Michel Kohanim Posted June 2, 2016 Posted June 2, 2016 Hello everyone, I am pleased to announce that UDI has been awarded a $3.2M grant by California Energy Commission: http://www.universal-devices.com/news/3-2m-cec-grant-gfo-15-311group-2/ I am also pleased to announce the receipt of Environmental Sustainability Award from the office of Senator Fran Pavley: http://www.universal-devices.com/news/environmental-sustainability-award/ Quite exciting times are ahead of us! With kind regards, Michel Quote
Xathros Posted June 2, 2016 Posted June 2, 2016 Congratulation Michel! What are your plans for these funds? -Xathros Quote
Teken Posted June 2, 2016 Posted June 2, 2016 Congratulations one and all - Now lets move forward to seeing the next multi antenna 995 Series Controller! Quote
fitzpatri8 Posted June 2, 2016 Posted June 2, 2016 Congratulations! I'm glad to see that there might be some light at the end of the tunnel for those of us willing to invest in automatic load shifting technology, but I'm also more than a little cautious. If the current system of incentives is convoluted, I'm concerned the proposed idea introduces even greater complexities and increased costs. If we make this too complicated, don't we risk even more utility market manipulation like we saw in Enron's heyday? Quote
Michel Kohanim Posted June 2, 2016 Author Posted June 2, 2016 Thanks so very much everyone. Xathros, the funds are going to be used to implement and pilot test what we proposed (RATES). The funds cannot and will not be used for anything else. Teken, please see above response to Xathros. fitzpatri8, I think you need to read the whole proposal since its main thrust is to make things easier for both customers and the utilities (no more rebates and incentives). In short, you subscribe for energy usage just like you do for your Mobile phone. Based on your preferences, ISY either buys more energy (at spot prices) or shifts load. if you have excess, ISY will request for credit. Again, the whole point of this proposal is to do away with rebates, incentives, measurement/verification, and settlement. You (and by proxy ISY) is in charge of your subscriptions. With kind regards, Michel Quote
Teken Posted June 2, 2016 Posted June 2, 2016 This sounds like there are other elements at play here as it sounds like some of it is geared toward those with a solar PV in place? Since I don't live in CA I'm not very familiar with how the electricity is charged to the end user. I am familiar with flat rate which our POCO charges. Others are ToU (Time of Use), Tiered, and Seasonal Tiered. This is more for my own edification but lets assume you have no solar PV at all. One of the requirements would be (assuming) a person had no home automation would literally have to load shed or schedule when to use electricity, no? Since the ISY is involved its already assumed the end user has some kind of X-10, Insteon, Z-Wave HA which again would allow the end user to load shed or consume energy if and when appropriate. I am sadden the 3.2 million can't be used for other things but do for see cross development in other areas. Regardless, I am quite sure it was no small feat to apply and win the CEC grant. Lots of hard work and investment in time shows in this endeavor, congrats! Quote
Xathros Posted June 2, 2016 Posted June 2, 2016 Thanks so very much everyone. Xathros, the funds are going to be used to implement and pilot test what we proposed (RATES). The funds cannot and will not be used for anything else. With kind regards, Michel Thanks Michel. Can you point me at any educational resources related to RATES and the benefits to CA rate payers? We don't even have any ADR stuff going here in VT yet and I would like to start bugging my congress critters about this but want to know more first. -Xathros Quote
Michel Kohanim Posted June 2, 2016 Author Posted June 2, 2016 Hi Teken, There's definitely NO requirement for DER (Distributed Energy Resources - Solar/PV, Storage, Wind, etc.). The only requirements are communicating devices and a Smart Meter (so that ISY can see how much you are using). The rest is fully automated. Hi Xathros, The beauty of RATES is that it minimizes ADR. i.e. you are in control of your subscription and - based on the subscriptions - utilities already know how much energy must be supplied at any given moment in time. There's really no need for ADR UNLESS for extreme cases where the majority of customers decide that they are going to pay more for energy (at spot prices) and there's not enough supply. Our submission is publicly available from CEC website. This said - and if there's enough interest in reading through the technical details - I would be delighted to make it available on our website. With kind regards, Michel Quote
Xathros Posted June 2, 2016 Posted June 2, 2016 Thanks Michel, I'll see if I can locate the info at the CEC site. -Xathros Quote
Michel Kohanim Posted June 2, 2016 Author Posted June 2, 2016 Hi Xathros, Here's the zipped version: http://www.universal-devices.com/docs/GFO15-311.zip With kind regards, Michel Quote
TheFallenAngel Posted June 2, 2016 Posted June 2, 2016 (edited) CONGRATULATIONS to UDI! This is great for you guys! What we need an assurance of is that since you are a very small company, you will not throw all resources into this project and leave behind (on the back burner) things are a lot more important to mist users here. We already understood from many comments around the forums that new ISY is not even planned in the near future. BUT there a lot of half baked things that still need to be a priority like all the not yet implemented Z-Wave features, and yes of course v.5 official release. I would not presume to suggest how you will spend the $3.2M but I sure hope you will hire workforce specifically dedicated to that project and will not slow down on all the things we are patiently waiting for. Again, congratulations and good luck with this big project! Cheers, Alex Edited June 2, 2016 by TheFallenAngel Quote
Michel Kohanim Posted June 2, 2016 Author Posted June 2, 2016 Hi Alex, Thank you. Rest assured that this grant will have zero impact on what we do on the ISY/Automation side and, actually, it may help speed things up since our proposal presupposes that semi-full support for Z-Wave and Node Server is already available by the time the development phase of the project starts. With kind regards, Michel Quote
Teken Posted June 2, 2016 Posted June 2, 2016 Will this also usher in at a quicker pace HTML-5 support and transition away from Java? Quote
Xathros Posted June 2, 2016 Posted June 2, 2016 Hi Xathros, Here's the zipped version: http://www.universal-devices.com/docs/GFO15-311.zip With kind regards, Michel Perfect! Thank you. -Xathros Quote
Michel Kohanim Posted June 2, 2016 Author Posted June 2, 2016 Hi Teken, Will this also usher in at a quicker pace HTML-5 support and transition away from Java? I hope so since, just like Z-Wave/Node Server, it's availability (in limited form) is presupposed before we start developing the project for this grant. With kind regards, Michel Quote
paulbates Posted June 2, 2016 Posted June 2, 2016 (edited) Late to the party, but congrats Michel and team!! I know your passion for making a difference in commercial energy conservation through automation. I've looked at ADR as a necessary evil... while appreciate technically what's been done, in itself it doesn't add value. RATES looks very promising. Glad to see this hallmark event....Your success is our success. Paul Edited June 2, 2016 by paulbates Quote
smokegrub Posted June 2, 2016 Posted June 2, 2016 Congratulations! This is no doubt attributable to the abilities you have demonstrated. Well deserved. Quote
builderb Posted June 2, 2016 Posted June 2, 2016 Cool! As a Northern California ratepayer, looks like I'll miss the pilot testing, but I'm definitely looking forward to seeing how this goes. Quote
DennisC Posted June 2, 2016 Posted June 2, 2016 Michel and the rest of the UDI team, well done! Quote
tgutwin Posted June 3, 2016 Posted June 3, 2016 Well Done Michel and UDI team. it will make you even busier... but its a good busy! tom Quote
Michel Kohanim Posted June 3, 2016 Author Posted June 3, 2016 Hello everyone, Thanks SO very much for the kind words. It does mean a LOT to us. And, without your help and support, we would not be where we are today. So, thank YOU! With kind regards, Michel Quote
C Martin Posted June 4, 2016 Posted June 4, 2016 Congratulations to you and UDI as a whole. This Grant says a lot about you and UDI and the significant but quiet contributions you provide. You have provided a Quiet but significant contribution in this area of Automation and Energy Conservation. I support all that you do in this field. Keep up the good work! Quote
Michel Kohanim Posted June 5, 2016 Author Posted June 5, 2016 Thank you all! To me, personally, what we have proposed is revolutionary. It basically allows utilities not to go out of business, figure out whether or not they need more DER/DR/Power Plants, and basically put the control in customer's hands (not the utility). With kind regards, Michel Quote
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