Pecan Street Inc. recently announced the companies that will join it in creating a consumer-focused smart grid built around home applications and consumer electronics. The companies – Best Buy, Check-It, Chevrolet, Freescale, Intel, Landis+Gyr, Sony, SunEdison and Whirlpool – will test consumer products on a smart grid platform and dedicate researchers to Pecan Street Inc.’s smart grid demonstration project in Austin.
“To be relevant, smart grid innovations must solve consumers’ problems and provide services that excite them,” said Pecan Street Inc. executive director Brewster McCracken. “We are thrilled to have these forward-thinking companies working with our researchers and with the hundreds of residents who are volunteering their homes and their time.”
“The University of Texas professors and students carrying out Pecan Street research are very pleased to be working with these innovative companies on such cutting-edge applied research,” said Tom Edgar, UT engineering professor and Pecan Street board officer who serves as the research team’s principal investigator. “This announcement demonstrates once again how a research university-public-private partnership can serve as the catalyst for innovation and provide real world benefits.”
The consumer products and platforms to be provided will include:
- Electric vehicles: Chevrolet and Pecan Street Inc. will team up to provide 100 Chevrolet Volts for lease or purchase to participating residents. This will mark one of the nation’s highest residential concentrations of electric vehicles. To date, more than 130 residents within a one-square mile area have signed up to buy or lease a Volt.
- Home services systems: Best Buy with Check-It, as well as Intel, Sony and Whirlpool will deploy home services systems that serve as the operating platform for consumer smart grid products and services. These systems can provide consumers with a range of home security, energy management, health care monitoring, home improvement, entertainment and labor-saving services. In many of the participating homes, the systems will be capable of measuring and reporting near real-time usage of electricity or natural gas and water.
- Smart appliances: Whirlpool will test smart appliances and provide guidance and research collaboration on integrating smart appliances into home services systems to provide enhanced consumer services. Whirlpool will work with service installation experts including the Geek Squad to install and provision the smart appliances.
- Home solar panel charging of electric vehicles: SunEdison will lead the research team’s work to develop home solar panel charging for the Chevrolet Volts. A number of the SunEdison-led home solar vehicle charging systems will also have in-home batteries, and all systems will integrate into Best Buy/Check-It, Intel, Sony and Whirlpool home services systems. More than 150 participating residents will have rooftop solar PV, including nearly all of the residents who acquire Volts.
- Smart meter integration: Landis+Gyr will leverage its smart grid network platform and will install several hundred E350 FOCUS AX smart meters with Smart Energy Profile for smart consumer product connectivity. These meters and the associated communication networking platform will make it possible for the Best Buy/Check-It, Intel, Sony and Whirlpool home services systems to integrate pricing and demand management information from utility distribution systems.
The field trials of consumer-focused products will largely take place in a group of Austin neighborhoods located less than three miles from the Texas Capitol, including the newly-built Mueller neighborhood (where all homes are green built and less than four years old) and older adjacent neighborhoods (where homes generally range in age from 50 to 75 years). The electric, gas and water utilities that serve the test area – Austin Energy, Texas Gas and Austin Water – are each providing meter integration and research support to project researchers and participating companies.