Hawaii Tests Smart Water Heaters

Use domestic water heaters, space heaters and other appliances,
. . . to store intermittent wind and solar energy,
. . . for grid stability and reliability.

Hawaiian Electric is trying out all sorts of distributed energy assets,
. . . to help it manage its solar-impacted island electricity system, including:
. . . . . . Behind-the-meter batteries,
. . . . . . Plug-in electric vehicles, and
. . . . . . Smart-meter-enabled energy disaggregation.
But, one of the cheaper grid tools at its disposal, could be the
. . . ubiquitous electric water heater.

Could a simple redesign turn basement water tanks into real-time utility assets?

Seeking to create virtual batteries from thousands of water heaters,
. . . tied together in fast-reacting, grid-responsive control systems.
Canada’s PowerShift Atlantic project, or
. . .the U.S. Department of Energy-backed Pacific Northwest Demonstration Project,
. . . are good examples of this approach.  

Or, it might involve a simple redesign,
. . . at a cost of about $20 in extra parts,
. . . aimed at turning the classic electric resistance hot water tank, into a
. . . “breakthrough variable-capacity grid-interactive water heating technology.”

Sequentric Energy Systems describes its latest contribution,
. . .to the emerging concept of water-heater-as-smart-grid-resource.
Last week, the Atlanta-based startup was awarded a U.S. patent for its technology.

At this week’s ACEEE Hot Water Forum,
.. . an entire conference dedicated to efficient ways to heat water,
. . . Sequentric announced its first manufacturing partner,
. . . Massachusetts-based Vaughn Thermal Corp.,
. . . which plans to start making the units for utility buyers.

Adding an extra heating element at the bottom of the tank,
. . . where the cold water sits, allows utilities the ability to turn it on and off at will,
. . . while leaving the hot water at the top of the tank at a stable temperature.

That solves 4 key challenges:
. . . “How do we give the utility company the timing,
. . . how do we keep it safe,
. . . how do we keep water hot, and
. . . how do we keep it simple?”

11-20-2014 Source:  Hawaii Tests  Water Heater Battery  Grid Heaters

Grid Water Heaters