Nearly 200 people participated in APPA’s April 17 webinar and heard representatives of the University of Toledo outline how the open source Eclipse VOLTTRON platform is supporting cutting edge research on transactive energy and how functionality provided by Eclipse VOLTTRON represents “a next evolution” in controls.
David Raker, a graduate researcher at University of Toledo, illustrated how increased communication and collaboration between buildings, a photovoltaic array, and a lithium-ion battery energy storage system (BESS) benefits their campus by advancing energy efficiency and fault detection efforts and benefits the grid by enabling DER integration and reducing reserve requirements. David’s presentation is available here.
Michael Green, Director of Energy Management for University of Toledo, observed that he was particularly excited by the success of the initial deployments because he was confident that these projects will – in the not too distant future - help the University of Toledo reduce its EUI number to below 100. Indeed, Michael expressed confidence that one day functionality like that being provided by the Eclipse VOLTTRON platform will be standard in all control systems.
Finally, ACE IoT’s own Andrew Rodgers highlighted the usability and accessibility of the Eclipse VOLTTRON technology. Echoing David Raker’s observations, Andrew emphasized that protections present in VOLTTRON provide researchers and facilities managers a platform on which to collaborate confidently and securely on cutting edge research projects. Andrew’s slides are available here.
Our thanks to Billie Zidek and the team at APPA for the opportunity to put on the webinar. Visit APPA’s monthly webinar page to access a recording of the April 17 webinar and/or to register for future webinars.
If you would like to learn more about the functionality of Eclipse VOLTTRON or to discuss a potential pilot deployment of VOLTTRON, please contact me on bill@aceiotsolutions.com.