If we want to go fully into electrification with the end goal of decarbonizing our grid, we need to think about the forgotten middlemen between buildings and the greater grid: the good old electric panel.

High-efficiency heat pumps, smart hot water heaters, solar, solar + storage, or standalone storage and, mainly, EVs are considered as ever-increasing untaped load balancing resources which can provide the grid with new tools and flexibility in times of need. But to safely deploy and link these BtM resources with the outside grid, we need to make sure the right interconnections are in place to enable those deployments in the first place. Maybe one of the main barriers that is usually forgotten is the classic electromechanical panel every home has, which was developed more than 60 years ago. If this classic 100A or sometimes even 60A old equipment can't support the incoming appliances and EV chargers, we need to add several thousands of dollars and additional time (in the order of months) to replace them with new panels or panel upgrades that are able to handle the job. Depending on the work being done, 200A panel upgrades cost estimates range from USD $3,000 all the way up to $10,000 if wire replacement is also needed or excavations need to take place from underground power lines.

Figure 1. Classic old electric panel

An analysis done by Pecan Street revealed that "up to 48 million single-family homes in the United States may need electric service panel upgrades before they can fully electrify". If we multiply that number by the cost estimate for each upgrade we quickly arrive at a multi-billion dollar problem. Utilities can act on this issue by creating clear electrification guidelines, incentive programs, and testing new technologies on-ground together with policymakers to have new building and energy codes that include updated requirements having in mind the so praised all-electric concept.

To solve this challenge, there's a wide variety of solutions that can be taken into account according to desired goals and the needed level of retrofitting. Options span (pun intended) over simple meter collar devices to enable enhanced visibility of energy consumption, and consequent management or transfer switches that can safely split the demand of main electrical loads all the way up to a fully smart panel with smart circuit breakers. Below we will disaggregate these technologies and highlight interesting innovators.

Smart Panels

Smart panels are electrical panels with integrated or added software controls and smart circuit breakers to provide information and capabilities beyond a traditional panel. These are targeted to customers that are deploying a whole suite of DERs and need the highest level of retrofit. Key benefits include the enhancement of capabilities going beyond safety as the classic panels focus on that which includes load management and disaggregation at the circuit level, enabling DR, and providing customers with high energy consumption visibility but at the expense of high costs.

Incumbents in this space include Leviton and Schneider but also innovators like Koben, and one that has been in the news recently, Span. Koben has been around for almost 15 years doing research and developing innovative electrical equipment but hasn't yet established significant utility partnerships or number of deployments of their Genius Smart Panel product. On the other side, Span has recently raised USD 90M in a series B funding round bringing the company's total funding to 134M. They are currently being pilot-tested by several utilities under undisclosed agreements but have publicly announced a partnership with Green Mountain Power (GMP) for an initial test of 100 panels with promising initial results on circuit-level data visibility and the testing of new methods for load management and metering.

Figure 2. Span Smart Panel

Smart Circuit Breakers

Usually solid-state breakers vs electromechanical ones including a communication gateway for enhanced energy monitoring and visibility but are clearly not a stand-alone product. They are a key component of smart panels but can sometimes be retrofitted into older panels too. The main benefits include connectivity and energy monitoring which are improved beyond classic breaker applications and provide faster response than mechanical equipment. Incumbents like Eaton play in this space but others like Atom Power, Amber Solutions and Blixt are worth considering for applications such as EV charging stations, classic home or small commercial buildings and niche data center and medical equipment energy management, respectively.

Figure 3. Amber Circuit Breaker based on silicon technology

Meter Collar Devices

These devices are added to pre-existing panels between the cabinet and the meter itself and they can take and store energy measurements. Panel upgrades like these can provide similar benefits to other previously mentioned like enhanced energy consumption visibility and also simplifying solar and storage installations with easy deployments but without any changes to electrical limits inherent to the panel itself. Interesting innovators in the space include ConnectDER which creates a safe, standardized, and low-cost alternative to traditional wiring methods for easy DER deployments, and Sense which recently closed a massive USD 105M series C funding round providing a smart home power meter that installs directly in the existing electrical panel to track energy production and consumption.

Figure 4. ConnectDER smart device

Smart Switches and Load Transfer

These type of switches allows the safe connection or disconnection of different electric loads to the source of electricity which can be alternated between, for example, EV charging and other energy-intensive equipment like electric ovens or heating equipment. An example of this includes SimpleSwitch and NeoCharge. Some others provide full building islanding capabilities to enable microgrid type configurations and switch entirely to backup power but this is usually provided by incumbents like Generac, Growatt, or Tesla with their built-in transfer switches.

Figure 5. SimpleSwitch transfer switch

In our next week's DER forum we will be covering all of these and we will hear from Span on their smart panel and from Sunrun as a strategic partner. If you have any questions or comments prior to the event, feel free to reach out to francisco@darcypartners.com or leave a comment below!

Other resources:

• Pecan Street Study
• GreenTechMedia