Energy Company Coalition Powers All-Electric, Solar & Battery-Powered Microgrid Communities
New neighborhoods use solar systems paired with battery storage to create a self-supporting microgrid for sustainable, reliable, grid-supporting energy source.
November 3, 2022
SunPower, KB Home, University of California, Irvine (UCI), Schneider Electric, and Southern California Edison are teaming up to create a blueprint for new home communities. SunPower announced the coalition to be the strategy, research, technology, and energy providers for the homebuilder's newly launched Energy-Smart Connected Communities in Menifee, California.
More than 200 state-of-the-art, all electric homes will be solar powered, equipped with individual battery storage and connected to a microgrid powered by a large, shared community battery. These power-outage resistant communities are the first of their kind in the state and are designed to offer a blueprint for sustainable and resilient new home development of the future.
Residential energy use accounts for roughly 20% of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S., contributing to more severe and frequent weather events. Between 2013 and 2020, blackouts caused by events such as snowstorms, wildfires and hurricanes have tripled in duration, according to the latest data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
KB Home, SunPower and UCI joined forces to reimagine what a new home community could look like if built to reduce carbon emissions, cut energy costs, and provide new ways of producing reliable and resilient energy. With a $6.65 million Department of Energy (DoE) grant, microgrid design and engineering support from Schneider Electric, and strong collaboration with SCE to ensure a smooth transition between grid and off-grid electricity, these innovative homes are now available to the public.
Purpose-built for sustainability & resilience
All 219 of the homes in the new Durango and Oak Shade communities will be built to meet the DoE's Zero Energy Ready Home criteria, which include ENERGY STAR, WaterSense, and Indoor airPLUS. These additional features could help homeowners reduce average energy use by up to 40%.
Each home comes with a SunPower Equinox solar system designed to achieve net-zero energy, a 13kWh SunVault Storage battery, high efficiency appliances, flexible loads such as electric heat pump water heaters and HVAC systems and other smart technologies like Schneider Electric's Square D Energy Center and Connected Wiring Devices.
All homes will be pre-wired to be smart Electric vehicle (EV) charger ready, and some will demonstrate bidirectional charging, which enables an EV to be an additional source of energy for the home during a power outage. EV chargers will be available for purchase at the time of sale.
All homes will be pre-wired to be smart EV charger ready, and some will demonstrate bidirectional charging.
These communities offer a new vision for how individual homes interact with the electrical grid. Every home, while maintaining its regular service with local utility Southern California Edison, is designed to operate during an outage as part of a self-supporting microgrid, drawing energy from its own SunVault storage system as well as a large community battery. Together, they are designed to support critical loads such as lights, refrigeration and WiFi, as well as additional high-capacity loads like HVAC and domestic hot water. When the sun is shining, individual and community batteries can be continually recharged using excess solar generation until the grid connection returns.
Additional energy services offered by SunPower allow residents to enroll in a Virtual Power Plant (VPP) program through which their battery storage, EV chargers and other flexible loads can automatically dispatch to support the electric grid. Enrolled homeowners may be eligible for compensation for their participation in the program. UCI will also simulate the connected microgrids, analyze data from the VPP program, and collaborate with SCE to determine its effectiveness in supporting grid infrastructure.
Joining forces to create a new homes community of the future
The project encompasses a unique, multi-disciplinary partnership comprised of several organizations:
KB Home, one of the largest and most recognized homebuilders in the U.S., is responsible for the design and construction of the energy-smart connected new home communities.
SunPower Corp. conceptualized the project and is the project lead. It will oversee the project partners, provide energy services and technology, and ensure the home energy systems support the microgrid operations. It will also provide solar panels, battery storage and EV charging options for each home.
UCI’s Advanced Power and Energy Program (APEP) will acquire and archive data from microgrid events and conduct research to enhance the technologies deployed in similar applications in the future. It will ensure that the microgrid controller meets the national standards that evolved from prior research conducted by APEP for the DOE using the UCI Microgrid as a platform for both the development and demonstration.
Schneider Electric will be providing home electrical technology, including the smart load panel called the Square D Energy Center and Connected Wiring Devices that integrate and control the distributed energy resources. Additionally, Schneider Electric will design and engineer the community microgrid.
Southern California Edison is the utility partner providing new power service to the community, managing the grid, assisting in microgrid engineering, ensuring local utility equipment safely and reliably supports microgrid operations and providing cybersecurity review.
“This is at the cutting edge of the next generation of home developments,” stated Scott Samuelsen, Professor of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Environmental Engineering at UCI and the Co-Principal Investigator with SunPower. “For homeowners, the digital and connected future and home charging and discharging of electric vehicles will benefit from the enhanced home energy security provided by microgrid technology.”
KB Homes infographic.
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