Posts From April, 2018

A Tour of California’s First Residential Microgrid Community With 219 Net-Zero-Energy Homes

Schneider Electric Blog
A Tour of California’s First Residential Microgrid Community With 219 Net-Zero-Energy Homes
View original blog on Schneider Electrics website In an unassuming town situated between Los Angeles and San Diego, you’ll find the future of the American neighborhood. I’m not talking about the Jetsons-style sci-fi; I’m talking about California’s first-of-its-kind residential microgrid community. This community is a real-life example of the new energy landscape — or what we at Schneider Electric™ describe as Electricity 4.0 — the convergence of digital intelligence with electricity. Shadow Mountain, in Menifee, California, consists of 219 smart homes. Each home is equipped with its own solar-plus-battery system, which is pretty cool already. But KB Home, a national homebuilder who led the project, took it a step further by deploying a microgrid system. This microgrid connected all 219 homes and their batteries with a shared centralized 2-megawatt (MW) community battery — a first. For each net-zero-ready home, this extra layer of backup power offers an unparalleled level of... read more
 

What the Duck

The adoption of new technology can benefit everyone, if the right steps are taken to modernize infrastructure.
What the Duck
Our technology-driven world comes with great advancements and achievements, but also many challenges. Autonomous vehicles are a good example. The success and progression of this technology will require federal, state and local government input, as well as material manufacturers and automakers - all working together to help create and improve future infrastructure. And how about solar? While California, Florida, and Arizona understand the benefits of utilizing solar panels, utilities are still figuring out some of the details. This is resulting in rate changes, or laws being put in place, to prohibit or reduce the amount of solar that can be installed. And that’s not progress. So how do we adopt technologies in a way in which they actually benefit our infrastructure? This was just one of the questions Dan Wildenhaus and Shaun Hassel posed to attendees at the 2017 EEBA Summit in their lively, 90-minute session, "What the Duck". "We're always looking early in the year to get the ... read more