For the past seven years, Allume Energy has been introducing unique solar sharing technology to the Australian solar home market that has helped make multi-family solar projects affordable. Now the startup is coming to the US, but not to parts of the country that are known for their solar energy policies.
This week, Allume Energy unveiled its second project in the United States at Madison Garden Apartments in Jackson, Mississippi. Eight properties will share the power of a 22-kilowatt rooftop solar array. But instead of averaging solar energy across tenants, as most multi-apartment solar projects do, Allume’s SolShare technology measures solar power every second and compares it to each apartment’s energy consumption.
“SolShare is currently the only hardware technology in the world that can share a solar array across multiple electricity meters,” said Mel Bergsnyder, Allume’s executive account manager. , to be certified by Underwriters Laboratories for a “power distribution management system,” a category of technology that matches SolShare’s capabilities, she said.
This block accuracy is far from the norm for multi-user solar projects, mainly because it is difficult to achieve. Connecting individual solar panels and inverters to individual apartments is expensive and impractical. Another option is to connect solar power to the property’s main meter and produce it equally between tenants – effectively “virtual net metering” in some permitted markets like California, or otherwise allow landlords and tenants to receive inaccurate electricity.
But that approach doesn’t work in many other markets, Bergsnyder said, such as Mississippi, which has one of the lowest rooftop solar adoption rates in the country. State net metering regulations do not include virtual net metering options, and they offer customers relatively low payments for the electricity that rooftop solar systems export to the grid.
This adds value to technologies that can match solar power as closely as possible with on-site power to replace electricity purchased from utilities. That’s exactly what SolShare was designed to do, Bergsnyder says.
Australia has a national feed-in tariff system where residential solar customers are paid for the electricity they export back to the grid, but the cost of the payment decreases over time. This encourages customers equipped with solar panels to consume as much of the electricity they generate as possible.
The Allume SolShare system has been installed in Australian solar-powered multi-family and council housing units with hundreds of tenants. The hardware includes a power management platform installed between the property’s solar inverters and meters serving individual apartments or common areas. Sensors take readings from each meter in a fraction of a second to understand how much power each meter is using. Its power distribution control system then distributes the currently available solar energy accordingly.
This chart shows how SolShare distributes electricity to four different apartments according to rising and falling consumption. Studies of its deployment in Australia and the UK have shown that this demand-matching capability can result in a 50% increase in on-site solar consumption and a 40% reduction in grid electricity consumption compared to comparable solar-equipped buildings without performing this optimization.
Alia Bagevadi, Allume’s director of strategic partnerships in the US, says that’s the main goal of the building’s attempt to maximize on-site solar power. But the SolShare system can do much more, she said.
“Our software allows the building owner to monitor the performance of an asset, see where the energy is going, what is the [grid energy] compensation for my tenants and common areas, and switch energy directions,” she said. .
Owners can use this flexibility to customize their preferred solar distribution structure to tenants, Bagevadi said. This could include separating solar usage based on apartment size or other factors, or allowing tenants to register under different terms and conditions that make sense for the property and the solar economy in the area. They can also reroute power from idle units to those still in use, something that public utility systems cannot do without shutting down the meter.
According to Bergsnyder, these systems are also valuable. â�<“我们正在与需要报告碳足迹减少情况的大型房地产公司合作，但他们实际上不知道建筑物的其余部分使用了多少，因为他们只控制公共区域或可以使用公共区域-地区法案，”她说。 â� <“我们 正在 与 需要 报告 减少 情况 的 大型 房地产 公司 合作 ， 但 他们 实际上 知道 建筑物 其余 部分 使用 了 多少 ， 他们 只 控制 区域 或 可以 使用 区域 区域 地区 地区 ，”她说。 “We work with big real estate companies that are supposed to report carbon reductions, but they don’t really know how much the rest of the building is being used because they only control or have access to the common areas – the district office. Go ahead, she says.
Such data is becoming increasingly important for homeowners trying to improve a building’s overall energy efficiency, she says. She also notes that it’s important for those who want to manage their carbon profile to meet city performance benchmarks such as NYC Local Law 97 or measure the performance of their portfolios against environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals.
Such was the case with Renu Communities, a subsidiary of Taurus Investment Holdings, which partnered with Allume to install SolShare in its first US sustainable retrofit project, the 296-unit Canopy condominium complex in Orlando, Florida. Chris Grey, Renu’s chief technology officer, said the company is taking a holistic approach to its multi-family buildings, often including individual unit sub-meters to track and improve energy performance.
At Canopy Apartment Villas, this includes space heat pumps, water heaters and LED lighting, as well as SolShare’s individual energy management capabilities. Gray said Renu plans to implement Allume’s technology in a 360-unit apartment building in Orlando and a 280-unit complex in Tampa.
A growing number of companies are seeking to introduce solar panels, batteries, electric vehicle chargers, grid connected water heaters and other clean energy technologies in multi-family buildings. In addition to potentially reducing energy bills and reducing carbon emissions, such investments are increasingly seen as a way to attract and retain tenants, Bergsnyder said.
But apartment buildings need all the help they can get to get the solar economy working, she said. Tenements and rental homes have largely been left out of the rooftop solar revolution.
This is largely due to the problem of “sharing incentives” – owners pay to install solar panels, and tenants often receive lower energy bills in return.
Bagewadi said that even in Australia, where more than a quarter of single-family homes have solar power – the country with the highest per capita adoption rate in the world – less than 1 percent of apartments are equipped with solar panels. These numbers are similar to California, which leads the US in single-family rooftop solar production. As a result, low- and middle-income households, which make up the majority of U.S. renters, are being denied the benefits of solar energy, she said.
While SolShare won’t necessarily solve the problem of sharing rewards, she says, it allows multi-family homes to build solar installations that operate in areas where there is no virtual grid metering. At the same time, this technology could be used in states where existing net metering accounting rules are being changed to reward solar-equipped customers for consuming more of the electricity they generate locally rather than sending it back to the grid like this. It is happening now. like in California.
Demand for viable multi-family solar plant models is growing in response to government and utility incentives to lower solar energy costs for low-income consumers, as well as additional tax incentives, grants and loans for clean energy investments in low-income areas. Act to reduce inflation last year.
Climate First Bank, a Florida-based community bank that is partnering with Allume to develop more projects in the state, said rising utility rates are putting more pressure on multi-family homeowners and renters.太阳能â�<“为居民提供了更大的经济稳定性”，并且对于所有者而言， â�<“一种清洁能源，可以减少公共区域用电的运营费用” â�<“并增加其投资物业的价值，”银行的Chris Cucci参谋长在一份声明中说。太阳能 â 为 为 居民 提供 更 大 的 经济 稳定性 稳定性 ， 并且 对于 而 言 ， ， â â 一 清洁 清洁 ， 可以 减少 公共 区域 的 运营 费用 费用 费用 â â 其 其 其 增加 增加 增加 增加 增加 增加 增加 增加 增加 增加 增加 增加 增加 增加 增加 增加 增加 增加 增加 增加 增加 增加 增加 增加 增加 增加投资物业的价值，”银行的Chris Cucci参谋长在一份声明中说。 Solar energy “provides greater economic stability for residents” and for owners “a clean source of energy that reduces the operating costs of electricity in public places” and increases the value of investment property,” the head of the bank said. This is stated in a statement by employees of Chris Cucci.
To date, Allume has raised A$16 million ($10.7 million). Backers include Hawaii-based non-profit investor Elemental Excelerator and The Clean Fight, an accelerator funded by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and New Energy Nexus, both working to expand clean energy options for a low-income community, presumably Bagewadi in Allum. .
“That’s why we’re trying to use solar energy in apartment buildings,” she said. â�<“能够为中低收入家庭创造负担得起的清洁能源非常重要，这些家庭对气候变化的贡献最小，受害最深。” â�<“能够为中低收入家庭创造负担得起的清洁能源非常重要，这些家庭对气候变化的㴡瀌最嗏漌朂 “It is important to be able to produce affordable clean energy for low- and middle-income households, the households that contribute least to climate change and suffer the most.”