERMS) software to distribution utilities, clean energy developers and asset operators. SGS’ products are used to connect, manage and optimize clean energy assets in power grids and energy markets. SGS is contracted to manage 1.2GW of renewable generation, energy storage and flexible loads for customers in North America, Europe and Asia. SGS’ software has already enabled over 500 MW of DER connection and delivered $400 million in cost savings and value to customers globally.
Mitsubishi Electric Corporation acquired SGS in August 2021 with its subsidiary, Mitsubishi Electric Power Products, Inc. (MEPPI). For over 36 years MEPPI has provided high quality critical infrastructure products and services to the largest electrical utilities in North America. Together, MEPPI and Smarter Grid Solutions will provide combined distributed energy resources management software and grid control products to enable electric utilities to respond to the energy system and maximize the performance from their electric grids.