Siemens and EnergyHub partner on DER-centric grid management

Siemens has partnered with EnergyHub to expand its ecosystem of partners for its grid software business.

The companies will interface their complementary solutions to empower utilities to move towards a holistic and scalable end-to-end next generation DER management solution. This means utilities will have better DER visibility, forecasting, and management, which will enable them to better plan, operate and maintain an increasingly DER-centric grid in the future by breaking down silos across utilities.

“Utilities have to re-think how to manage power grids because DERs will continue to grow significantly over the next decade. Knowing about DER contributions to our power grids is very important to shift loads to periods when there is less stress on the grid. Siemens and EnergyHub will be strategically cooperating on complementary portfolio elements for a next generation DER management by combining Siemens’ network expertise with EnergyHub’s proven grid-edge capabilities,” said Sabine Erlinghagen, CEO of Grid Software at Siemens.

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Erlinghagen added that the partnership “will enable utilities to reach net-zero by leveraging DERs as a non-wire alternative solution such as investments in hardware. Ultimately, this will enable utilities to unlock unprecedented levels of DER flexibility and resilience of the power grid.”

As more intermittent forms of clean energy are added to the grid, flexible energy resources are key.

“It is impossible to decarbonize electricity without grid-edge flexibility to complement the growing mix of renewable generation. Now that our grid-edge programs are gigawatt-scale resources, it is critical that they interconnect deeply with core utility operating systems. This partnership with Siemens—a global leader in electricity-industry software—will enable grid-edge resources to transform the utility enterprise in a way that is win-win for utilities and their customers,” said Seth Frader-Thompson, president of EnergyHub.

According to Siemens, about 70% of the world’s electricity consumption flows through infrastructure simulated by Siemens’ grid software. Today, 1,300 control center systems – that operate and control grids – based on Siemens’ software are in operation worldwide, keeping the lights on for hundreds of millions of people.

The Siemens Grid Software Suite is part of Siemens Xcelerator, an open digital business platform designed to accelerate the digital transformation and value creation across industries, transportation, grids and buildings.

EnergyHub controls all classes of DERs including thermostats, electric vehicles, energy storage, and solar inverters. The company works with over 60 North American utilities to manage more than 1.3GW of flexible capacity.

Originally published on power-grid.com