February 25-26, 2021
The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy (DOE) Technologies Office (SETO) hosted a webinar series to learn about DOE’s work to develop and demonstrate technologies that enable solar plus energy storage and demand response.
Utilities, researchers, and solar industry stakeholders attended to learn how these projects optimized the overall performance of solar energy systems by connecting them with storage and demand-response technologies.
These webinars featured presentations from several organizations that demonstrated the use of smart inverters in conjunction with smart buildings, smart appliances, and utility communication and control systems. These projects helped pave the way for the integration of hundreds of gigawatts of new solar energy onto the electric grid.
Guest speakers from the following organizations discussed their DOE-funded projects:
- Austin Energy – Austin, TX
- Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) – Knoxville, TN
- Extensible Energy – Berkeley, CA
- Fraunhofer USA – Boston, MA
- Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO) – Honolulu, HI
Webinar 1: February 25, 12 p.m.–2 p.m. ET
SETO Systems Integration, Fraunhofer USA, Extensible Energy
DOE presented an overview of relevant systems integration projects and solar+X. Fraunhofer and Extensible discussed how their solutions improved solar energy system performance. Fraunhofer's solution used a central scheduling algorithm to optimize utility-scale photovoltaics (PV) and storage, and included commercial and industrial flexible loads; the Extensible team developed a building energy management solution that optimized on-site solar and storage technologies while maximizing the benefits from controlling the flexible loads.
Webinar 2: February 26, 12 p.m.–2 p.m. ET
Austin Energy, EPRI, HECO
Moderated by DOE, representatives from two utilities and EPRI discussed their systems integration solutions: Austin Energy’s distributed energy resource management platform that can adapt to any region and market structure; EPRI’s work with five utilities to create technology that integrates storage and load management with PV generation on the grid; and HECO’s demonstration of the system-level benefits of greater utility visibility and control of the distribution system.
Related Resources:
The project teams featured in these webinars were funded through the following programs: