Better buildings, cleaner grid. Slipstream commits to new solutions around building/grid interaction

Why are so many utilities pivoting to grid-interactive efficient buildings (GEB)? Because load flexibility is becoming as important to decarbonization as energy efficiency. In some jurisdictions, utility demand charges can be 30-70% of a customer’s utility bill. Utilities and clean grid advocates see real potential in GEB. Utilities can use flexible building loads to help mitigate grid stresses in peak demand periods and help keep fossil fueled power plants offline. GEB can provide certain grid services like load shifting, load shedding, and modulation. Our buildings can become assets that support a cleaner grid.

In order to accelerate decarbonization and help utilities stay ahead of the curve, Slipstream is actively developing solutions in the GEB space. We will support the industry shift by offering grid flex programs as well as:

Integration services - More integration is necessary to make a GEB work. We aim to help owners and contractors connect multiple systems together for communication of data.
Aggregation - We will discover ways to get multiple buildings to take the same GEB approach so it scales better for a utility or other entity.
Pilot services - We will implement a small pilot for a new approach, generally for a utility.

In-house lab allows our researchers to excel at and expand GEB research

We’ve converted Slipstream’s headquarters to a living lab and GEB research testbed. Our building control system now communicates with and responds to utility automatic demand response signals. We’re testing how to control our HVAC, lighting, plug loads, and solar panels to reduce our building’s peak load.