Utility Innovation Opportunities

Smart Hybrid Heating and Cooling

Exploring NPAs

National Grid is looking to learn more about potential demand side resources (Non-Pipeline Alternatives or NPAs) to address natural gas system constraints in its Downstate New York (DNY) service territory. This exercise excludes supply-side resources (e.g. hydrogen blending, renewable natural gas or compressed/liquefied natural gas). This process will inform an RFP yet to be released.

Comprehensive Fleet Solution

NYSEG and RG&E are seeking to establish a viable model for scaling turnkey fleet electrification services, including financing, vehicles, and charging infrastructure, for utilization by commercial fleet owners to accelerate electrification of fleets. Any steps toward simplifying fleet electrification, including by reducing upfront costs for customers and making operating expenses predictable, will be key to widespread vehicle electrification in New York State.

Demand Response Aggregators

Due to Con Edison investments in AMI meters and Green Button Connect, all customers with an AMI meter are now eligible to participate in the Con Edison performance-based Rider T demand response programs with a minimum electricity use reduction commitment of 10 watts. There is now a need for third-party demand response aggregators to provide service to this newly enabled customer pool.

Building-to-Grid Project

National Grid is seeking solutions to fill the gap between grid operation software tools and building management systems and/or building device control systems for use in a building-to-grid project. Participating buildings will primarily be single- and multistory multifamily residential, in addition to several commercial buildings such as grocery stores, gyms, and restaurants. The project plans to build around 2,000 net-zero, possibly all-electric, units over a period of 10 years.

Distributed Communications Project

National Grid is seeking economical alternatives to existing communications solutions to more closely integrate distributed energy resources (DERs) and distribution automation schemes, as well as facilitate DER participation in wholesale markets.

Managed Charging Program

National Grid plans to introduce an Electric Vehicle (EV) managed charging program, which allows for off-peak charging of residential customer EVs at their residences for a fixed monthly charge, in Q4 2022. The company is seeking solutions that allow direct management of the timing or power level of charging, which could include vehicle telematics, charger-based approaches or other technologies to actively managed charging. The preferred solution would be implemented for the three-year duration of the proposed program.

EV Fast Charge System Optimization

PSEG Long Island is looking for market-based, cost-beneficial approaches for customer-sited energy storage projects for NWA applications.

Grid-Interactive Efficiency Audit

NYPA seeks partners to support the development and implementation of grid-interactive efficiency audits (GEA), which go beyond traditional energy efficiency audits to include factors such as the temporal and locational value of energy to assess economic and carbon reduction potential. The solution may incorporate advanced data analytics to assess clean energy measures beyond energy conservation, to include energy supply options, energy storage, demand flexibility, on-site renewables, retro-commissioning and O&M, grid services, electrification, wholesale market interactions, and resiliency.

Connected Buildings Pilot

PSEG Long Island is seeking submissions offering a holistic package that can monitor and adjust building load based on price and dispatch signals, to be implemented initially as a pilot project. This pilot should demonstrate interoperability among a variety of devices from different manufacturers, thus simplifying communications and control signals between the utility and customer devices. Price and dispatch signals such as a time-of-use rate may initially be used to reduce peak demand and energy supply costs and could potentially be used to support more day-to-day load flexibility for a wider array of grid services. This pilot will help move PSEG Long Island toward its goal of evolving into a customer-centric distributed system platform.

Grid-Beneficial Customer Storage and Non-Wires Solutions

PSEG Long Island is seeking innovative business model approaches and providers to non-wires solutions (NWS) to help defer transmission and distribution infrastructure projects, particularly energy storage solutions that also help to achieve the Climate Act goal of 188 MW of storage on Long Island by 2025. Examples of potential solutions for these needs include community storage and customer-sited storage located on constrained circuits. The result of this effort we hope will allow us to identify more opportunities for solicitation for NWS by increasing the number of capital projects which screen as cost-effective for solicitation of potential NWS.

Hosting Capacity Expansion

PSEG Long Island is seeking solutions to increase the hosting capacity of its distribution system. The utility is experiencing a rise in DER penetration and therefore would like to explore cost-effective technology and proven methods that can be implemented to increase hosting capacity on the distribution system.