(more information to be announced shortly)

RALEIGH, N.C. (November 2, 2010) — GRIDiant Corporation, specializing in smart grid management software, has released its latest enterprise grid optimization application, GRIDresponseTM. This software solution was designed for utilities and curtailment service providers (CSPs) that want to maximize the effectiveness of demand response (DR) programs while minimizing their impact on customers. Part of an advanced grid management suite, GRIDresponse gives utilities the ability to strategically deploy the DR solution where it will maximize energy savings.

“We are very excited about the addition of GRIDresponse to our GRIDmaster application suite,” said Larry Hagewood, GRIDiant CEO. “We are proud to provide value to utilities by leveraging their existing system investment for more efficient control and intelligent management.”

GRIDresponse is based on the analysis of real load and loss profiles in the distribution network. The software produces actionable information for utility operators and planners at speeds limited only by the data flow rate from the grid. Using a patented resource ranking approach, GRIDresponse clearly identifies optimal DR to minimize system losses. The approach determines which customer locations are best for demand management in order to meet system objectives – cost, losses and asset loading levels – while not overburdening particular groups of customers with DR requests.

Study results indicate high-ranked DR customer-clusters can provide up to 30 percent more load reduction based on location-specific distribution system conditions than lower-ranked loads. In practice, this means that a 1MW demand reduction at high-ranked customer meters can provide as much as 1.3 MW peak load reduction at the substation and on upstream through transmission and generation. Without GRIDresponse, grid operators can only roughly estimate where they could find the best DR value, with little consideration for customer “DR fatigue.”

The GRIDmaster software suite consists of six applications including GRIDresponse, GRIDfast, GRIDview, GRIDplan, GRIDops, and GRIDassets. GRIDiant provides a package of professional services and enabling software to support these applications. GRIDfast was recently validated as part of IBM’s Solution Architecture for Energy and Utilities Framework (SAFE) program, a software platform that provides network visibility and control, process automation and business collaboration for smart grid vendors and utilities.

Currently, GRIDiant partners with IBM, KEMA, CISCO, WESCO and New Power Technologies to supply complementary services such as system integration, program management and integrated grid performance.

The screenshot below illustrates how GRIDresponse prioritizes system loads based on loss ranking in tabular and geographical view. The locations are color-coded based on their impact toward maximum loss reduction.

Learn more about GRIDresponse on the product page.

Learn more about the IBM SAFE framework.

WESCO International, Inc. (NYSE: WCC) is a publicly traded Fortune 500 holding company, headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, whose primary operating entity is WESCO Distribution, Inc. WESCO Distribution is a leading distributor of electrical construction products and electrical and industrial maintenance, repair and operating (MRO) supplies, and is the nation’s largest provider of integrated supply services. 2009 annual sales were approximately $4.6 billion. The Company employs approximately 6,100 people, maintains relationships with over 17,000 suppliers, and serves more than 113,000 customers worldwide. Major markets include commercial and industrial firms, contractors, government agencies, educational institutions, telecommunications businesses and utilities. WESCO operates seven fully automated distribution centers and approximately 380 full-service branches in North America and select international markets, providing a local presence for area customers and a global network to serve multi-location businesses and multi-national corporations.

GRIDfast adds intelligence and functionality to Automated Sectionalization and Restoration (ASR). GRIDfast has the ability to restore feeders under immediate post-fault conditions, to identify specific measures with which can be used to optimize rapid restoration of service where other ASR systems can not. GRIDfast has demonstrated how the utility can improve reliability indexes (SAIDI and SAIFI) by (1) evaluating and quantifying bus-level stresses before and after a fault, (2) determining optimized system controls, and (3) identifying optimal shedding of specific loads using load curtailment to meet prescribed system performance and service objectives.

Read more in the white paper.

Learn more about GRIDfast in our documents section and on the product page.

Read more in the white paper:
How is GRIDfast different from DMS ?

Learn more about GRIDfast in our documents section and on the product page.