How Prosumers

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Leverage
4 Technologies
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Reliable, !!Economical Energy
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by François Borghese!
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Executive summary !!
As the global energy landscape continues to evolve, the
proactive energy consumer, ! or ‘prosumer’, is emerging.
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Campuses, institutions, businesses, and homeowners
are beginning to use new! technologies to take direct
control of energy sustainability,
Local microgrids are being
!! formedreliability, and cost.
by dynamically
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managing a variety of distributed energy resources,
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including loads, onsite renewable energy production,

to the smart grid, new information

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and energy storage. And by connecting the prosumer
and control platforms
are enabling participation! in programs that fully
monetize the flexibility of!these assets.
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998-2095-12-19-14AR0

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 How prosumers leverage 4 technologies for greener, more reliable, and economical energy

Imagine a world where green, renewable sources are supplying most or all of the energy
Introduction needed for every purpose: lighting, heating, processes, and transportation. Imagine that
energy customers are able to proactively choose which energy source they want to consume.
Imagine an electricity supply that is completely reliable. Imagine a typical business or home
spends much less on their energy consumption, or actually generates revenue.
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This scenario is becoming possible today with the marriage of new technologies and
operational strategies on both sides of the electricity meter.
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Over the past many decades, growing energy consumption, the addition of intermittent
renewable energy generation, and severe weather events have all contributed to electrical
grid instability and energy price volatility. Electricity grid operators and utilities are taking
steps to address these challenges in a variety of ways, including looking to the demand side
for help.
!
As part of smart grid modernizations, remunerative programs are being launched or
expanded that encourage energy customers to adjust their consumption in response to
pricing signals, penalties, or curtailment requests. Due to this potential flexibility, a customer’s
energy-consuming loads and any onsite energy generation capabilities are now considered
important distributed energy resources (DER), critical to helping balance the grid.
!
At the same time, many customers have begun taking more direct control of the cost,
reliability, and green mix of their energy supply. City districts, educational campuses, military
bases, hospitals, commercial buildings, factories, and residential homes are becoming
proactive energy consumers, or ‘prosumers’. They are enabled on this journey by a
convergence of four widely available technologies that can automate and fully monetize their
energy resources:
! 1. Energy management systems
2. Onsite renewable energy production
3. Electrical energy storage systems
4. Intelligent, interactive connections to the smart grid
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This paper will explain how these technologies are contributing to the smart, new energy
prosumer paradigm. Armed with these tools, organizations and families are managing energy
resources in a more dependable, economic, and environmentally sustainable way.

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The evolving The way energy is generated, distributed, and consumed around the globe is evolving
quickly. A number of operational, financial, and social factors are influencing these changes.
energy landscape !!
Growing populations need more energy
A majority of the world's population now lives in cities, consuming 75 per cent of our
resources and emitting most of the greenhouse gases. The United Nations estimates that by
2050, an additional three billion people will move into these dense, resource-intense urban
environments.
!
As a result of these trends, the increase in worldwide energy demand is estimated to grow by
37 per cent by the year 2040, based on planned policies.1 A percentage of this demand will
be due to new kinds of loads loads like electric vehicles.

1 IEA World Energy Outlook 2014.

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The pros and cons of green energy

Utilities in many regions are being driven by new environmental regulations to gradually close
their central fossil-fired generating plants. Some are also phasing out nuclear plants in
response to public anti-nuclear sentiment.
!
Those plants will be partly replaced by renewable energy production means, such as large-
scale wind and solar farms, which have both continued to growth at a rapid pace in recent
years. For example, in Germany more than 35 per cent of energy consumption is targeted to
come from renewables by 2020, and 80 per cent by 2050.2

Figure 1
Share of electricity generated
from variable renewables (per
cent) by region, within the IEA
Energy Technology Perspectives
2 Degree Scenario.
Source: IEA Technology
Roadmap - Energy Storage

!
But there are challenges to integrating large amounts of renewable energy production with
the grid, due to the inherent intermittency of wind and solar power. One of the options for
keeping the grid properly balanced is for grid operators is to implement demand-side
management programs.
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Open energy markets add complexity
Deregulation of energy markets is a trend already occurring in many regions of the world.
Prior to this, network operators were often integrated with the power production companies.
This meant they had full control over the majority of the power generation, matching
production to the demand.
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When the opening of power markets began in the 1990s, the grid operator’s activities were
unbundled from generation activities. Energy trading produced a far more complex paradigm
for grid operators to manage. This has heightened the need for solutions that will help ensure
the balance between energy supply and consumption.
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An aging grid infrastructure can’t keep up with demand
Some of the world’s electrical infrastructure dates back to the late 1800s. In the US, 70 per
cent of the grid’s transmission lines and power transformers are now over 25 years old and
the average age of power plants is over 30 years3. Globally, the majority of nuclear power
plants have been operating an average of 27 years, with the oldest operating about 43

2 “Germany’s Energiewende: From Wunderkind to Troubled Adolescent?”, EnergyTransition.de,

November 2013

3 “Weather-Related Power Outages and Electric System Resiliency”, Campbell, Richard J.,
Congressional Research Service. August 28, 2012

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 How prosumers leverage 4 technologies for greener, more reliable, and economical energy

years.4 Most will need to be rebuilt or replaced. In fact, one recent report warns that by 2050
nuclear power could disappear altogether.5
!
“Even with this additional Most power grids have been designed for answering peak demand, with 25 per cent of
capacity built in, most distribution and 10 per cent of generation and transmission assets used less than 400 hours
grids were not designed per year.6 Even with this additional capacity built in, most grids were not designed for today’s
for today’s loads.” loads.
!
In terms of performance, older transmission lines dissipate more energy than new ones,
constraining supply during periods of high energy demand.7 Further, the current model of
large, centralized generation plants means that about 70 per cent of electricity is lost in
generation, transmission and distribution. This equates to a global annual cost of energy loss
estimated at about $4.1 trillion.8
!
To address its aging grid, EDF, the largest European utility, plans to invest up to 120 billion
euros over 10 years.9 However, most companies do not have the capital to invest large
amounts in upgrading. This limits increases in generation capacity and the expansion of
transmission and distribution networks. Demand-side management strategies, including the
integration of distributed energy resources, can help lower this required investment by
reducing the peak demand across the grid.
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Energy prices are becoming more volatile
Electricity is becoming more and more expensive in most parts of the world. In Germany,
average electricity prices for companies have jumped 60 per cent over the past five years
because of costs passed along as part of government subsidies of renewable energy
producers. Prices are now more than double those in the U.S.10
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In the U.S. retail residential electricity prices for the first half of 2014 are on average 3.2 per
cent above the same period last year, the highest year-over-year growth since 2009. One
state saw an increase of 11.8 per cent.11

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Severe weather increases the risk of blackouts
$119 billion / year!
!
On average, there are at least
Power outages due to severe weather events are on the increase in some regions. In August
2003, a widespread blackout caused an estimated 55 million people to lose power across the
500 000 people affected daily US northeast and eastern Canada, while later that year a major power outage across most of
by power outages in the US, Italy and part of Switzerland affected 56 million people. Many more were affected by the
costing $119 billion annually. world’s biggest power failure in India in July 2012 that left half of the country without
Source: Lexington Institute,
Ensuring Resilience of US
Electrical Grid
4 “Parc nucléaire mondial (production d’électricité)”, Connaissance des Energies, May 2012

5 “World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2014”, Mycle Schneider and Antony Froggatt, July 2014

6 U.S. Department of Energy

7 “Economic Benefits to Increasing Electric Grid Resilience to Weather Outages”, Executive Office of the
President August 2013

8 “ ‘We don't need no stinkin' grid’ will be the mantra of the developing world, professor says”, Smart
Grid News, Sep 11, 2014, quoting Dr. Rajendra Singh, Clemson University

9 “EDF prévoit d'investir entre 100 et 120 milliards d'euros en France sur dix ans”, La Tribune, 04/2013

10 “Germany's Expensive Gamble on Renewable Energy“, Wall Street Journal, August 2014

11 “Residential electricity prices are rising”, US Energy Information Administration, September 2014

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 How prosumers leverage 4 technologies for greener, more reliable, and economical energy

electricity. Soon after, Superstorm Sandy lashed the eastern US, cutting power to eight
million customers.
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Severe weather is the leading cause of power outages in the United States. Between 2003
and 2012, an estimated 679 widespread power outages occurred due to severe weather.
Thunderstorms, hurricanes and blizzards account for 58 percent of outages observed since
2002, with 87 percent of outages affecting 50,000 or more customers12. A recent
Congressional Research Service study estimates the inflation-adjusted cost of weather-
related outages at $25 to $70 billion annually.13 Demand-side management can help limit the
propagation of a ‘cascading’ outage by significantly reducing the demand on the grid outside
the immediately affected areas. On the delivery-side, many critical-power energy customers
are gaining partial autonomy from the grid to help ride through such events.
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In response to these continuing challenges, grid operators and power utilities in most regions
The smart grid: have joined forces to more efficiently balance demand and supply over an increasingly
improving complex network, while also improving response to critical events. Collectively known as the
smart grid, new strategies combine electricity and IT infrastructure to integrate and
efficiency and interconnect all users: generators, operators, marketers, and consumers.

reliability
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Smart grid encompasses several different domains, from smarter energy generation methods
to smarter homes and enterprises. Whereas many of the first smart grid programs focused
on the supply side of energy, programs and technologies are now being introduced to allow
all parties to work together to balance product and consumption, improve grid reliability,
stabilize pricing, and reduce emissions.
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Some smart grid initiatives have been in place for many years in some regions, such as
variable energy pricing. Some initiatives are more recent, such as smart meters and
automated meter reading (AMR), advanced network automation, and the installation of
distributed energy generation.
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In the past, smaller generation assets, including renewable energy sources, have typically
been used for remote communities far from central plants. But more recently, these assets
are being added throughout the grid, for purposes such as helping to reduce peak power
demand on extremely hot or cold days. Such distributed generators have the added benefit of
being closer to where the energy consumed, which reduces line losses.
!
Grid operators are also starting to invest in large-scale energy storage systems, located on
the main grid. These can be used to level loads, help reduce the amount of generating
capacity needed to supply customers at times of high demand, or to provide frequency
regulation. Energy storage also supports a smoother integration of intermittent energy from
large-scale solar or wind farms.
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Accessing energy flexibility through more supplier-consumer
partnerships
Grid operators are increasingly looking to energy consuming districts, institutions,
businesses, and homes as a potential source of energy flexibility. If an energy customer has

12 “Economic Benefits of Increasing Electric Grid Resilience to Weather Outages”, Executive Office of the
President, August 2013

13 “Weather-Related Power Outages and Electric System Resiliency”, Campbell, Richard J.,
Congressional Research Service. August 28, 2012

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Figure 2
A smart grid connects energy
suppliers and consumers together
over communication networks,
enabling them to work together to
improve reliability by dynamically
balancing energy demands.

the ability to selectively increase or decrease some portion of their energy use when required,
that variability can be used to offset stresses and balance the grid. In this way, energy-
consuming loads are considered distributed energy resources on the smart grid.
!
To access this energy flexibility, grid operators are joining with other entities, such as
“These are remunerative
programs that can commercial aggregators, to develop a variety of demand-side management (DSM) programs.
financially benefit energy These are remunerative programs that can financially benefit energy users, as well as helping
users, as well as helping improve the reliability of the grid.
improve the reliability of !
Depending on the region, different types of programs may be offered. In some regions, such
the grid.”
programs have been offered for many years, dating back as early as the 1970s. But in most
regions, these are more recent initiatives.

Variable tariff programs

Energy price-based incentive programs encourage consumers to adjust their electricity
usage, typically by increasing the price during peak periods of high demand on the grid. The
energy manager or homeowner can then respond by shedding (turning off) one or more
loads, shifting (rescheduling) loads to another time of day, consume energy from an energy
storage system, or start producing energy onsite.
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As an example, an industrial factory might shift a non-critical process to run during the night
instead of mid-day. Other demand management options are discussed later in this paper.
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The most common types of variable tariff programs are:
! 1. Critical peak pricing (CPP) or peak demand surcharge. A higher energy price or
penalty is charged for using excessive amounts of energy at a peak time of day.
2. Time-Of-Use (TOU) pricing. Different blocks of time in a 24-hour day are given
different pricing levels based on the cost of producing energy.
3. Real-time pricing (RTP). The rate for electricity follows dynamic wholesale market
prices.

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Demand response programs

Sometimes referred to as interruptible rates, demand response (DR) programs have been
offered to commercial and industrial (C&I) customers for many years in some regions,
primarily in the US. However, many other regions are starting pilot phases, intending to
eventually build out full-scale markets or programs. In fact, the global amount of flexible
capacity in the commercial and industrial energy user segments addressed by DR programs
is expected to grow from 26.8 GW in 2014 to 132.3 GW in 2023.14
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By aggregating the available load flexibility of many energy-consuming customers, a virtual
power plant is created, helping the utility avoid buying comparable levels of generation.
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DR programs come in two main variations:
! 1. Committing to reduce load when demand is high. In this scenario, the customer agrees
to reduce a portion of their energy consumption when the supply of electricity on the
grid is threatened. Load reduction typically needs to be exercised within two or less
hours of notice from the grid operator. Participants receive upfront payments for the
amount of load capacity they can reduce.
2. Allowing direct control of loads. Usually applicable only for residential or small
commercial businesses, this program allows the system operator to remotely shut
down a specific customer load, such as an air conditioner or water heater, in exchange
for an incentive payment or bill credit.
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Faced with continued price volatility and grid instability in some regions, as well as increasing
The new energy competitive and financial pressures, many businesses, institutions, and homeowners are
prosumer: taking wanting to have more control over their electricity supply.
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direct control of Enterprises are always seeking to minimize operating budgets and ensure no interruptions to
service or processes. Many are now looking at their energy supply for ways to cut costs and
electricity supply boost reliability. Energy also represents a major expense for residential households, while
any extended power outages are considered a threat to a family’s security.
!
There is also a growing movement in environmental awareness that is encouraging
consumers to seek out greener energy alternatives. Most businesses are starting to consider
their ‘carbon footprint’ as an important key performance indicator.
!
All of these factors have contributed to the emergence of the new energy prosumer. And with
this shift, four important categories of technology are converging to enable their goals: energy
management, microgrid, energy storage, and connectivity with the smart grid. These
technologies are giving prosumers direct control over a sustainable and reliable energy
supply. They are also creating a larger, more dynamic set of distributed energy resources to
help strengthen the main grid. And all of these technologies can augment existing facilities, or
be integrated as part of new ‘greenfield’ projects.
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1. Energy management for energy efficiency
Energy management systems have existed for many years, in a number of different forms.
Most of these have been developed for use by large enterprises such as industrial plants and
commercial buildings. However, in more recent years, such solutions are becoming available
for smaller buildings of all kinds.
!
14 “Demand Response for Commercial & Industrial Markets”, Navigant Research, 2014

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Typically comprising a network of digital energy meters connected to central analysis and
control software, these systems are designed to accurately detail the consumption profiles of
various loads and processes to help identify inefficiencies, and to provide early warning of
potential risks to power quality or reliability.

Figure 3
A typical energy management
system for a commercial building.

!
Through integration with building or process management systems, or other types of control
devices, intelligent schemes can be used to perform automated load management.
Controllable loads would typically include heating, cooling and ventilation (HVAC) systems, as
well as any non-critical process systems.
!
If a prosumer has access to energy pricing data from their local utility, a system can also be
“Through integration with
building or process configured to respond directly to variable pricing signals. For example, cooling could be
management systems, or reduced and building temperature allowed to rise by a degree during a period of high energy
pricing.
other types of control
devices, intelligent !
With an energy management system in place, a wider range of strategies can be planned and
schemes can be used to
perform automated load executed, such as predicting energy needs, revealing unused power distribution system
capacity, and isolating sources of problems.
management.”
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2. Onsite generation creates a green, reliable microgrid
Microgrids are essentially miniature versions of the traditional electric grid. They consist of
local energy generation resources, as well as a microgrid controller, the power distribution
system, and connected loads. Many types of energy resources can be used, including
renewable energy generation (solar, wind, water, biomass, etc.), fuel cells, natural gas or
diesel-powered engines, or combined-heat-and-power (CHP) systems. Such systems can
operate independently, in parallel with the main grid, or connected to it.
!
There are now more than 388 remote microgrid projects in operation, under development, or
proposed worldwide, in remote locations such as islands and isolated communities that are

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not connected to a grid. However, as natural gas prices and the cost of solar panels have
fallen dramatically in recent years, grid-connected microgrids in urban areas are becoming
more common.

Figure 4
A typical microgrid for a large
university campus, showing
microgrid controller and
distributed energy assets.

!
Benefits of microgrids for the prosumer include:
! 1. Using onsite generation as a flexible distributed energy asset. This can optimize
participation in a demand response program by providing a choice of using local
More on microgrids!
!
For more detailed information on
generation or load management to comply with a curtailment request. In some regions,
feed-in tariffs enable customers to be paid for feeding renewable energy back to grid,
typically without the option for self-consumption.
microgrid benefits and a view of
recent policy issues, download 2. Enabling self-consumption of green energy. Local renewable sources can be used to
the report: displace part or all of the energy consumed from the main grid, helping reduce energy-
Think Microgrid - A Discussion related greenhouse gas emissions. Adding local energy storage can help further
Guide for Policymakers, Regulators maximize the use of this resource. This is discussed in the next section.
and End Users.
3. Mitigating the economic impacts of power disruptions. A microgrid can operate in grid-
connected mode, or island-mode in the event of blackouts. Going beyond the short-
term capabilities of a typical emergency back-up system, microgrids have the potential
to run indefinitely off locally generated power or battery energy reserves.
!
Prime candidates for microgrids include eco-parks and large commercial or industrial
facilities. They are also ideal for enterprises where power continuity is critical to success,
such as hospitals, military bases, police and fire services, and university campuses. Many
colleges and universities have already gained experience using microgrids to supply mission-
critical users such as laboratories, research centres, surgeries, and data centres.
!
Microgrid solutions are also becoming available for individual, smaller buildings. These are
often solar-based generation, and may often be packaged with energy storage systems. In
some regions, adoption is being strongly encouraged by governments through attractive
financial incentives.
!

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“We're getting closer to Though some power utilities may view microgrids as a threat15, they can help improve grid
the inflection point where resilience and power reliability, reduce line losses, and enhance integration of renewables. In
microgrids will become a recognition of these benefits, the U.S. DOE Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy
legitimate option for Reliability has allocated funding for microgrid R&D16 and the US microgrid market is expected
almost any campus or to reach $40 billion annually by 2020, with capacity growing to 4.1 GW. 17
industrial park.”
Jesse Berst, Chief Analyst,
Smart Grid News
!
Case study: Microgrid keeps power flowing
at remote ski resort
!
After a major expansion, including new ski runs and snow-making equipment,
Bear Creek Mountain Resort & Conference Center in Berks County, Pennsylvania, US,
discovered their electrical demand began to exceed the capacity of the utility line
feeding the resort. Rather than invest in a costly upgrade to the line and associated
infrastructure, Bear Creek found a less expensive alternative: configuring the resort’s
six existing backup generators into a grid-connected microgrid. An intelligent
monitoring and control system automatically transfers loads to the generators when
required to avoid exceeding the ‘cap’ level. It also allows the resort to participate in the
utility’s demand response program, with financial payments ranging from $40,000 to
over $100,000 annually.

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!
3. Energy storage super-charges the microgrid
According to Navigant Research, advanced energy storage will represent the single largest
investment category among ‘microgrid enabling technology’ options by 2023.18 For example,
in the US, California is targeting 1,325 megawatts of energy storage capacity by 2020,
requiring around $3 billions of investment with subsidies program. In Germany,
encouragements to adopt onsite energy include subsidies for energy storage.
!
Advanced microgrid systems will often include thermal or electric energy storage. Energy
“Energy storage
effectively extends the storage effectively extends the value of renewable energy sources by enabling self-
value of renewable consumption to be increased by up to 100 per cent. It allows locally-produced energy to be
energy sources by consumed when it’s needed, produced when it’s relevant, and to be sold back to the grid
when it’s most economically advantageous to do so.
enabling self-consumption
to be increased by up to !
Storing energy onsite also helps to increase energy flexibility. For example, if a prosumer is
100 per cent.”
taking advantage of a variable tariff program, stored energy can be consumed during peak
hours when grid energy prices are highest. Storage batteries can then be recharged during
gap hours, either from onsite energy sources or from grid power at lower pricing.
!
To optimize participation in demand response programs, stored energy can be consumed to
respond to load curtailment requests, to effectively consume less energy from the grid. If the
grid operator asks for increased consumption, batteries can be charged from the grid. Stored

15 “Microgrid Matchup: The Military and The Utilities”, Navigant Research, June 2012

16 “The Advanced Microgrid - Integration and Interoperability”, Sandia National Laboratories, March 2014

17 “Market Data: Microgrids”, Navigant Research, 1Q 2013

18 “Microgrid Enabling Technologies”, Navigant Research, Q3 2014

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Figure 5
Energy storage system
components

energy can also be used to provide ancillary services to the grid, such as frequency or
voltage support.
!
Finally, a microgrid designed to provide critical power during and after disruptive events such
as storms will often use energy storage as a ‘green’ backup supply. This can replace the need
to maintain a spinning reserve of energy, typically from fossil-fuel based generators.
!
Case study: France’s first smart grid-ready office building
!
In the Brittany region of northern France, the new headquarters of the region’s energy
union, SDEM, has been equipped with an energy storage system linked to onsite
renewable electricity generation. The system will automatically arbitrate between selling
stored energy to the grid or auto-consuming it to supply the building. Storing renewable
energy onsite enables self-consumption to be maximized and participation in demand
response programs to be optimized. The award-winning project also integrates a building
management system with intelligent load shedding.

!!
!
4. A smart connection to the smart grid
“For the new prosumer to For the new prosumer to fully monetize the value of their energy flexibility, it’s crucial to
fully monetize the value of optimize how their distributed energy resources are managed. It requires tight coordination
their energy flexibility, it’s of loads, generation, and storage. It also requires knowing the best times to offer
crucial to optimize how 'negawatts' (curtail load) or 'posiwatts' (provide energy) to the grid, all while ensuring comfort
and maintaining productivity.
their distributed energy
resources are managed.” !
Advanced information, communication, and control platforms are now becoming available to
enable these goals. Prosumers are given an intelligent, transparent way to manage their
distributed energy resources, as well as a simple, automated way to participate in smart grid
programs. These are typically cloud-hosted SaaS platforms, with a modem and smart

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 How prosumers leverage 4 technologies for greener, more reliable, and economical energy

Figure 6
Commercial building running a
microgrid and interacting with the
smart grid through a typical cloud-
hosted prosumer platform.

gateway installed at the prosumer’s location that provides access over a secure Internet
connection to a remote server.
!
The platform takes into account the energy, environmental, and economic needs of the
enterprise or homeowner. It then automatically proposes the optimal arbitrage between the
different opportunities: demand response, variable tariffs, peak demand management,
maximizing self-consumption, selling energy back to the grid based, or supporting ancillary
services.
!

Figure 7
Typical web-based portal for a
prosumer software platform,
demonstrating automated load
shifting in response to energy
market pricing signals.

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The most comprehensive of these platforms will integrate all energy-relevant drivers. This will
include weather forecast data, energy market pricing, load profiles and forecasts of the
prosumer’s energy needs, and any constraints on their operations. This is crucial in order to
predict the most advantageous opportunities to consume, store, or produce energy.
!
The platform also manages all two-way communication between the grid actors and the
prosumer. For example, a utility or aggregator will request curtailment tenders from many
energy users, analyzing and monetizing those responses.
!
The prosumer will then use the platform to access the status of the curtailment orders, and
“Prosumers are given an
intelligent, transparent way view the synthesis of past curtailments. They will also be able to monitor the status of their
to manage their distributed generation, storage, and load assets that are being offered as flexibility to the grid.
energy resources, as well Curtailment actions can be simplified using automation; however, the prosumer’s participation
as a simple, automated is always voluntary. At any time conditions are not ideal for a business or homeowner, they
can decline an opportunity or override a pre-programmed control sequence.
way to participate in smart
grid programs.” !
To enable the exchange of data between the platform and the prosumer, the smart gateway
enables:
! 1. Acquisition of relevant status and performance data from all distributed energy
resources
2. Sending of curtailment commands to distributed energy assets, including load
controllers, microgrid controllers, building management systems, or process
automation systems
3. Daily backup of all time-stamped load curves and curtailment actions
!
The level of intelligence and automation provided by such platforms offers a comfortable
means to manage all energy resources and program participation.

Case study: France’s first full-scale smart grid

demonstration project
!
In the cities of Lyon and Grenoble, up to 1,000 residential homes and 40 commercial
buildings are taking part in the GreenLys project, with the goal to showcase a functional
smart grid by 2015. As part of the first stage, a commercial building successfully
executed hundreds of curtailment actions, achieving 16 per cent cost savings by
temporarily shifting heating load from high-cost peak hours to off-peak hours. The
project is being expanded to include multi-site load aggregation, electric vehicle
charging, and home automation systems.

!
Conclusion The emergence of the energy prosumer heralds a significant shift in how energy will be
generated, distributed, and consumed in the future. Energy management systems, microgrid
technologies, energy storage, and intelligent information and communications platforms are
converging. This is enabling a green, locally-controlled, reliable energy supply, while
maximizing the financial benefits of participating in the smart grid.
!
Intelligent algorithms that accurately track and project energy needs will ensure that comfort
and productivity are maintained. And by providing an automated approach to controlling
onsite generation, storage, and consumption, local energy needs can be met while enabling a
two-way energy exchange that supports the resiliency of the larger grid.

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“An evolution from

!
In summary, an evolution from energy consumer to energy prosumer promises financial,
energy consumer to operational, environmental, and societal benefits.
energy prosumer
promises financial,
!
Next steps
operational,
environmental, and To begin building a prosumer strategy, it is important to plan carefully to ensure return on
investment is maximized and risks are reduced.
societal benefits.”
! 1. Consult with an expert to help determine the local regulatory situation, electricity tariff
structure, smart grid programs availability, and all available government incentives.
2. Calculate the potential financial, environmental, and reliability benefits of installing one
or more of the primary components of a prosumer solution: load management, onsite
generation, energy storage, and a platform for interaction with smart grid programs.
3. Find a solution provider that can offer a complete range of services, including: site
audit to determine the most optimal solution for the prosumer’s business, design,
project management, installation, commissioning, and lifecycle support. See below for
special considerations for implementing a microgrid.
4. Consider complementary services, such as utility contract optimization and energy
efficiency upgrades.
!!
!! Microgrid special considerations !
!!The characteristics of a microgrid’s electrical distribution system will be different when it
operates in island mode versus when its distributed energy resources are providing
varied amounts of energy to supplement the main grid. A microgrid must be properly
designed and implemented to ensure it is safe under all operating modes and to avoid
problems with system stability, short-circuit fault current, over-current coordination,
grounding, and harmonics. The microgrid provider should have deep expertise in power
systems and power quality as well as experience in designing, building, and
commissioning microgrids.

© 2015 Schneider Electric. All rights reserved.

About the author

François Borghese is the global marketing lead for the commercial and industrial
energy flexibility management offers of Schneider Electric. He is an expert in the
building controls market and has managed numerous projects, acquisitions, and
market strategies. He led the definition and launch of the company’s StruxureWare™
Demand Side Operation software platform, including the deployment of successful
pilot projects in France and Germany.

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