Swell Energy, an energy and smart grid solutions company, has announced the roll out of GridAmp, its Distributed Energy Resource Management System (DERMS). The enhanced DERMS platform aggregates Distributed Energy Resources (DERs), including solar and battery storage devices, into virtual power plants (VPPs) to provide advanced grid capabilities to utilities.
GridAmp will control multiple grid service operations with behind-the-meter solar-powered batteries within Swell’s Home Battery Rewards program, an 80-megawatt distributed VPP being developed on O‘ahu, Maui and Hawai‘i islands — as contracted with Hawaiian Electric and approved by the Hawai‘i Public Utilities Commission.
Working with Power Partner grid service aggregators is part of reaching Hawaiian Electric’s goal to cut carbon emissions from power generation 70% by 2030 and achieving net zero carbon emissions from power generation by 2045 or sooner.
Swell’s GridAmp software is designed to maximize revenue across multiple utility and customer value streams using optimization algorithms and machine learning models that inform and automate DER and VPP operations. GridAmp provides a differentiated ability to co-optimize or “stack” multiple grid services to support a variety of energy objectives at the customer, utility, and wholesale market levels.
The software supports interoperability and customization for various utility markets and DER integrations.
Swell’s first GridAmp enabled VPP in Hawai‘i will simultaneously balance three separate grid services, namely Capacity Build, Capacity Reduction, and Fast Frequency Response, to help manage Hawaiian Electric’s energy supply by absorbing excess renewable energy from the grid as production spikes and dispatching energy when needed, thus reducing peak demand and providing 24/7 fast frequency response to balance the three island grids.