As part of its commitment to innovation and building a smarter, clean energy infrastructure, Ameren Corporation and Opus One Solutions announced that they will be working to test a transactive energy marketplace (TEM), evaluating the use of Blockchain ledger systems. The marketplace will build on one of the most technologically advanced utility-scale microgrids in North America and Opus One’s GridOS platform.
Amern’s Illinois microgrid is set to test transactive energy markets as a part of the company’s commitment to clean energy. The project collaboration between Ameren and Opus One will make it possible to assess various valuations and use cases for locational value of DER at the grid edge.
The TEM will be located at Ameren Illinois’ award-winning Technology Applications Center (TAC) in Illinois — one of the only utility-scale microgrids in the nation capable of serving (paying) customer loads on an actual utility distribution feeder.
“Identifying the value local distributed energy resources (DER) can provide to our distribution system and the customers it serves, helps inform how and where customers should invest in clean renewable power,” said Ron Pate, Senior VP of Operations and Technical Services with Ameren Illinois. “TEMs will ensure that distributed energy resources are compensated appropriately, for the services that they provide.”
DERs are fundamentally changing energy supply and demand wherever they are located. Their presence and capabilities create the opportunity for new utility operational and business models based on a platform approach to the grid-DER relationship. The objective of the platform is to strengthen the relationships between the utility and its newly empowered consumers.
Opus One’s GridOS platform helps to identify the value each microgrid DER provides to the local distribution feeder and the customers that is supplies, bringing wholesale market constructs to the grid edge.
“We are very pleased to be working with such an innovative partner, to unlock the value of DER for their customers” said Joshua Wong, CEO of Opus One Solutions. “It’s very exciting to see the interest in and growth of transactive energy for both customer and utility benefit.”
“Assessing how each DER provides value through system optimization using Opus One’s GridOS, while identifying the potential for similar markets near the microgrid and across the distribution system is first of its kind in North America” said Hari Subramaniam, Chief of Strategic Growth of Opus One Solutions.
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