The Electric Power Research Institute's (EPRI) Incubatenergy Labs challenge selected 10 startups from a field of more than 130 applicants, to demonstrate innovative power delivery and use technologies under the leadership of the EPRI, Ameren Corp., Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), and Southern California Edison (SCE). Nine additional utilities will participate in the projects to provide industry perspective and guidance.
"Each innovation has the potential to provide significant value to energy customers and the grid," said Erik Steeb, who leads the Incubatenergy Network and Labs program for the EPRI. "By collaborating across the group of utilities, we can quickly demonstrate and understand how these solutions may enable effective energy management, enhance system quality, reliability, and efficiency, as well as support decarbonization."
The EPRI will host four projects:
- Kognitiv Spark (Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada) – Augmented reality (AR)-enabled tool to digitally connect and help utility workers and subject experts solve problems, learn new skills on the job
- Switched Source (Vestal, New York) – Power electronics-based distribution-automation solutions to help manage distribution system load and improve power quality
- RWI Synthetics (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada) – Artificial intelligence (AI)-driven intelligent systems modeling tool to help grid planners with scenario planning and distributed energy resource (DER) integration
- Sharc Energy Systems (Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada) – Multifamily building wastewater heat recovery systems
Ameren will host four projects through the Ameren Accelerator:
- ev.energy (Palo Alto, California) – Wireless platform that optimizes electric vehicle (EV) charging to save customers money, fully utilize renewable energy, and deliver an alternative to expensive grid upgrades
- IND Technology, Inc. (New York, New York State) – Technology that remotely detects and locates electrical faults before they occur, which could prevent power losses, wildfires, and other consequences
- PingThings (El Segundo, California) – AI platform that processes, stores, and uses high-definition sensor data from across the electric power system in real time at grid scale
- Recurve (Mill Valley, California) – Software-as-a-service tool that analyzes how to use energy more efficiently and effectively in response to cost, carbon reduction, and other customer data
The TVA will host one project:
- LineVision (Somerville, Massachusetts) – Non-contact, overhead line sensor technology that provides situational awareness and asset health monitoring, and increases capacity
The SCE will host one project:
- Grid Fruit (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) – Grid-responsive scheduling of machine cycles to provide demand management and flexibility from commercial food-service refrigeration systems
American Electric Power (AEP), Con Edison, Edison International, Enel, Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD), New York Power Authority (NYPA), Portland General Electric (PGE), Salt River Project (SRP), and Xcel Energy are the other participating utilities.
The demonstration projects start June 1, 2020. The startups and project facilitators plan to present findings on Oct. 14, 2020, during the Incubatenergy Labs Challenge Demonstration Day hosted by Ameren Corp. in St. Louis, Missouri.
