Green Charge Networks launches GreenStation energy storage and management

Green Charge Networks has launched GreenStation, an energy storage and management device operated directly by commercial facilities to locally store energy during periods of low use and augment grid power with stored energy during peak demand. This avoids usage peaks that cause expensive charges on the electricity bill, while enabling value adds such as electric vehicle (EV) charging.

GreenStation enables utilities and their customers to better align local load with distributed generation, energy storage and surgical curtailment and could save utilities money while improving system reliability.

"GreenStation helps utilities work with customers on reducing customer peak demand charges and actively participate in demand response programs. In essence, GreenStation helps balance electric load cross a facility by storing energy during periods of low electrical use while augmenting grid power during periods of high peak demand," Ron Prosser, CEO of Green Charge Networks, said in an interview with FierceSmartGrid. "As such, GreenStation solves issues associated with local congestion on the grid caused by EV charging or other high-powered electrical equipment."

GreenStation provides a mobile tool for utilities to use during contingent events or system equipment failures. It also minimizes the need for utilities and facilities to upgrade their infrastructure and electrical service to their establishments.

The distributed system technology started in Mission Control Center in Houston as part of the Shuttle program where Prosser was the Director of Operations. It evolved over time through a series of commercial and Department of Defense programs. In 2007, the technology started being applied to electrical utility related programs.

"We see this technology as being broadly applicable on smart grid related programs and micro grids. We strongly believe the GreenStation technology will be a key building block for electric vehicle charging infrastructure for a number of years and will continue to evolve and grow," Prosser said. Our system is modular and based on open systems architecture and open standards both for hardware and software. Historically this leads to graceful and continuous upgrades over time."

GreenStation provides utilities with a number of tools to address the stress on the distribution grid that EV charging will bring. Concurrently, it enables their ability to store and deploy renewable energy in the form of solar or wind--both intermittent by nature. The energy storage capability of GreenStation enables the capture of that energy at potentially thousands of locations in a distributed network. The customer-owned system notifies and reports on the real-time energy generation from the solar or wind system and when is a good time to either store the energy or charge EVs in order to maximize the benefit of this perishable energy source.

Load shifting unlocks great potential for savings and system reliability improvements. Cost improvements come through reduction of demand charges, participation in demand response programs and avoidance of electrical service upgrade costs to their facilities. System reliability comes about as a result of increased redundancy in the electrical supply for their various activities within the constraints of their existing infrastructure.

The implementation of GreenStation could enable the utility to upgrade specific locations where challenges develop.

"We believe that obtaining greater situational awareness of the status of the distribution grid will be a great first step for many utilities in being able to target where the real issues are. Many people feel that this requires 100 percent implementation of things like smart meters," said Prosser. "Our observation has been that using just a small number of smart meters coupled with modeled simulation allows utilities to obtain the insight necessary to make significant improvements while avoiding hard dollar costs."

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