BUFFALO, N.Y., June 28, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In a pilot program to create a transactive energy marketplace for owners of energy resources, National Grid has launched a distributed system platform (DSP) on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. Through the platform, National Grid can integrate campus member institutions’ energy resources to the local electricity distribution grid while offering participants an opportunity to earn market rate compensation for that energy.
The company has partnered with the BNMC and Opus One Solutions to develop and test the financial model for the DSP, and launch the marketplace for BNMC member institutions.
The demonstration is part of National Grid’s support of New York State’s Reforming the Energy Vision initiative, the comprehensive energy strategy for New York. REV is intended to help consumers make more informed energy choices, develop new energy products and services, and protect the environment while creating new jobs and economic opportunity.
Distributed energy resources might include renewable generation, energy storage, and responsive demand. Creating a transactive energy marketplace through a DSP provides new revenue streams for resource owners and creates incentives for new resource investment by reducing the total cost of ownership. For National Grid and its customers, it allows for better management of the existing distribution system and creates value by helping direct resources to circuits where there is need, increasing overall efficiency.
“The demonstration is proving that our strategy for DSP development and market engagement can be viable and beneficial to all parties involved,” says Carlos Nouel, vice president, New Energy Solutions for National Grid. “We’ve made a strong commitment to the adoption of distributed energy resources as a benefit to customers, and our experiences in Buffalo will help guide our efforts going forward.”
"I see this as a win-win for customers and for the grid itself, since the use of this leading-edge technology makes the grid stronger; more resilient and reliable," said Paul Tyno, Strategic Advisor for Energy Initiatives for BNMC. "This is consistent with our energy focus of providing high quality, continuous energy that defines a global standard for innovation, energy efficiency and modern energy management."
National Grid and Opus One Solutions will be testing the DSP concept in additional locations across its service territories in New York. In the next phase, the companies will engage additional customers to introduce a wider variety of technologies to the DSP, as it is scaled to new areas outside of the initial downtown Buffalo, NY location. These additional market participants will help define current and developing market mechanisms as they participate in the DSP through October 2019.
“This first-in-kind joint effort of Opus One and National Grid enables the animation of the distribution level market with transparent and granular economic signals, for increased and value-added distributed energy development, implementation and operation. The system provides benefits to the utility as a platform, to DER providers as market participants, and ultimately, to consumers with greater choice and a cleaner, more resilient, and more efficient grid,” commented Joshua Wong, President and CEO at Opus One Solutions.
About National Grid
National Grid (LSE:NG) (NYSE:NGG) is an electricity, natural gas, and clean energy delivery company that supplies the energy for more than 20 million people through its networks in New York, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. It is the largest distributor of natural gas in the Northeast. National Grid also operates the systems that deliver gas and electricity across Great Britain.
National Grid is transforming its electricity and natural gas networks to support the 21st century digital economy with smarter, cleaner, and more resilient energy solutions. Read more about the innovative projects happening across our footprint in The Democratization of Energy, an eBook written by National Grid’s US president, Dean Seavers.
For more information please visit our website. You can also follow us on Twitter, watch us on YouTube, friend us on Facebook, find our photos on Instagram.
About Opus One Solutions
Opus One Solutions is a software engineering and solutions company with the vision of a distributed energy network. Opus One’s intelligent energy networking platform, GridOS®, optimizes complex power flows so that it can deliver real-time energy management and integrated planning to distribution utilities and other managers of distributed energy assets.
GridOS is modular, scalable, and integrates seamlessly with existing data systems to unlock greater potential for distributed energy resources, including renewable generation, energy storage, and responsive demand. GridOS also facilitates the management of microgrids — from homes to businesses to communities — for unparalleled grid resiliency and value to the electricity customer. For more information visit www.opusonesolutions.com.
About Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus
The Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, Inc. (BNMC Inc.) is a self-sustaining social enterprise successfully combining innovation, job creation, and urban revitalization. It serves as the umbrella organization of the anchor institutions that make up the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus located within the 120-acre campus bordering Allentown, the Fruit Belt and Downtown. The BNMC Inc. fosters conversation and collaboration among its member institutions, its partners and the community to address critical issues impacting them, including entrepreneurship, energy, access and transportation, workforce and procurement, neighborhoods, and healthy communities, with the goal of increasing economic development and building a strong community. www.bnmc.org.
| CONTACTS: | |
| National Grid | Opus One Solutions |
| Steve Brady | Paul Odnoletkov |
| 716-831-7744 | 647-467-7856 |
| stephen.brady@nationalgrid.com | podnoletkov@opusonesolutions.com |
| BNMC | |
| Kari Bonaro | |
| 716-218-7157 | |
| kbonaro@bnmc.org |