The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has competitively awarded a total of $61 million dollars to 10 comprehensive large-scale projects through its Connected Communities initiative to help accelerate decarbonization of buildings and the electric grid.

Connected communities of grid-interactive efficient buildings (GEBs) employ energy efficient end uses, distributed energy resources (DERs), coordinated controls and smart technologies (e.g., smart thermostats, smart water heaters, batteries) to interact with the electric grid and coordinate load flexibility to support the grid with emerging issues related to the growth of renewable energy generation.

The awardee project teams include a cross-section of buildings industry stakeholders including utilities, local governments, aggregators, technology firms, home-builders and end-users. These demonstration projects are intended to demonstrate the capabilities of GEBs across an expanded range of technologies, locations, and building types than have been implemented to date, and to provide new information that will empower utilities, aggregators, technology providers, and others to scale grid flexibility and decarbonization of buildings. The projects address a range of aspects critical for scaling, including: customer engagement and retention with a focus on LMI, occupant engagement, technology interoperability, rate design, utility business models, regulatory considerations, and valuing integrated DERs and GEBs.

Join us for a lively interview with Dr. Brian Walker, Technology Manager at the U.S. DOE’s Building Technologies Office. We will learn about DOE’s vision for this program and for leveraging its outcomes to help the industry scale load flexibility, GEBs, and decarbonization of buildings and the grid.