The Pacific Northwest continues to steer the global energy storage and smart grid market. 1Energy Systems, a Seattle-based energy storage management software provider, recently made headlines with the launch of its Distributed Energy Resource Optimizer (DERO).
Here’s what Greentech Media has to say about the rise of 1Energy Systems and the role DERO will play across markets.
Seattle-based startup 1Energy has been a small but spirited contender in the emerging energy storage management software field, with a decided emphasis on an open-standards-based approach to linking batteries and other grid-connected assets at scale. For the past few years, it has deployed its software in the form of an intelligent controller, integrating with individual battery-inverter systems in a showcase set of Pacific Northwest utility pilot projects, while promising a fleet management platform to tie them all together.
Last month's launch of 1Energy's Distributed Energy Resource Optimizer, or DERO, platform marks the delivery on that promise, with some extras to boot. First, 1Energy disclosed a set of partners that have been using its software for a broad set of applications, from AES Energy Storage to Duke Energy. Second, it has expanded the range of distributed energy resources (DERs) it can manage beyond batteries.
Snohomish Public Utility District is the first customer for 1Energy’s DERO platform, which makes sense, since it’s the first utility to deploy multiple batteries, of different chemistries and serving different needs, using the startup’s software.
“We really believe that, while DERO is initially managing a fleet of storage assets for Snohomish, it will manage not just storage, but other distributed resources like solar in the near future,” Rogers Weed, 1Energy’s vice president of product management, said in a Thursday interview.
In fact, “the second customer for DERO wants us to use it to manage more than storage,” he said. While he didn’t name the customer, he did say that “they’re interested in DERO optimizing grid-connected solar [and] behind-the-meter solar.”