Tendril and the Smart Grid Energy Stimulus
As pioneers in the emerging smart energy space, we are being tasked with recommending the technologies that will finally make the promise of the smart grid a reality. And in our mission to change how the world accesses and consumes energy, we find ourselves at an inflection point with the recent energy stimulus package. The Department of Energy, in conjunction with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), is soliciting applications for $3.9 billion in grants to support efforts to enable our nation’s smart grid. So now in addition to the various energy tax credits and energy rebates available to consumers, businesses and utilities, those interested in proposing commercial energy projects can obtain a healthy piece of the energy stimulus. The submission is complex and time is running out – letters of intent are due by July 16, and full applications are due by August 6.
At Tendril, Inc. we have been following this process closely and have built a team of technical advisors, grant writers, legal counsel and management staff that is dedicated to support your efforts around the energy stimulus.
Our core expertise falls in a category favored by the grant guidelines – customer side home energy management solutions that empower consumers to monitor and control their electricity usage in real time, and provide two-way communications with the utility. This is an area we know well as creators of the Tendril Residential Energy Ecosystem (TREE), the industry’s only open and extensible operating environment designed to increase communications between utilities and their customers.
Our approach aligns perfectly with Energy Secretary Chu’s guidelines, which call for interoperability, or “the capability of two or more networks, systems, devices, applications, or components to share and readily use information securely and effectively with little or no inconvenience.” Our TREE Platform is a standards-based operating environment that makes this goal a reality by linking together all elements of the smart grid communications ecosystem, including but not limited to smart meters, in-home devices and internet portals for monitoring energy usage.
Home energy management systems are an important component of strategies to engage the consumer, enable smart grid functions (such as dynamic pricing and demand response) and create near-term energy efficiency benefits, such as savings of up 50-60% on energy bills. We want to work with you to enable the smart grid and change how the world accesses and consumes energy.
For you reference, we have included on this page links to a number of resources that may be useful to you and your energy stimulus grant writing team, including proposal language related to home energy management systems.
Additional areas that the DOE has emphasized and where we have a great deal of knowledge and expertise include:
- Engaging Consumers: Tendril works to “enable informed participation by consumers in retail and wholesale electricity markets.”
- Dynamic Pricing: Tendril focuses on “projects that involve dynamic pricing, particularly ones that align customer incentives with the full cost of providing power.”
- Enabling Smart Grid Functions: Tendril is focused on the deployment of technologies, such as IHDs and HAN control, which enable future smart grid benefits in the potential absence of policy and regulatory frameworks required to support customer side demand response programs.
Learn more about the Smart Grid Investment Grant Program.
