Intwine Connect to Serve as System Integrator for DOE’s SHINES Project

Intwine will collaborate in U.S. DOE’s SHINES project to integrate battery storage, solar PV, and controllable loads for homes and commercial buildings. The project is being led by Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and will demonstrate local control algorithms capable of optimizing the use of responsive loads and energy storage to enable higher penetration of solar PV.

The Intwine Connected Gateway (ICG) will serve as the Local Controller and on-site aggregator for both residential and commercial sites. The use of the highly reliable 4G LTE connection embedded in the ICG enables constant contact with web-APIs for advanced solar forecasting (provided by Clean Power Research) as well as remote monitoring and data collection.

At the residential site, the loads will include Electric Vehicle chargers, pool pumps, thermostats, and hot water heaters – all of which utilize the CTA-2045 communication protocol [https://www.cta.tech/Research-...] or [http://eprijournal.com/can-we-...].  This open, secure protocol is designed to enable loads to participate in grid responsive behaviors. Intwine is providing our open-source Universal Communication Modules to enable this communication.

To further facilitate the objective of a sustainable and scalable solution for EPRI, Intwine will utilize the open-source VOLTTRON framework [https://volttron.org/] to enable communication between the various modules and agents responsible for executing the local control. Systems are scheduled to be deployed to field test sites starting in early 2018.