Aclara participated in the White House Summit on Scaling Renewable Energy and Storage With Smart Markets, an invitation-only event in Washington. The summit gathered regulators, power companies, municipalities and energy developers that are promoting smart electricity markets, greater grid integration of renewable energy and flexible resources such as energy storage.
In conjunction with the summit, Aclara announced a commitment to deploy—in partnership with utilities and customers with distributed solar—500,000 smart meters by 2025 to provide data and communications infrastructure to enable the optimal grid integration of solar.
Aclara’s Chief Financial Officer Kurt Bruenning, who participated in a roundtable session in the White House to discuss this effort, commented that Aclara admires the White House efforts to bring more renewable energy to the grid.
“We have been working with utilities around the country to help them understand and manage their energy loads, and renewable energy provides both benefits to our country and challenges to load management. Aclara’s technology can bridge that divide and help to develop infrastructure today for the energy mix of the future. Our meters, measurement technology and communications software allow utilities to bring new advanced energy technology to American homes and businesses,” said Bruenning.
A key finding in a new report by the White House Council of Economic Advisers titled “Incorporating Renewables Into the Grid: Expanding Opportunities for Smart Markets and Energy Storage,” noted that current and projected levels of variable renewable energy resources are creating opportunities for technologies such as energy storage and demand response to ensure the reliable and cost-effective supply of electricity. The report also finds that wholesale market reforms are already helping to enable these technologies to participate in some markets. Ongoing cost reductions and advancements in communication infrastructure are expected to further enhance the potential for these technologies moving forward.
Source: Aclara
