Executive Summary
WHYGRENE addresses Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) greatest problem: the power supply & demand imbalance (Fig. 1&2). Our Transactive Distributed Energy Management System (TDERMS) is an application that optimizes energy management for utilities and DER Owners. This application connects DERs such as Electric Vehicle (EV) Fleets, charging stations, batteries, and solar panels as Virtual Power Plants (VPP’s) to provide grid services. We use our blockchain & Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) to track & trade energy with a verifiable ledger, accelerating Amazon’s transition to 100% sustainable energy by 2025.
Problem
There is a need for better management tools to coordinate DERs for solving grid problems including, but not limited to, addressing intraday supply & demand imbalances. However, existing DER platforms only address a subset of sustainable grid problems, limiting value.
One high-value case is managing EV fleet charge/discharge cycles. Current solutions address optimal charging times (Fig. 1), but value remains in areas like discharging stored energy to the grid at peak demand using Vehicle to grid (V2G) (Fig. 2).
Fig. 1 Energy Demand with EV Fleet increasing demand (Red)
Fig. 2 Energy Demand with EV Fleets Smart Charging (Orange) & Smart Discharging (Green)
Solution
Our desktop & mobile application monetizes DERs as VPP’s by managing their energy. Using our proprietary blockchain & (DLT) we enable a scalable TDERMS to smooth the energy demand curve. The application enhances DERs such as EV fleets and charging stations by enabling programmable transactions with smart contracts. This is done by allowing idle EVs to smart charge when the price is low and discharge that energy back into the grid when the price is high. Smart contracts expand the possibilities for EVs and charging stations from single-use to the full capabilities of a VPP.
Value Proposition
WHYGRENE’s secure energy management application creates new revenue streams for utilities & large capital expenditures, such as EV fleets, data centers, and fulfillment centers. We optimally manage the battery charge & discharge, offsetting CapEx for these assets, and increasing the ROI. The distributed nature of the DERs allows our VPP’s system to provide either energy (MWHs) or reactive power (MVARs) when needed to provide (Volt/VAR) support with Voltage & Frequency regulation.
WHYGRENE’s proprietary private distributed ledger technology keeps data encrypted at rest and in-transit making security job zero. With our app, energy is recorded from production to consumption to help users to meet their REC commitments with a low-cost verifiable ledger. Unlike other solutions, we securely trade energy without wasting energy.
Business Model
WHYGRENE SaaS connects utilities selling low-cost surplus renewable energy from solar, wind, or hydro to flexible battery storage such as EV fleets. Utilities save money avoiding costly system upgrades by rebuying that surplus energy during peak demand while DERs earn a profit for supplying energy during storages.
Our mission is to turn batteries into additional revenue streams by discharging stored energy back onto the grid when needed. WHYGRENE’s two main revenue streams are 1) a transaction commission for energy charged or discharged by battery owners and 2) a premium software license for unlimited use. WHYGRENE’s vision is to serve as the universal energy exchange application for DER owners to buy and sell energy.
WHY AWS?
AWS gives us the flexibility and scalability required to handle our application load, analytics, contracts, and transactions. With our app and AWS services, we can manage fleets of electric vehicles, optimize charge time, and utilize flexible battery capacity to provide energy to the grid. Furthermore, our future primary platform AWS IoT will enable our IoT devices to connect to the cloud for secure management and transactions with other devices and utilities. We plan to use a suite of IoT applications to manage and run predictive analytics backed by machine learning. Our technology integrates with AWS Alexa for voice control to enable simple interactions if you are home, at work, or in an electric vehicle.
Use Case
WHYGRENE is currently piloting a microgrid simulation at the University of Washington Clean Energy Testbeds with hardware in the loop including solar & batteries from our partner JouleCase. This demonstration creates a secure economic microgrid with our DLT based TDERMS application by enabling utilities to issue a contract signaling storage devices (EVs & batteries) to charge at times of excess generation in order to be discharged during a shortage. We can fully control the flow of energy while monitoring the battery remotely in real-time and set the target state of charge to have the battery either charge, discharge, or hold.
Project Plan
We want to pilot our energy management system with Rivian Electric Vehicles using 1MWh-100MWh of battery storage. To create the network, we will integrate our application into the EVs. Implementing our application establishes a connection between EV batteries and smart chargers integrated into the grid to smart charge & discharge as VPP’s or function as a distributed microgrid. Amazon can become a distributed utility company and accelerate the transition to sustainable energy while providing power and grid services by securely and efficiently monitoring and managing DERs using the WHYGRENE application. Amazon will be able to reduce curtailment of existing generation, reduce risk of power outages & provide grid services, including smart charging & discharging to lower cost managing batteries through WHYGRENE’s mobile or desktop application.
Current AWS Services for WHYGRENE App UI & Backend
- EC2 – clusters handle computation, transactions & customer operations
- S3 – Store UI contents displayed to the web
- Aurora – Store data (e.g. EV, changing stations, personal & account)
Future AWS IOT Service for WHYGRENE IoT App management
- Quantum ledger DataBase (QLDB)
- AWS Managed Blockchain Hyperledger Fabric
- AWS IoT Management Service
- AWS IoT Analytics Services (IoT Analytics, Sitewise, IoT Events, etc) with AI & ML
- Alexa Integration for easier accessibility by voice-assisted interactions
