Switched Source is making the US grid more efficient and reliable
Build Edison helps early stage grid technology startup
7 million miles. That’s the length of all of the transmission and distribution lines that deliver electricity across the entire United States power grid. Reliable power from the grid is the lifeblood that keeps our homes, businesses, schools, and hospitals running.
Challenge
Increasingly, new forms of clean power generation such as wind, solar, and many forms of flexible distributed energy generation are available and need to be integrated to the grid. Yet, the basic components of the grid infrastructure are aging and utility companies must continue to deliver safe, reliable, and affordable services with little or no new infrastructure.
Solution
Given this necessary transformation, it is no surprise that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has invested in the Detroit-based company, Switched Source, since 2012. Through the DOE’s ARPA-E program, Switched Source and its research partners at Michigan State University have been able to design a simple solution to improve the operations of the existing grid.
Switched Source’s technology is a Swiss-army knife service to the grid. It uses automation to dynamically routes power through the most efficient pathway on the grid. This improves reliability and resiliency while increasing the utilization of existing grid capacity.
In addition to improved grid efficiency, Switched Source can also better integrate solar power generation. Large amounts of intermittent solar generation can overload a circuit, but Switched Source can spread out that new generation across circuits or integrate with battery storage.
This helps utilities protect their grid assets and avoid millions of dollars in interconnection upgrade costs including voltage violations, overloading of conductors, and back-feeding of substations.
Impact
Yet, in an often slow to change world of utilities, the greatest challenge for Switched Source was competing against technologies that are already well-understood by utilities and regulators. Long timeframes for utility regulatory proceedings and planning cycles meant that Switched Source needed to amplify the major value proposition that it could offer.
Recognizing the potential that Switched Source could offer, Build Edison helped the early stage company gain traction in the nuanced regulatory and political landscape in key electricity markets. Build Edison CEO and Founder Kristin Barbato identified opportunities for Switched Source to participate in demonstration programs and navigate the landscape of leading states like New York.
“Kristin helped Switched Source gain credibility by finding a few utilities to validate the applicability of Switched Source’s solution,” said Charles Murray, Switched Source President and Founder.
The next three years will be all about scaling up for Switched Source. Now that it works for test-bed utilities, the value proposition is clear for many others in every state that is similarly challenged to modernize their grid.
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At Build Edison, we have decades of experience in developing, managing, and financing demonstration projects across various clean energy technologies. We offer a number of solutions for startups, large companies, governments and investors to grow quickly and consistently, and to capitalize on one of the most exciting areas of the energy market.
