Funding Opportunity: Technology to Market 2
SunShot Subprogram: Technology to Market
Location: Westbrook, ME
SunShot Award Amount: $875,000
Awardee Cost Share: $245,000

This project adds new hardware and software features to an existing inverter that will enable demand response, aggregation, and other grid services aimed at evolving the U.S. electricity grid. This will allow utilities to remotely dispatch distributed energy systems in periods of peaking demand. The prototype under development will demonstrate the full grid-benefitting capabilities of Pika Energy’s DC nanogrid approach. The new features will attract additional commercial partners, accelerate commercialization, and drive the continued growth of photovoltaic (PV) adoption.

Approach

The project team will develop an inverter prototype that enables capabilities for self-consumption, zero-export, time-of-use, and remote command. It will also enhance the computational capability to enable hosting partner software for applications such as predictive analytics. Finally, it will add communication channels for robust communication to enable the aggregation of installed systems as virtual utility assets.

Innovation

This project will develop a certification-ready product prototype that is highly configurable, cost-effective, and designed to integrate with a range of emerging high-voltage battery offerings and compete successfully in residential and commercial storage-plus-solar markets. It will enable Pika’s inverters to directly address challenges that threaten the continued growth of solar.