OptiMiser, LLC has been awarded a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Award by the US Department of Energy (DOE) for 2021.
Load-shifting tools for existing homes
The project, titled “New Methods for Analyzing Load-Shifting Measures for the Existing Housing Stock,” will focus on providing field technicians with tools that enable them to design effective, site-specific packages of Grid-Interactive Efficient Building (GEB) measures that take advantage of time-of-use and demand rates while maintaining comfort. It will also help homeowners understand new rate structures and the advantages of proposed solutions.
To maximize the benefits of clean energy sources like solar, utilities need to shift load into peak generation hours. TOU rates, demand charges, and GEB measures that achieve those shifts in residential buildings are becoming more broadly available. OptiMiser will augment its residential energy analysis platform into a complete solution for rate analysis, load shifting measure design, and homeowner communication.
OptiMiser will use the HPXML auditing schema to connect to DOE’s EnergyPlus engine, which can accurately model both energy-efficiency measures and load shifting. This will let OptiMiser more effectively identify residences that will benefit from load-shifting utility programs.
OptiMiser has identified 1.4 million residential customers who are candidates for load shifting programs and energy efficiency upgrades. By improving the auditing tool, we can help more residential customers save energy while helping utilities maximize the use of renewable generation.