Enel X And EnergyHub Partner Up On Smart EV Charging

Electric vehicles are going to be a serious load to power grids, which can make them a threat or an asset to utilities, depending on how their charging is managed.

Earlier in December, distributed energy leader Enel X and utility distributed energy management provider Energy Hub announced a partnership that is to ensure EV chargers remain an asset to the grid. 

Greentech Media reports that Enel X has about 60,000 EV chargers deployed across the country. Many of them are actively managed to adjust their charging patterns to wholesale energy prices, which are in turn driven by surges and sags in the grid.

“EnergyHub, in turn, provides its Mercury distributed energy resource management systems to utilities across the country to tap the flexibility of smart thermostats, water heaters, solar-battery systems and other behind-the-meter energy assets. Those assets include EV chargers, with utilities including Massachusetts’ Eversource and Baltimore Gas & Electric using EnergyHub’s platform to monitor EV charging and send price signals to guide when they’re used.”

Eversource and BG&E will be the first two utilities to benefit from the partners’ new combined capabilities.

The new system allows the existing and new JuiceBox chargers to be managed not just for wholesale energy price value, but also for distributed energy management and grid relief.