What is DemandEx for Microgrids:
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Software that smartens—and potentially replaces—your behind-the-meter (BTM) microgrid’s critical loads panel.
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Intelligently manages during blackouts while optimizing battery capacity for backup power.
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Easily and cost-effective reduce demand spikes, allowing BTM microgrid designers and developers to size batteries and microgrid equipment for smoother load profiles.
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With certain solar microgrid systems, DemandEx eliminates the entire critical loads panel, related extra wiring, and associated labor costs.
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When the microgrid is on-grid, DemandEx for Microgrids combines intelligent control of building loads with optimal charge and discharge of a portion of the available battery capacity for savings on any commercial utility tariff, reducing demand and TOU charges by about 30%.
The result: more non-critical loads can remain online, and solar customers get demand and TOU savings when the grid is stable.
DemandEx for Microgrids™
Go beyond the microgrid critical loads panel with intelligent software
Now there’s a microgrid load management software that can keep more loads online and optimize or replace the critical loads panel, while also reducing demand and TOU charges during normal grid operations.
"I've had a lot of experience with load management technologies from prior projects. I chose Extensible Energy because of its innovative, software-driven approach to situational control. We get full backup of the entire facility when solar production is high and automated control of large energy subsystems like HVAC as the battery picks up the load. And the same software provides demand-charge management and TOU arbitrage when we're connected to the grid, which adds significantly to the bill savings. "
-- Diane Dandeneau, CEO of IPOWER Alliance.
How does this software work?
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DemandEx’s software assesses the available power and usage in real-time, then automatically reduces load to meet the available solar and battery capacity.
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Our secret sauce is data. Shh! So don’t tell anyone that DemandEx’s software uses weather forecasting, solar forecasting, real-time PV monitoring, storage monitoring, utility data, utility rates, real-time and historical load analysis, and common building controls.
A Traditional microgrid controller diagram
A DemandEx microgrid controller diagram
Figure 1 Conceptual diagram of a conventional microgrid system (left) and a system with DemandEx for Microgrids (right). The conventional system requires wiring a critical loads subpanel to selected loads (red lines), leaving other loads without power when islanded. DemandEx can eliminate the need for the critical loads subpanel by managing all controllable loads, something a conventional system cannot do.
Is DemandEx for Microgrids for you?
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Commercial behind-the-meter solar PV microgrid systems above 100 KW
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Any energy storage system, including lithium-ion, flow batteries or diesel generator systems
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Any microgrid or charge controller
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Buildings with flexible loads, such as HVAC systems (air conditioning, heat pumps, etc), EV chargers, electric water heaters, etc
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Office buildings, car dealerships, schools, air conditioned warehouses, and municipal buildings
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During normal grid operations, DemandEx also helps reduce expensive TOU and demand charges by around 30%