Energy Quarterback Development and Demonstration Project
NeWorld Energy
Recipient
Corona Del Mar, CA
Recipient Location
36th
Senate District
72nd
Assembly District
Completed
Project Status
Project Result
NeWorld is continuing to work on the Product Roadmap specifications and interoperability with apartment building, battery back-up and EV charging for the V2 EQB design. The project team has been in contact with UL to plan for certification requirements while continuing discussions and planning for high volume-low cost production for the V2 EQB product.
The Issue
The project will address four key challenges to accelerated distributed energy resource (DER) deployment, resilient backup, and grid balancing in California: 1) The lack of low-cost, UL approved grid isolation devices meeting investor-owned utility (IOU) standards; 2) Long battery interconnection delays and high costs, 3) Limited access to battery backup and EV charging for multi-family residents; and 4) High cost and slow pace of building electrification and DER-grid integration.
Project Innovation
NeWorld Energy has developed the Energy Quarterback Universal DER Integration and Vehicle Electrification Platform (EQB U-DERIVE) as an integrated “all in one” resiliency solution that pairs with any utility meter with an installation time of under one hour to provide: 1) automated grid islanding capability; 2) solar and battery self-consumption (from stationary or EV batteries); 3) demand management capability with a built-in Energy Management System (EMS) and smart thermostat, 4) a modular plug-and-play sub-panel 5) revenue grade metering and telemetry (via a built-in modem) to enable integration with Virtual Power Plants (VPP) and Distributed Energy Resource Management Systems (DERMS) and utility Demand Response (DR) programs and 6) bi-directional EV charging integration capability. Once the EQB has been tested, field deployments will occur in both single and multi-family residential settings in San Diego and Sonora, respectively, and estimates of energy and grid benefits will be informed through the use industry best practices to verify EQB impacts including energy resilience, economic, and health impacts for EQB participants.
Project Benefits
The project will result in the ratepayer benefits of greater electricity reliability, lower costs, and increased safety.
Reliability
The EQB will increase grid reliability and resilience by: 1) Reducing the cost and time for installation and interconnection of backup battery and other flex load assets; 2) Increasing the ease, size, and speed of load shift through the EQB’s built-in Energy Management Systems; and 3) Enabling low-cost and comprehensive DER aggregation and control via ADR 2.0b connectivity.
Affordability
The EQB will lower costs for installing backup power by: 1) Providing the combination of grid isolation and electrical panel expansion at a substantial discount to existing products in the marketplace; 2) Accelerating a typical installation to under one hour; and 3) Enabling streamlined interconnection approvals in under two weeks for EQB-integrated battery systems.
Safety
The EQB will enhance safety by: 1) Providing a low-cost grid isolation switch that has been UL certified to reduce operating temperatures in EQB-equipped meters; 2) Ensuring worker and customer safety through automatic back feed preventionwhen the system is operating in islanded mode; and 3) Enabling a much larger number of customers to “ride through” PSPS and grid outage events.
Key Project Members
Paul Donahue
Subrecipients
Tierra Resource Consultants, LLC
Zero Net Energy (ZNE) Alliance
Powertree Services Inc.
Tolteca Corp
Serious Controls LLC
Match Partners
NeWorld Energy
Powertree Services Inc.
