Sharp Electronics Corporation’s Energy Systems and Services Group (Sharp) announces today the integration of Energy Toolbase as its software platform of choice for accurately calculating peak demand savings for SmartStorage energy storage system installations. Sharp is the first to integrate its proprietary SmartStorage operating algorithms with Energy Toolbase’s powerful optimization tools to quickly generate SmartStorage specific proposals. Users can accurately determine the dollar savings of SmartStorage projects that are integrated with a solar system, or as a standalone system.
Peak demand charges are the fastest growing part of utility bills for commercial and industrial customers and can represent up to 50 percent of a company’s monthly utility bill. Peak demand charges are also difficult to predict, making it frustrating for most commercial and industrial customers to understand what drives their peak demand usage or how to evaluate the financial benefits of reducing demand. Sharp’s project development and installation allies can now quickly and accurately gain insight into electricity demand savings that a proposed customer installation can realize. Energy Toolbase can be used to instantaneously quote projects and quantify returns on investment (ROI) of Sharp’s SmartStorage system.
“Proposals for energy storage can be time consuming to create,” said Kirk Stokes, Director of Sales in Sharp’s newly formed Energy Systems and Services Group. “The complexity and variety of utility rate structures, which change frequently, can make it challenging to verify accuracy of any customer proposal delivered. Energy Toolbase allows Sharp’s project allies to quickly generate proposals that accurately and professionally depict the savings benefits the SmartStorage system will deliver to their customer’s facility. Energy Toolbase’s automation allows for immediate customer specific proposal generation without significant overhead, complexity or commitment of valuable man hours.”
Sharp’s customer-specific proposals with Energy Toolbase analyze a customer’s raw interval data and utility rate schedule to produce an accurate model of kW demand reduction from a SmartStorage installation. Energy Toolbase’s extensive database tracks rates and incentives in more than 30 states and 130 utility territories to enable highly accurate and data-rich proposals for SmartStorage installations, and it is modernizing a lengthy and complex process, currently being done manually.
“Sharp is one of the most esteemed names in the energy storage market, so we’re honored to be integrating directly with them,” said John Gurski, founder and CEO of Energy Toolbase. “Developers have repeatedly told us that they want tools to analyze energy storage projects for themselves. This integration delivers that. It enables a developer to instantly and transparently analyze the projects’ economics, using Sharp SmartStorage hardware and software control strategies together. We think this integration could serve as a template for energy storage project development on the customer-side-of-the-meter, as the market scales up.”
Sharp’s SmartStorage® energy storage system is a unique behind-the-meter demand management system designed to reduce commercial and industrial buildings’ peak electricity use. Sharp offers a 10-Year Asset Management Service Agreement coupled with a 10-Year Performance Guarantee. All routine and unscheduled maintenance is included for customers that take advantage of Sharp’s 10-Year Asset Management Service Agreement. Downtime is covered by the performance guarantee. If guaranteed demand reductions are not met, Sharp will compensate for the deficit in promised peak demand reductions.
