What is Peak Power plugging into?

2022.02.18

 

More Innovation. More Power Back to the Grid.

Peak Power, a Canadian innovator, is leading the charge in power grid innovation. In a previous post, we covered how Peak Power has been demonstrating vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology in Toronto, as well as developing AI-run software to manage bi-directional energy distribution. In this post, we’ll continue the story and catch up with their accelerating advancements.

These days, the electrical engineers at Peak Power are experimenting with DER using IoT. Because that’s one too many acronyms in a sentence, let’s break it down together.

    • DER stands for Distribution Energy Resources. These can come in a variety of technological forms, the simplest example of which is a battery.
    • IoT is short for the Internet of Things. The term “Internet” here references how the world wide web passes information between devices. Influenced by this concept, the same principle is applied to “devices” such as fridges and cars to exchange data with a wider network of other “things”. This interconnected network becomes the “Internet of Things”

To better understand how Peak Power approaches DER using IoT, is to think of its computer system like a fit-bit. Their program assesses energy use across the vehicles in its grid, and knows when to spread energy out to maintain the grid’s health. Once roads and parking lots are full of EVs, this grid innovation has revolutionary planet-saving potential. Imagine this technology was built into every office tower or condominium. The city itself would store and direct energy from the EVs and feed into its matrix when it’s needed most. The ripple effect of positive changes this would have is impressive:

  • Multi-directional flow of electricity would mean less digging for running cables.
  • The ability to access latent battery would give us a better response to extreme weather. During the recent blizzard, consumption spiked due to cars and homes without heat. In the summer, air-conditioning puts a major strain on the current system. Peak Power. manages electricity issues and peak fees for the buildings where their test fleet parks. Having such a system that moderates storing and dispersing energy will offset fossil fuels. Each building in a metropolitan city acts as an emergency reserve of power.
  • Exchanging and drawing electricity between cars and buildings decentralizes power and nuclear plants. It creates a sustainable way for energy to flow without disruption when just one “link in the chain” breaks.

At this point, it’s clearer to see how valuable and essential electrical vehicles are. If you’re still undecided, take one for a test drive. In a very organic way, people who take one for a spin seem to be having a shared experience. They report returning to their gas guzzlers with the new feeling like they’re making the world dirty. Like Pavlov’s dogs, the motion of accelerating becomes associated with polluting the environment. Why? Driving an EV feels cleaner because it is. The market has relied on charging in one direction for the last century. Peak Power gives us a way to give more than exhaust fumes back.

Electric vehicle evolution has finally created the punch we want without the smoke. Once you drive one, you may find yourself getting that much more angry that we let manufacturers get away with preventing the electrical evolution for so long. In the future, EVs will be the only type produced. We look forward to more and more people flipping a switch in their minds about sensible vehicle choices, as well as cleaner sources for energy and electricity.

Interview with Imran Noorani, the Chief Strategy Officer of Peak Power.

 


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