GridUnity announced that Entergy Services has selected the company’s cloud-based Interconnection Lifecycle Management software product to streamline the interconnection process for distributed energy resources. Entergy delivers electricity to approximately 3 million customers through five operating companies in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.
GridUnity’s platform was selected to simplify and accelerate the process of adding distributed energy resources including solar power and energy storage to the grid. The GridUnity platform provides the flexibility and scalability to address the full lifecycle of the interconnection process and will enable standardized automation across all jurisdictions resulting in a consistent experience for Entergy’s five utilities and their respective customers.
With the GridUnity tool, applicants receive immediate, automated feedback if an entry is incomplete, ensuring all submitted applications meet established standards. Entergy staff will now be able to review and respond to submitted applications in less time than was previously required, providing guidance throughout the rest of the interconnection process. Use of the GridUnity tool will create a more transparent and near-real-time interconnection queue, freeing Entergy’s engineers and other employees involved with the interconnection process to spend more of their time addressing the higher-value needs of customers.
“Over the past five years, through our work with numerous utilities, we’ve been able to hone our platform to perform notably better than legacy tools and processes,” said Brian Fitzsimons, CEO of GridUnity. “Our goal is to help move the industry forward through technology innovation that allows for increased penetration of distributed energy resources. The ability to streamline interconnection processes is one of the keys that unlocks access to the future of energy.”
Transforming the experience for interconnection applicants, the GridUnity platform brings increased efficiencies to Entergy’s processes. Having access to up-to-the-minute information helps ensure customers and other stakeholders stay up to date on their interconnection status while Entergy staff can process interconnection requests more quickly. The adoption of a single consistent format for submission of data and supporting documentation also creates a predictable and repeatable experience for users.
News item from GridUnity
“GridUnity’s platform was selected to simplify and accelerate the process of adding distributed energy resources including solar power and energy storage to the grid.”
Ran acrossed an article the other day that NREL just recently completed a (Communication-less) microgrid system that is not directly connected to the internet, but is using simple on site frequency sampling and voltage to current monitoring to react to changes on the grid for frequency control of the grid using some kind of inverter(s) that key off of grid frequency and a “bandwidth” of 59.5 to 60.5 Hertz regulation window on inverters that are “grid forming”. This sounds like a bunch of 12 or 18 pulse Variable Frequency Drives paralleled together to feed the grid transformer from a microgrid site into the grid. This article also mentioned NREL found that “microgrid controller systems” on average cost $155,000/MWh. Cut down on the overhead and O&M of complex interaction with the grid and get a much better overall LCOS for the system. Folks need to realize making smart ESS at the utility scale should not be ‘designed’ to amortize in 30 to 50 years like fueled natural gas and coal fired plants take now.