Smoothing the flow between generation, utility, delivery and demand

Summer in the South and winter in the North would be unlivable if the peak needs for cooling or heating couldn't be met. Expensive fossil fuel plants stand by, merely to serve peak energy-usage hours during certain seasons. Energy during those periods costs 30-to-40-times baseload prices.

Renewable energy, generated by solar, wind and some forms of hydro, partially offsets peak demand but will never align perfectly because it is generated intermittently. The ideal goal is to serve not only the peaks, but also the bulk of our energy needs from renewable and native resources. To do so, we must master both the efficient storage of excess energy and its affordable delivery to the time and place of demand.

Antenna has supported clients addressing large-scale energy storage, peak-load shifting, fuel cells, materials for storing and transporting hydrogen, and more powerful, yet safe and nontoxic batteries. We've advanced software for plant management, smart-grid management, MDMS for utility enterprises, end-user engagement and data-center energy efficiency.

The smart grid is as large and ambitious a project as the Apollo Mission to the Moon: It could be the biggest IT effort ever (and we've promoted IT companies for decades). It starts with defining the standards and protocols necessary for managing a renewable energy plant and integrating it safely, securely and smoothly into the grid. No matter if it's a massive, utility-scale plant someplace far away, a few solar panels on your rooftop, or a distributed, utility-scale plant linking a million rooftops. At the other end of the smart grid is the end-user engagement applications allow us to monitor usage and control our devices. We may even be a net generator sending our excess energy back into the grid. The smart grid has to integrate it all, safely and securely, into a seamless, interactive, demand-response network.