Austin Energy hopes to increase energy storage with new partnership

Austin Energy is hoping to reduce energy costs and offer additional storage options for its commercial customers in a new partnership with Stem Inc., a technology company that works to improve ways in which energy is distributed and consumed. According to a press release, this is the first phase of Austin Energy’s efforts to reduce the cost of electricity to below $0.14/kWh, which is part of a larger grant from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Sustainable and Holistic Integration of Energy Storage and Solar PV program. Stem’s software-driven energy storage works by reducing energy costs during peak demand and providing partners, like Austin Energy, with real-time energy management and tools. The system is programmed to respond to spikes in electricity so the software can then use stored power to “automatically reduce demand charge costs without requiring operational changes or manual input from the host.” Jackie Sargent, Austin Energy general manager, is quoted in that same release, saying the partnership will help Austin Energy better understand the potential benefits of integrated distributed energy resources to help increase reliability and customer value.