My Car, Your Home, a Microgrid and the Future

Dec. 6, 2018
Cars, homes and microgrids will be key market actors in a future where consumers produce and share energy. eMotorWerks and LO3 Energy intend to demonstrate that such a future is getting closer.

Cars, homes and microgrids will be key market actors in a future where consumers produce and share energy. eMotorWerks and LO3 Energy intend to demonstrate that such a future is getting closer.

The two companies announced a collaboration today to test tools that will let consumers buy and sell electricity within microgrids using their homes and vehicles. The partners want to show the efficiency of an energy ecosystem where vehicles don’t just take, but also give back, and consumers control their energy supply.

The companies are vetting demonstration sites, and the first could be at the Brooklyn Microgrid, a community blockchain project by LO3.

If testing goes well, they hope to see the trading platform applied to other microgrids worldwide.

Let’s make a deal

The microgrid will integrate eMotorWerks JuiceNet electric vehicle charging platform into LO3’s transactive energy system, Exergy. Consumers will set the price of energy in a system that in many ways mimics wholesale power markets but on a smaller scale, putting households and car drivers in charge.

“This is where the industry’s headed…being able to leverage electric vehicle batteries and flexible resources locally,” said Vincent Schachter, senior vice president, energy services of eMotorWerks in an interview with Microgrid Knowledge.

What this means practically is that an electric vehicle driver could pull up to the microgrid, plug in, and manage its relationship with the energy sellers within — likely homes or buildings that use rooftop solar. The vehicle gets to leverage its battery; the households gain an additional energy resource to consider.

Who buys what will depend on circumstances, timing and price. Maybe it’s cloudy and homeowners in the microgrid are willing to buy energy from the vehicle. Or perhaps it’s sunny and the households are over-producing solar energy, so they offer the vehicle low-cost electrons for charging.

The buyers and sellers would agree upon price under certain parameters. For example, a household might offer to buy the energy if it falls to a given price. Or the electric vehicle owner might say: ‘Use my battery but be sure to recharge my car by 9 p.m.’

Of course, homeowners and car drivers are unlikely to actually talk (save for a few geeks) or make pricing offers themselves. An automated, algorithm-driven system does the work under conditions preset by the actors, something eMotorwerks already offers via its JuiceNet smartphone application.

The virtual battery

eMotorWerks, a division of Enel, made a splash in September with a 30-MW virtual battery, made up of 6,000 electric vehicle chargers, that it aggregates for participation in California’s wholesale power markets. The Brooklyn Microgrid could mark the next step in the company’s  system evolution, as it demonstrates its platform operating on the microgrid level.

“It’s in our DNA to try to optimize the energy related to charging and then to deliver whichever services we can deliver in a given geography that make sense for our customers and partners,” Schachter said.

eMotorWerks and LO3 decided to work together after realizing that their products complement one another, according to Schachter.

In the microgrid, LO3 will provide the financial platform that manages the price signals and peer-to-peer transactions via a token system. It handles energy transactions within the microgrid and between the microgrid and the central grid. Using LO3’s mobile app, consumers decide what they’re willing to pay for local energy produced. The highest bidder wins.

eMotorWerks JuiceNet allows control over the flow of energy. It aggregates supply and demand and makes matches in real time using a cloud-based platform.

“We’ve been on that wave of aggregating demand response with EV batteries for the last couple years in California. But this is an evolution from the status quo — the ability to do it and then to trade,”  Schachter said.

Courtesy of eMotorWerks

Enough power for all?

In addition to fostering local energy markets, the platform addresses one of the big worries about electric vehicles. Charging just one electric vehicle can be equivalent to adding two or three homes to an electric grid in some places, according to eMotorWerks. Can the grid provide all of the electricity that electric vehicles will demand?

Globally yes, but in specific congested locations, maybe not, Schachter said. Envision a neighborhood where everyone arrives home from work at roughly the same time and plugs in their cars for charging.

Under these circumstances, energy management becomes “all about space and time,” he said. It becomes important to   monitor, track and control the movement of energy in a granular manner, something the trading platform can do.

The companies hope to show they’ve created what’s needed for a future where more homes and electric vehicles operate within energy communities like the Brooklyn Microgrid — something it’s clear government policymakers want to see, Schachter said.

Stay tuned. The partners expect to have a demonstration ready to show in under a year.

Track news about electric vehicles and microgrids. Subscribe to the free Microgrid Knowledge newsletter.

About the Author

Elisa Wood | Editor-in-Chief

Elisa Wood is an award-winning writer and editor who specializes in the energy industry. She is chief editor and co-founder of Microgrid Knowledge and serves as co-host of the publication’s popular conference series. She also co-founded RealEnergyWriters.com, where she continues to lead a team of energy writers who produce content for energy companies and advocacy organizations.

She has been writing about energy for more than two decades and is published widely. Her work can be found in prominent energy business journals as well as mainstream publications. She has been quoted by NPR, the Wall Street Journal and other notable media outlets.

“For an especially readable voice in the industry, the most consistent interpreter across these years has been the energy journalist Elisa Wood, whose Microgrid Knowledge (and conference) has aggregated more stories better than any other feed of its time,” wrote Malcolm McCullough, in the book, Downtime on the Microgrid, published by MIT Press in 2020.

Twitter: @ElisaWood

LinkedIn: Elisa Wood

Facebook:  Microgrids

Related Content

Brandon Olafsson / Shutterstock.com

Department of Energy Spending Up to $200M Connecting Remote Microgrids

March 15, 2024
The U.S. Department of Energy is currently accepting proposals for transmission projects that would connect remote and isolated microgrids to each other or to existing transmission...
U.S. Army photo by Scott Darling, Fort Cavazos Public Affairs)

U.S. Army Improves Resilience at Fort Cavazos with New Microgrid

March 14, 2024
U.S. Army Garrison-Fort Cavazos, formerly known as Fort Hood, will use the microgrid to power critical services and infrastructure during outages and to reduce energy costs during...

Reducing Costs and Uncertainty in Microgrid Deployment By Employing An Integrated Solution

March 15, 2024
This white paper - the second in a series - explores the Model Predictive Controller (MPC) approach to Microgrid and EV infrastructure operation.

Malaysian Semiconductor Maker Secures Critical Power with Rolls-Royce mtu Powerpacks On-Site

March 13, 2024
X-FAB Sarawak, the Malaysian division of worldwide foundry group X-FAB, will utilize the four mtu Kinetic Powerpacks at its site in Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia. The company manufactures...

Only through Standardization Can Microgrids Accelerate the Energy Transition

Jan. 18, 2024
Jana Gerber, North America microgrid president at Schneider Electric discusses how standardizing microgrids will accelerate the energy transition.

MGK_VeritoneAIWPCover_2022-08-31_16-07-16
MGK_VeritoneAIWPCover_2022-08-31_16-07-16
MGK_VeritoneAIWPCover_2022-08-31_16-07-16
MGK_VeritoneAIWPCover_2022-08-31_16-07-16
MGK_VeritoneAIWPCover_2022-08-31_16-07-16

Can AI Help Build and Optimize a Truly Smart Grid?

In this white paper, you’ll learn how AI can solve the unique challenges of a modern, complex, renewable electric smart grid in real-time and at scale.