Name the states that are pushing the envelope when it comes to embracing the energy transition, installing lots of renewable energy, and maximizing the use of distributed energy resources (DER), and California and Hawaii, or perhaps New York come to mind. That’s why when the Peak Load Management Association (PLMA) awarded Utah’s Rocky Mountain Power (RMP) its Technology Pioneer Award for its Wattsmart program, even the company that developed the project’s software was surprised.
Wattsmart
It started as a project called Soleil Lofts, which was billed as the world’s first all-electric apartment community with a dispatchable battery in every apartment. Aggregated, the batteries can provide grid services to RMP. The battery manufacturer Sonnen worked with RMP to integrate controls into the utility’s grid management system from OSI (monarch) so the batteries could provide a range of grid services if the utility wanted to use them that way.
And RMP did.
Once the utility realized the benefits that a fleet of dispatchable batteries could provide, the utility “became a great innovator and pioneer and decided to push this thing to a whole new level,” said Sonnen CEO Blake Richetta in an interview. “They wanted a service territory-wide program where they could dispatch people’s batteries and pay people for that value,” he said.
Which services are the batteries providing to the grid? Read our followup article here where you can also listen to the podcast!
The program is called Wattsmart. “It’s beyond a pilot,” Richetta said, adding “it’s never been done before in this country.”
More than peak load management
While many utilities use behind-the-meter batteries to help manage peaks, those batteries generally are being used only once or twice a year in emergency load situations. That’s the case for, for example, with Vermont utility Green Mountain Power and others in New England.
“The difference for Rocky Mountain Power is that it’s their full territory and it was their choice; it was not forced on them [by regulators]” said Richetta. Further, the controls are fully integrated into RMP’s grid management systems.
Sonnen and RMP worked to meet the needs of the utility. For example, RMP wanted to ability to control non-Sonnen batteries as well.
“We ended up augmenting all kinds of stuff within the battery and in our software to become more able to provide all of the grid services they needed,” said Richetta.
Today, the RMP deployment includes 3,400 batteries for a total installed capacity of 14.3MW / 31MWh, and more are being placed in service.
Battery grid management system
RMP isn’t stopping there. The utility announced in May that it asked for 10 MW of DER batteries in its integrated resource plan (IRP) and planned to retire 10 MW of fossil-fuel based generation that was providing grid services. RMP said it considered the term “virtual power plant” to be overused and watered down, and so renamed their equipment a “battery grid management system.”
“A battery company would never say they are a grid management system,” said Richetta, but a utility can say that. “For them to say this is their battery grid management system is so cool!”
Based on RMP’s progress, the PLMA in May awarded the utility its Technology Pioneer Award. PLMA recognized the program for how it has impacted the energy industry, including:
- A first-of-its-kind solution for customers who use batteries to turn intermittent solar into a manageable smart grid asset capable of providing advanced DR functionality.
- A repeatable battery DR program that can scale-up and work anywhere in the country with various battery manufacturers.
- Development of new utility engineering standards and the removal of industry barriers that have enabled rooftop solar and utility industry collaboration.
Benefits of being vertically integrated
RMP is a vertically integrated utility that owns the poles and wires that deliver electricity to customers and also owns the generation capacity that produces that electricity. Other parts of the country have separate markets for generation capacity with distribution utilities only owning the distribution equipment. And in some places, like California, there’s a mix.
Richetta said he sees the pros and cons of different utility business models but believes that vertically integrated utilities, which are normally seen as being very slow to change, can be a little nimbler.
“Once you have that partnership [between developer and utility], you can do a lot more, and do it faster than the other models,” he said.
Maine, for example, recently announced that it would explore creating a distribution system operator (DSO) model. The study phase alone is expected to take two years. RMP, on the other hand, “doesn’t have to worry about any of that,” Richetta said.
Once RMP gained necessary approvals from the Utah Public Service Commission, it could test the batteries in all different kinds of configurations because the whole virtual power plant system, designed by Sonnen and RMP, belongs to the utility.
“Rocky Mountain Power is such an innovator and I hope they can be recognized for going outside of the box,” said Richetta. He said he hopes other vertically integrated utilities want to copy them and mentioned DTE, NV Energy and APS as other utilities that are potential new markets for this type of battery energy management system.
Genuinely proud
Rocky Mountain Power created a video showcasing the program that it has created with Sonnen and solar integrator ES Solar. You can watch it below. The utility doesn’t have a financial incentive to talk about the project but is doing so “because they are genuinely proud and want to be seen as a national leader,” said Richetta. He said many utilities are beaten up by their commissions for being complacent and reactive, and often are forced to do a pilot that never moves forward. “RMP,” said Richetta “wants to be seen as an innovator.”
