“Smart meters – which measure and manage residential electricity in real time – already have been installed in about 40 percent of homes in the United States, but have yet to meet the pledge of smaller electric bills and engage consumers,” said Todd Cowen, professor of civil and environmental engineering, and principal investigator for the project.
The NSF grant, entitled “Energy Smart Community - Leveraging Virtual Storage to Turn Advanced Metering Infrastructure into a Smart Service System,” seeks to bolster grid flexibility, integrate distributed renewable energy sources and reduce household electricity costs.
“While we already have a large number of homes in the U.S. with smart meters, these homes lack storage capacity to pair with them. This stands as a barrier to developing a truly efficient retail electricity market,” said Cowen. “Smart metering has been driven by utilities and government incentives, but consumers were absent from the process. This grant corrects that, so consumers are engaged in the processes, and we as a society can make great strides in improving the environment.”
The project will test whether adding rechargeable batteries (electric residential storage) to individual residential smart meters can produce significant benefits.
“Ideally, we’re looking to help homes create a reservoir of energy, so that when electricity prices are low, the smart meters will automatically charge their batteries with the cheaper energy to use at a later time,” Cowen said.
“While we’re trying help consumers, this can create potential business opportunities, such as electric storage providers, smart-system service software and residential-sector financing, not to mention creating an infrastructure for the emerging retail energy market,” he said.
For more on smart meters, find out about minimizing electric bills with smart homes, solar and storage.