The Challenge

A longstanding shooting preserve in South Kingstown faced high demand charges from its local utility, Rhode Island Energy. While the preserve had already invested in an on-site solar PV system, it continued to see spikes in demand during peak operational hours. The customer also expressed interest in enrolling in their utility’s ConnectedSolutions demand response program. 

A Rhode Island-based clean energy developer modeled the project’s economics in ETB Developer, and Energy Toolbase began developing a solution that paired BYD’s battery hardware with ETB Controller and Acumen AI to ensure optimal system performance, satisfy utility requirements for ConnectedSolutions, and enable full program participation through intelligent, real-time dispatch and demand response capabilities. 

The Solution

Energy Toolbase and the developer successfully deployed a 120 kW / 266 kWh BYD CHESS unit fully integrated with ETB Controller and Acumen AI, enabling participation in the ConnectedSolutions demand response program. Leveraging dynamic economic dispatch, the system intelligently manages demand spikes, reduces electricity costs, and responds to real-time site conditions and utility signals to maximize value. Acumen AI’s dynamic economic dispatch enables ETB Controller to autonomously optimize battery performance to determine the most cost-effective dispatch strategy at any given time to maximize savings. 

The system also supports manual and scheduled dispatch modes as part of its broader ESS strategy, allowing for operator-defined control during specific events or timeframes that provide greater flexibility and alignment with site-specific goals. Once day-ahead signals from CPower, the virtual power plant provider, are ingested, dispatch is executed through the ETB Monitor platform, enabling the site to fully participate in demand response events.