Ageto Wins the Gold – Takes First in Startups for “Clean Energy Company of the Year” Award
Ageto Energy recently had the distinct honor of winning the startup category in the 2022 Cleanie Awards for its microgrid energy management system.
The Microgrid Challenge
Despite their many benefits, the microgrid project development and implementation process are famously complex. Developers struggle to find solutions in a landscape of distributed energy resources (DERs) without a top level-software to pull them together. Ageto solves this issue with its microgrid energy management system, the ARC microgrid controller.
The Ageto ARC controller was developed to address a unique gap in the clean energy market. Developers of commercial and industrial microgrid projects were unable to find a microgrid energy management system to meet not only desired utility bill savings, but also provide facility resiliency as well. Today, ARC is one of the only currently deployable controllers that can provide a dependable solution for these commercial microgrid projects.
The Microgrid Control Solution
The ARC controller is an energy resource agnostic solution that allows customers to leverage new or existing on-site energy resources (such as solar and energy storage). ARC allows these systems provide the safe, reliable, and clean backup power they need to keep the lights on and crucial electrical loads up and running for their businesses or communities. Additionally, this microgrid energy management system is also able to integrate existing industrial engine generators. Allowing them to work in conjunction with the solar and energy storage systems, providing an additional layer of resiliency. The ARC controller can be used in off-grid applications as well.
When the grid is present and operational, the microgrid energy management system software provides intelligent utility rate optimization. Facilities can reduce their electricity bills, for example, by using the energy storage system for time-of-use shifting, demand charge reduction (“peak shaving”), or via demand response programs . The ARC controller can also be used for renewable energy self-consumption goals and meet zero-export requirements.
Since our founding in 2017, Ageto has developed and continued to refine our microgrid energy management system. The team has rapidly increased the number of deployments and continues to expand our reach. Today Ageto has over 50 projects deployed worldwide. These projects range from a remote off-grid native Alaskan community to California homes, businesses and industrial manufacturing plants affected by fires and outage events. These microgrid projects and many others have a major commonality: ARC microgrid energy management systems enable all the distributed energy resources to work together to meet the diverse needs of the system owners.
The Microgrid Projects
Shungnak, AK
An Iñupiat village of about 300 individuals located within the arctic circle, is only accessible by air or by barge in the summer. Whether it be food to stock the community store, supplies for the small school, or diesel to fuel the generator power plant, most everything needed to sustain the village must be shipped in. This cost of transportation adds to the cost of living, especially regarding the electric bill. In 2021, community members could expect to pay almost $15 for a single gallon of gas.
Since adding a microgrid, the ARC controller leverages the solar and storage to operate parallel to the existing generators. This offsets the diesel, allowing for increased renewable energy self-consumption, even turning the generators off on sunny days. ARC uses advanced control methods to provide additional layers of resiliency to the community, such that if there is an unforeseen fault with a generator, as there was on Christmas day last year, ARC leverages the storage to seamlessly pick up the load and prevent a blackout. This project won Solar Builder Magazine’s 2022 Project of the Year.
Castello Di Amorosa
An authentically-styled Tuscan Castle nestled amongst the vineyards of Napa Valley, offers tours, winemaking, and tastings. This unique destination is connected to the PG&E grid and has felt the effects of wildfires, Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) and the power distribution challenges California has faced. An addition of solar-plus-storage allows for the facility owners to meet their sustainability goals, while saving money and providing backup power. It also represents a step towards a wider goal of fortifying the California grid through localized energy.
When a utility grid failure is detected, the Ageto ARC controller “islands” the microgrid system from the utility. With the hybrid mix of energy resources available, the ARC controller can coordinate them harmoniously, allowing the microgrid at the Castello Winery to power the facility through multi-day outages. ARC powered the winery through 44 hours of outages in 2022.
Hotel Marcel
In New Haven, Connecticut Hotel Marcel is the nation’s very first net-zero energy hotel and boasts a laundry list of other uniquely sustainable features. Most notably, is a solar-plus-storage microgrid providing 100% renewable energy to the all-electric hotel as well as backup power in the case of a utility outage. Hotel Marcel will set an example for the hospitality industry, a sector known for its consumptiveness, that aggressive carbon reduction while maintaining comfort is not only possible, but optimal and cost-effective.
The Ageto ARC controller acts as the brains for the microgrid system, and enables grid services, resilience sequencing, and response to utility dispatch signals. All of these save the hotel money, speeding up the payback time of this incredible commitment to sustainability.
Future Microgrid Plans
Ageto plans to continue to deploy our microgrid energy management system, addressing clean energy and grid resilience needs across the globe. Ageto will continue to leverage partnerships with EPCs and OEMs to further simplify microgrid solutions by offering a turnkey solution that is simple, repeatable, and scalable. The microgrid market is maturing and expanding rapidly. We look forward to playing a pivotal role in its success.
