Opus One Solutions, a provider of transactive and distributed energy management software, has entered an agreement to deploy its GridOS Transactive Energy Management System (TEMS) for a demonstration at Southern California Edison (SCE), one of the largest electric utilities in the U.S.
This is the first transactive energy software deployment of its kind at SCE and in the state of California. Opus One’s GridOS TEMS application will be used for SCE’s Electric Access System Enhancement (EASE) project, which is supported by the Department of Energy (DOE) Enabling Extreme Real-time Grid Integration of Solar Energy (ENERGISE) program. The ENERGISE program is led by the DOE’s Solar Energy Technologies Office, which aims to improve the affordability, reliability and value of solar technologies on the grid.
“Utilities need a way to effectively accommodate more clean, distributed energy on their grids as the push for decarbonization of the industry accelerates,” says Mark Hormann, vice president of U.S. sales at Opus One Solutions.
“A market-based approach, which brings time-varying prices to resources based on their location, helps achieve these goals while opening up new revenue streams for utilities and their customers,” he adds.
SCE will use GridOS TEMS to manage distributed energy resources (DER) in its Camden substation area. Through price signals, SCE will be able to communicate with and optimize the dispatch of those resources. This will allow SCE to explore cost-effective services for the grid through customer-owned DER, and potential new revenue streams for its customers.
Opus One’s software facilitates the adoption of renewable energy by enabling customers’ assets to provide energy services to the utility. The software combines a market management system with a participant interface to engage customers and establish operating schedules for distributed energy sources that can meet grid needs. Data from this project could inform grid operations to manage DER at scale and help SCE toward its vision of cleaning the electricity grid and reaching carbon neutrality.