DOE Invests $61M for Smart Buildings that Accelerate Renewable Energy Adoption and Grid Resilience

The DOE has announced $61M for 10 pilot projects that will deploy new technology to transform thousands of homes and workplaces into state-of-the-art, energy-efficient buildings. These Connected Communities can interact with the electrical grid to optimize their energy consumption which will substantially decrease their carbon emissions and cut energy costs.

Connected communities of grid-interactive efficient buildings (GEBs) use smart controls, sensors, and analytics to communicate with the electrical grid, reducing the amount of energy they require during periods of peak demand. This capability is used to optimize buildings and distributed energy resources to maintain the comfort of the building occupants, lowers utility bills, and reduces grid system costs. Recipients from DOE EPSCoR jurisdictions include:

• Post Road Foundation (MAINE, NEW HAMPSHIRE) will investigate the capacity of a novel Transactive Energy Service System to harmonize communications and optimize energy use among the distributed energy resources, local energy markets, and buildings of three rural communities. (Award amount: $6.65M)