Sentient Energy's Grid Edge Control and Solving Multiple Utility Problems with Innovative Technology: Exclusive Conversation with Sree Gutta and Steven Watt of Sentient Energy
Sentient Energy’s Grid Edge Control product line is a cutting-edge solution that is designed to solve the problems associated with power distribution on today’s grid. In an exclusive Energy Central interview with Sree Gutta, the product manager for the Grid Edge Control product line, and Steven Watt, a member of Sentient Energy’s product marketing team, they provided insights into low voltage VAR control technology and its benefits.
Sentient Energy’s Grid Edge Control product line is a game-changing technology that offers a range of benefits to utilities looking to improve their energy efficiency and reduce peak demand. The technology is easy to install and provides utilities with better visibility into the system, allowing them to make informed decisions about how best to optimize the system. With the increasing demand for energy and the need to meet zero-carbon emission goals, Grid Edge Control is the perfect solution for utilities looking to modernize their grid and support the integration of more DERs into the system.
Matt Chester: Give me the cliff notes of the Grid Energy Control technology. What problems is it solving and how is it doing so?
Sree Gutta: When we talk about the grid itself, there are a lot of things that are going on these days with modernization. People are always thinking about the medium voltage side and one of the things that people don't think about is the low voltage distribution side. And so, there is no visibility at that level and there is also potential for more energy savings by utilizing the low voltage side.
By adding Grid Edge Control, our dynamic VAR control solution, utilities install a hardware device on the distribution side of the low voltage transformer allowing them to raise the low voltage points. And so, what will that do? It will help further reduce the voltage at the feeder level itself. There are several low voltage points throughout the distribution system and if the utilities are able to raise these low voltage points, they can lower the voltage further at the substation level and still meet minimum voltage limits. Say, for example, if there was a big mansion or industrial facility drawing more voltage. You have to raise the voltage of the total medium voltage feeder itself, but if you are able to raise the voltage levels at those problem points, you can lower the voltage of the feeder. That's what we're doing. We're helping lower the voltage of the feeder even further so that there is more potential for energy saving and also peak demand reduction. There are other applications for Grid Edge Control, but that's the main application.
Steven Watt: To add to this, what's really unique about this solution is that when you provide VAR support at the distribution transformer, you're raising the low points rather than bringing up the whole voltage curve. That means you're essentially compressing the voltage profile from the bottom up and now you're creating some space above that 114 Volt lower limit. And so, you can do with it what you want- you can use it as margin in case in case there's new load that pulls voltage down or you can use it to realize some energy savings by dropping voltage at the substation.
So, what's really interesting about the solution is that in addition to energy efficiency, it also helps you to solve some new problems that are being created by DER hosting. If you look at EVs, they are one of these new loads that's pulling the voltage down. Grid Edge control is going to help you because it's creating more lower voltage margin that EV charging will require.
The other opportunity that's not as obvious is over voltage issues associated with hosting solar. When you have a lot of solar on a circuit, your voltage is going to tend to rise higher than you'd like, and it may exceed the upper 126 Volt limit. If you have lower voltage margin you can drop the voltage and create upper margin for the solar so you can increase solar hosting. To me I think what's really clever about Grid Edge control is when you clean up the voltage profile at the distribution transformer, you solve multiple problems. You can get more efficiency if you want. You can get more margin for EVs. Or you can get more margin at the upper limit for solar hosting. So, I think that's why it’s a unique opportunity for utilities.