DESIRED – Deep Efficiency and Smart Grid-Integrated Retrofits in Disadvantaged Communities

Lead Performer: Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) – Palo Alto, CA
Partners:
-- Gas Technology Institute – Chicago, IL
-- Seattle City Light – Seattle, WA
-- Community Roots Housing – Seattle, WA
-- Vistar Energy – Sacramento, CA
-- Sentient Buildings – White Plains, NY
-- New York Power Authority – White Plains, NY
-- New York City Housing Authority – New York, NY
DOE Total Funding: $4,900,000
Cost Share: $2,900,000
Project Term: September 1, 2022 – November 30, 2027
Funding Type: Connected Communities FOA Award #DE-EE-0009783

Project Objective

Several existing and new affordable housing multifamily communities with 300+ dwelling in each of two different climates (Seattle-marine and New York City-mixed-humid) will participate in the pilot. The communities will undergo different decarbonization upgrades to demonstrate core goals of reducing energy burden and moving toward zero net energy, while increasing the availability of DERs and aggregating them alongside flexible loads to provide multiple grid services (e.g. distribution upgrade deferral, temporal capacity constraint alleviation, capacity market participation). Community solar, EV fleet charging, and community energy storage will be employed in conjunction with cutting-edge 120V heat pumps and heat pump water heaters as well as centralized VRF and heat pump water heaters. 

Project Impact 

• Evaluation of flexible loads and community scale DER data to provide multiple grid services in multiple climates. 
• Focus on disadvantaged (LMI) housing communities.
• Affordable building retrofit decarbonization pathways, packaging EE, DER, and DG offerings.
• Coordinated controls emphasizing a set of tiered control strategies spanning energy cost savings for community residents, distribution grid services enablement, and bulk-system decarbonization.
• Grid carbon emissions signal influences load shifting.
• Improved community resilience using bi-directional EV charging.

Contacts

DOE Technology Manager: Brian Walker
Lead Performer: Siva Sankaranarayanan, EPRI