February 15, 2024; Louisville, KY – Virtual Peaker, a cloud-based SaaS company empowering modern utilities with the friendliest distributed energy platform on the planet, and ICF (NASDAQ:ICFI), a global consulting and technology services provider, collaborated with Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corporation (Central Hudson) to launch the EV ChargeSmart Program. EV ChargeSmart aims to achieve cost savings and grid resilience by encouraging participants to adjust their EV charging patterns voluntarily. 

Central Hudson is a regulated transmission and distribution utility serving over 315,000 electric and 90,000 natural gas customers in New York State’s Mid-Hudson River Valley, from suburban New York City to Albany. 

Virtual Peaker’s distributed energy resource management system (DERMS) suite, Shift, connects to at-home electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) or EV telematics and adjusts the charging of a participant’s device to ease the stress on the grid and benefit the community.

“We launched the EV ChargeSmart Program to support Central Hudson’s electric grid during periods of high electricity demand,” explained Marwa Chowdhury, Associate Program Manager at Central Hudson. 

The EV ChargeSmart Program offers eligible customers a $25 incentive for enrolling their EVSE and/or EV and ongoing participation incentives based on their off-peak charging habits. Participants located in load-growth areas (areas where distributed energy resources can be used to defer or eliminate the need for upgrades to the grid) may be eligible to earn additional incentives by responding to conservation events during the summer season of June through September. During a conservation event, Central Hudson will use Virtual Peaker’s Shift suite to pause or reduce participants’ charging sessions to balance the demand on the grid.

In partnership with ICF’s program management team, Virtual Peaker’s DERMS empowers Central Hudson with end-to-end distributed energy resource (DER) management in a single platform, including enrollment, device monitoring, control, and event messaging. “ICF is proud to help Central Hudson provide EV-driving customers with an easy way to save money while improving grid reliability and reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” said Stacy Noblet, ICF’s vice president of transportation electrification.

“We are thrilled to support the launch of Central Hudson’s newest energy management program. EVs are scaling in New York quickly, and this program will mitigate the adverse rate impacts of EVs charging at times that strain the grid,” said Dr. William (Bill) Burke, Founder and CEO of Virtual Peaker. 

Learn more about Virtual Peaker distributed energy platform solutions for EV-managed charging programs.