Future Grid Challenge Awards Five Teams in First Two Rounds, Commences Public-Private Partnerships

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) has announced awards to five winning teams under the first two rounds of The Future Grid Challenge. The five teams will work in public-private partnerships with New York’s utilities such as Central Hudson Gas & Electric, Consolidated Edison, National Grid, and Orange & Rockland to improve the efficiency and reliability of integrating clean and renewable energy into the electric grid.

The five awardees are:

  • ConnectDER, UL/AWS Truepower, and Itron – which will deploy a low-cost monitoring technology and develop a new communication system to integrate aggregated solar data directly into Con Edison’s existing Advanced Meter Infrastructure;
  • Electric Power Research Institute Integrated Analytics and Clean Power Research – which will utilize real-time data collection to forecast distributed energy resource generation to improve operations and planning at Con Edison;
  • Smarter Grid Solutions, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and Borrego Solar – which will test smart inverter integration with Orange & Rockland’s Advanced Distribution Management System to develop a better understanding of smart inverter functions, control and communications capabilities, and how they impact grid stability, voltage regulation and system losses;
  • EPRI, Schneider Electric, General Electric, and Smarter Grid Solutions – will help Central Hudson Gas & Electric develop and demonstrate a scalable system that can integrate large amounts of renewable energy resources for transmission and distribution systems; and,
  • Utilidata, National Renewable Energy Lab, Standard Solar, and Chint Power Systems – which will work with National Grid to evaluate how to integrate solar power into utility operations to provide a seamless and full integration of renewable energy using smart inverters to maintain system reliability and how smart inverters can further enhance voltage optimization.

“The teams selected show how expertise, experience and innovation are coming together to advance forward-thinking solutions that can meet the state’s future energy needs to enhance grid reliability and the integrity of renewables while decreasing harmful emissions, reducing energy use and lowering costs for all New Yorkers,” said Alicia Barton, president and CEO, NYSERDA.