Tendril Reaching Out To The Smart Grid  

CNet ahs an article on smart grid software maker Tendril - Tendril opening its 'smart grid' to other companies.

Smart-grid start-up Tendril is using a classic computer industry game plan in a bid to create the equivalent of the Windows operating system for a 21st century electricity grid.

At an industry conference, the Boulder, Colo.-based company will announce that third-party companies have developed software applications that work with Tendril's in-home smart-grid software and devices.

Tendril's in-home display can show how much a home is spending on electricity at a given moment.

The basis of Tendril's partner program is a set of technical specifications, or application programming interfaces (APIs), for both its software, which talks to utilities' back-office systems, and for its Zigbee-based energy-management hardware.

It's not clear that unlocking Tendril's products will result in a thriving "ecosystem" of partners like Microsoft's Windows enjoys, or that it's technology will become a de facto industry standard. But the move is significant in that it signals a broader shift toward interoperability and away from proprietary technology in the utility industry.

"This is the right thing to do. More vendors should be doing this," said Jesse Berst, the founder of Smart Grid News. "With standards in the area they're proposing, you can put people (like electricians) to work and create a platform for future prosperity based on the smart grid."

In the computer industry, all the large software companies have sought to build a technical platform for third-party developers in the hopes of creating a critical mass of add-on products.

Technical standards around software development and data exchange, meanwhile, helped lay the foundation for countless products and innovations, from the Linux operating system to Wikipedia.

Utilities have historically invested in proprietary technology. Slowly, though, standards are playing a larger role, in part because of regulatory pressure, said Berst, who predicted that it will take another 18 to 24 months for necessary standards to be worked out.

Demand response

The point of modernizing the electricity grid is to show consumers how to use less electricity and to help utilities operate the power grid more reliably and efficiently.

Although "smart grid" covers a wide range of products, the technology is generally geared toward collecting and communicating information on the flow of electricity.

Like others, Tendril makes a line of devices, including a wireless thermostat and an Internet gateway, that provides a method for automatically collecting information on home energy usage.

Once centralized in Tendril's data center, consumers can see their real-time consumption via a Web browser on a PC as well as an iPhone or BlackBerry. By seeing how usage varies over time and how one household compares to others, the idea is that people will seek to lower their energy consumption.

Tendril Networks provides consumers with Web access to see their electricity usage and to compare it to similar households.
(Credit: Tendril Networks)

For utilities, real-time data collection provides insight into energy demand, allowing them to run the grid more efficiently. Through energy-efficiency programs, utilities can control customers' appliances and equipment remotely. A store could allow the utility to turn down lights during the middle of the day, or a consumer could allow the dryer to turn off the gas for a few minutes.

Dialing down energy use is most important during peak energy times, like the middle of a hot summer day. By dialing back demand with "demand-response" software, utilities can avoid starting up expensive, polluting power-generating plants to meet peak demand.