Implementing an energy management gateway at each customer site presents significant advantages in terms of cost reduction and performance enhancement for flexible loads and devices, especially in environments characterized by Highly Dynamic Prices. While this functionality could be incorporated into existing devices, certain scenarios—like non-broadband customers or situations requiring meter data—require the deployment of new hardware. Furthermore, the vast majority of California’s current loads cannot directly respond to dynamic pricing, making price optimization for the hundreds of millions of legacy devices crucial.

An energy management gateway can address these challenges by processing price signals and optimizing device performance. The core objectives of this project are:

Price Integration with OpenADR 3.0

• Implement functionality to receive and process price signals using OpenADR 3.0.

Cellular Data Connection (5G) Integration

• Integrate a 5G cellular data connection to ensure connectivity in diverse scenarios.
• Investigate the feasibility of using up to three different cellular modules and plans to assess:
  • Cost implications.
  • Network coverage.
  • Bandwidth constraints.
  • Other relevant characteristics and capabilities.

Local Price Relaying via OpenADR 3.0

• Develop the capability to relay price signals locally over OpenADR 3.0 for integration with future devices (note: these devices are not part of the current project demonstration).

Functional Control of Connected Devices

• Utilize received price signals to determine the operational control of three connected devices.