SBIR-STTR Award

The full potential of Demand Response (DR) peak load shifting in the Smart Grid (SG) Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) will not be achieved without the ability to control points of consumption in the residential electrical consumer base. The electrical appliances in the home represent 40% of the DR potential identified by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). These consumption points must be integrated with the DR capabilities of the Smart Grid. Monitoring and control of consumptions points is a core element of DR in the smart grid. Smart Electric Management Controllers (EMCs) that enable these and more SG services, applications, and business processes are needed. Integration of the EMCs with the sensors and actuators within the household provides a managable cluster of smart controllers. People Power is implementing a Smart Controller cluster technology that allows DR services to be integrated as the level of the residential energy consumer. The quantum of control presented to the grid is that of integrated whole rather than disparate household appliances. The consumer is in control of these grid resources and, through People Power services, empowered to deploy those resouces to the benefit of the DR services within the Smart Grid. People Power Company is developing an EMC, the GreenPump, to be provided to the residential energy consumer. The GreenPump is designed to support standard communications, cyber security, and interoperability capabilities as defined by the National Institute of Standards and Technologies (NIST). The GreenPump is the central element of the People Power distributed energy management system and provides an extensible, open platform for deployment of SG services, applications, and business processes. Point of consumption energy management devices, the GreenX devices, are dynamically associated with the GreenPump to provide a clustered, distributed smart controller for electric energy management in the home. Commercial Applications and Other

Benefits:
The platform is to support modular extensions for specific communications protocols and services. People Power will provide proprietary implementations of application, service, and business process modules through this extensibility framework. People Power business objectives with respect to the Smart Grid are to be refined and further defined during the course of this Phase 1 SBIR project.

Achieving efficiency improvements and providing demand-response programs have been identified as key elements of our national energy initiative. The residential market is the largest, yet most difficult, segment to engage in efforts to meet these objectives. This project will develop an Energy Management System that engages the consumer and enables Smart Grid services, applications, and business processes to address this need. Our innovative solution is a clustered smart controller providing dynamic optimization of energy consumption for the residential energy consumer. People Power Company specified, designed, and prototyped elements of this system during Phase I. The GreenXtm family of devices and services are designed to support communications, cyber security, and interoperability standards as defined by the Smart Grid (SG) initiative. Additionally, SBIR Phase I supported development of an Open Source Home Area Network and accelerated our time to market. Phase II of the SBIR will result in the manufacture and market delivery of our products and services. In addition, strategic business relationships will be forged to leverage our open platform as the leading vehicle for residential energy management services. Commercial applications of People Power offerings provide cost-effective, residential energy management services with "actionable intelligence" to benefit the consumer. Commercialization plans for Phase II include the interoperability of residential energy management devices and services with Automated Metering Infrastructure business domain intelligence. Automated, single-point non-intrusive load monitoring will be designed and delivered for controlling residential energy efficiency. Finally, open source, public licensed implementations of strategic Smart Energy Profile services for the Home Area Network will be implemented in partnership with industry stakeholders. Commercial Applications and Other

Benefits:
The focus of SBIR Phase III will be to escalate the design, development, and deployment of People Power GreenXtm devices and services that directly address the public need for improved energy management services in the residential segment. Phase III will accelerate product deployment and market penetration. Sustained job growth will be supported as People Power innovations are integrated into the consumer market stream. Energy efficiency at the community level will stimulate highly skilled and grass-roots jobs, and will be funded as a result of consumer education and product deployment.