1. Assessing Customer Experience and Business Models around Price-to-Device Communication and Smart Control Pathways in CalFlexHub
- Author
-
Liu, Jingjing, Piette, Mary Ann, Pritoni, Marco, Nordman, Bruce, Grant, peter, Smith, Sarah, Brown, Richard, Bourg, Joe, Godinez, Felipe, Fung, Matt, and Martinez, Mark
- Abstract
California is facing three major challenges in electrical grid operation: renewableovergeneration, steep evening ramping, and growing peak demand. The state has identifieddynamic retail price response as a key strategy evidenced by CPUC’s Dynamic Rates proceedingand CEC’s Load Management Standards. Furthermore, the CEC launched a $16M “CaliforniaLoad Flexibility Research and Deployment Hub (CalFlexHub)” administered by Berkeley Lab toaccelerate price-response flexible load technologies in buildings and EV charging.There are more than 16 laboratory and field demonstration projects in CalFlexHub, eachdemonstrating innovative automated price-response technologies. CalFlexHub tests variouspathways through which hourly price signals and triggered control commands are communicatedto load-flexible devices such as smart thermostats, heat pumps, water heaters, and EVs. Weidentified seven unique communication and control pathways, which involve combinations ofthird-party cloud, device OEM’s cloud, building central gateway, and local controller in betweenthe price server and the load-flexible devices.It is important for utilities and policy makers to understand the long-term implications ofeach pathway in designing future programs and creating related policies and mandates for markettransformation. We propose an evaluation framework including the following aspects:● Functionality: connectivity and uptime, resilience, and optimization;● Customer experience: simplicity in setup, troubleshooting support, continuity,customer choice, first cost, and ongoing cost;● Business model and scalability: advance interoperability, holistic solution, bridgeunique gap, customer base, and value streams and pricing structures.In this paper, we identify emerging business models associated with each communicationpathway and discuss their positive features and challenges from the above aspects.
- Published
- 2024