CLEANTECH: Computer Savvy

Battery makers need lots of electricity to finish their products before sending them to market. They also need to charge them in a multi-step process, which, if interrupted by a sudden loss of power at the wrong moment, can cause costly delays in production. So battery makers would apparently be poor candidates for participating in utility demand-response programs. Yet, look what a little computer programming can do. Trojan Battery, the largest battery maker in Southern California Edison’s territory with a 4 MW load, became one of the bigger participants in the utility’s demand response program. With a $576,667 rebate from the utility’s $13.9 million technology assistance and incentives program, Trojan developed a computer program to track where batteries stand in their charging cycle and shut off power to them when safe to do so. Using the program, the battery maker can instantaneously shed up to 85 percent of its load, cutting power use by 3.4 MW. “That is extremely beneficial for system operations,” said Bill Bryan, Edison vice president of business customers. The grant is the biggest that Edison has issued under the technology incentives program, he said. The rebates help commercial and industrial customers with technologies needed to reduce power usage during periods of peak electricity demand. He explained that Trojan participated in the utility’s demand-response programs prior to the grant. However, its ability was limited because employees had to manually throw switches where possible—an arduous process that took time. The new computer program accomplishes the same thing in minutes and assures that battery charges are not spoiled by untimely loss of power within a charging cycle.

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CLEANTECH: Computer Savvy

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