R.I. Office of Energy Resources gets federal funding for refrigeration energy management

RHODE ISLAND has received a U.S. Department of Energy grant that will be used to help manage grocery store refrigeration systems’ drain on the electric grid. Pictured is R.I. Energy Commissioner Nicholas Ucci. / PBN FILE PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

PROVIDENCE – The R.I. Office of Energy Resources announced it has received funding from the U.S. Department of Energy to help grocery stores use power in a way that will reduce costs while lowering strain on the electrical grid during peak usage.

Aimed at validating innovative building technologies, the funding includes more than $900,000 and is contingent upon meeting interim milestones and the number of participants, said OER spokesman Robert Beadle.

The agency will partner with Axiom Cloud and National Grid to test out artificial intelligence software and its performance in forecasting and modeling refrigeration loads in grocery stores.

These commercial refrigeration systems – with over 2,000 grocery stores across Rhode Island and Massachusetts – are top consumers of electricity. To date, these loads have been completely inflexible. A load shifting potential of 40 megawatts to 100 megawatts may be possible if refrigeration loads were managed.

- Advertisement -

“As Rhode Island works to meet its net-zero greenhouse gas emissions target by 2050, the state must continue to lead the nation in developing cost-effective, clean energy solutions that reduce energy consumption, increase grid reliability and shrink our carbon footprint,” said R.I. Energy Commissioner Nicholas Ucci. “The Refrigeration Energy Management project will allow us to target the state’s grocery stores as a valuable source of flexible energy loads while providing crucial energy cost savings for these businesses.”

Participating grocery stores will be enrolled in National Grid’s ConnectedSolutions program, which will allow them to earn revenue by reducing their energy consumption during periods of high-energy demand. This grant will provide these services to selected grocers for free.

Enrollment is on a first-come, first-served basis and is ongoing for National Grid grocery store and supermarket energy customers in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Store owners interested in learning more can reach out to Turner Anderson at tanderson@axiomcloud.ai.

Susan Shalhoub is a PBN contributing writer.

No posts to display