Articles from Xendee

Despite funding losses, developers remain bullish due to increasing electricity demands and the availability of cost-effective solutions like microgrids

The landscape of the electricity grid is rapidly evolving, driven by expanding electrification initiatives, renewable energy integration, and the decarbonization imperative. University campus microgrids are tackling this paradigm shift with energy transition models. The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) and Xendee Corporation (Xendee) teamed up to lead this transformation.

Xendee, a provider of microgrid design and operation software, has released a new offering called MOBILITY that enables firms to rapidly design EV charging infrastructure along with supporting Distributed Energy Resources. With this offering, developers, engineering firms, and EPCs will be able to model EV charging stations for predictable returns and factor in site-specific properties like changing EV loads, time-of-use charges, demand charges, localized incentives, EV specific tariffs and building load tariffs on the same site.

The United States needs to cut carbon emissions 40% in the next eight years, according to both the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act and anyone following the impact of climate change on our planet. The best way to make those aggressive cuts is to transition from carbon-intensive energy sources to clean energy. However, in order to make this transition, decision makers must have confidence in the capabilities of the technologies and the financial viability of the project. Part of this process is the gathering of extremely accurate data from the utility which can help designers determine the energy needs of the building down to each hour of each day.

As organizations seek new sustainable energy solutions to meet carbon reduction goals, microgrids and distributed energy resources (DERs) have emerged as both a financially viable and resilient alternative to traditional utility services. However, even though onsite energy production offers a wealth of benefits, it also requires a great deal more planning, engineering and maintenance than a simple utility connection. These microgrid projects are made further difficult by the fact that microgrids must be designed to fit the dimensions of the building, the local weather conditions, and to meet the specific needs of the facility—be it a small house or a massive research laboratory.

The XENDEE Microgrid Cloud Computing Platform has been awarded the gold medal in the 2021 Edison Awards for Critical Human Infrastructure. The award show took place on Thomas Edison’s birthday, April 22nd, in Fort Myers, Florida. XENDEE was selected this year from a group of more than 7,000 products and services and placed first in the Critical Human Infrastructure category with Drivenets’ Network Cloud (5G IP networking software) and Transcend's Design Generator (water and wastewater treatment SaaS platform) coming in second and third place respectively.