US DOE Unveils $65 Million Opportunity For Electric Grid Resilience in Charlotte

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This week at an Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) event in Charlotte, U.S. Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette announced a $65 million U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) funding opportunity for technologies that allow energy-efficient buildings to interact with one another and the electric grid, to reduce emissions and improve grid flexibility.

“I thank EPRI for hosting this important discussion today. As our nation’s energy system continues to undergo dramatic transformations, there is a growing need for solutions that integrate and optimize all of our energy resources on the grid to provide Americans with the most reliable and affordable electricity possible,” Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette said. “With today’s announcement, DOE will broaden its capability to evaluate and demonstrate the growing flexibility of one such solution—smart, grid-interactive, efficient buildings—to best serve the needs of building occupants and the grid while reducing energy consumption overall.”

In March, DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy sought input from organizations that could “demonstrate and evaluate the capacity of energy-efficient buildings to interact with one another and the grid to provide greater degrees of demand flexibility at scale.”

EPRI hosted Brouillette on Tuesday to highlight residential building efficiency technologies that reduce carbon emissions from the electric sector and increase grid resilience.

The visit featured a private tour of a new smart home in Charlotte built by Meritage Homes, which is working with EPRI to understand and demonstrate how to build energy efficient homes that are also grid friendly. Duke Energy collaborated with EPRI on the study to understand energy use patterns in zero ready and solar homes.

For more information on the $65 million funding opportunity, you can check out the Electric Power Research Institute’s website here.

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