Dive Brief:

• Span, a “smart” electric panel maker, on Tuesday unveiled SPAN Edge, a device the company said allows utilities to better manage the distribution grid and quickly enable home electrification.

• SPAN Edge unlocks for utilities reliable, flexible load-shaping benefits that can be combined into a virtual power plant, the San Francisco-based company said. The device can be installed at a meter in under 15 minutes, it said.

• Utilities can use the device — which can be added to a utility’s rate base — to control a building’s load, potentially avoiding distribution system upgrades while allowing for increased electricity use, according to Arch Rao, Span founder and CEO. “Historically, there haven't been a lot of solutions available to the utility to enable load growth while serving the customers in a way where it doesn't significantly increase cost,” Rao said in an interview.

Dive Insight:

With SPAN Edge, Span is evolving from a home electrification company to an infrastructure partner with utilities, according to the company.

The device has energy management system software that lets homeowners with existing 100-amp to 200-amp service add electric loads like electric vehicle chargers, heat pumps and electric water heaters without requiring increased utility service, Span said. In California, those utility service upgrades can cost roughly $6,000 per home, according to Rao.

SPAN Edge’s “dynamic service rating” capability allows utilities to set a virtual limit for a home’s total electricity use. “This setpoint can be applied to groups of homes during peak times for load flexibility, including overall system balancing or specific transformer loading,” the company said. 

Based on utility grid analyses, a neighborhood equipped with SPAN Edge can double the utilization of its electric distribution infrastructure, Span said.

Span is part of a Pacific Gas & Electric pilot virtual power plant program that will use residential distributed energy resources to reduce local grid constraints, the utility said Monday. PG&E plans to dispatch the VPP for up to 100 hours from June through October.

As part of the pilot, Span will use its dynamic service rating capability to shape home energy demand during peak events, ensuring that overall energy use remains within operational limits of PG&E's distribution infrastructure. Span customers can determine how their appliances will be managed.

Span sees a vast market for its products. About 48 million homes across the U.S. will require a panel upgrade and service upgrades to accommodate EVs, heat pumps, solar and batteries, according to Rao.

“We believe that the utility is in position to unlock this electrification and load growth,” Rao said. “We're increasingly working with more utilities to design programs where they will deploy this as if it were a meter replacement or a meter enhancement.”

Key markets include California, Colorado, the Northeast, the Southeast and Texas, according to Rao.

SPAN Edge can help reduce a utility’s capital expenditures while increasing sales, which would put downward pressure on electricity rates, Rao said.

Before starting Span in 2018, Rao worked at Tesla's energy division as head of products, application and sales engineering. Span has raised about $285 million in venture capital funding. The company’s smart panel and EV charging products have been installed in all U.S. states and in Puerto Rico, according to Rao.

Span and energy management company Landis+Gyr on Tuesday said they have entered into a partnership to commercialize SPAN Edge.