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Earth Day is our Everyday

As a company, OATI is very dedicated to making the world we live in a better place. This means transforming the energy industry with more innovative, reliable, and green solutions. In fact, to celebrate Earth Day we are sharing a list of the top three initiatives we are investing in for the future of our business and the planet.

Distributed Energy Resource Management Systems (DERMS)
As environmental concerns rise and renewable energy prices fall, consumers and utilities alike are pushing for increased levels of renewable and distributed energy. However, this poses a problem for the aging grid system in the U.S. This centralized system was built for predictable loads, which rely mainly on coal and natural gas, and has a hard time taking into account the highly variable levels of renewable resources. The good news is there is an option that can support and account for these changing levels of renewable energy and it’s growing at a rapid pace.

OATI’s comprehensive DERMS solution allows utilities to manage distribution grids with a variety of interconnected Distributed Energy Resource (DER) assets, including behind-the-meter and larger utility-grade resources, while capitalizing on the benefits from the distributed resources. With the support of our solution, entities are empowered to make the most economical, efficient, and green decisions to optimize the aging grid framework.

Microgrids
An investment in microgrid technology can provide several benefits, including improved energy efficiency, increased reliability, the minimization of energy consumption, and a reduced environmental impact. When considering these benefits, it made sense from both a reliability and economic standpoint for OATI to build our own microgrid so we could utilize on-site generation more intelligently and efficiently.

The OATI Microgrid Technology Center is a state-of-the-art microgrid that showcases cutting-edge technologies, such as Combined Cooling, Heat, and Power (CCHP), solar photovoltaic and wind generation, energy storage, and OATI’s sophisticated microgrid control and optimization software, GridMind™. GridMind acts as the brains of the operation and provides the ability to manage load, generation, and storage assets economically in both grid connected and islanded modes of operation. Using the Microgrid Technology Center as an example, we hope to help others achieve their own business and carbon reduction goals through advanced microgrid development.

Smart House
Not many people know this, but OATI actually has its own smart house located at our corporate headquarters in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This smart house looks like a normal suburban home from the outside, and even contains common appliances and electrical systems found in most modern homes. Yet, the guts of this house are anything but typical.

The OATI Smart House is equipped with advanced technologies, including solar photovoltaic generation, battery storage, electric vehicle chargers, thermal storage, and a host of instrumentation, sub-metering, and controls that allow for the continuous monitoring, analysis, and control of each piece of equipment as well as household loads. The advanced systems built into the home are constantly monitoring electrical usage and collecting data. OATI leverages this data to continuously improve our solutions with the goal to bring the most efficient and reliable technology to utilities and their customers.

As you can see, at OATI we celebrate Earth Day everyday by continuing to transform the energy industry with more innovative, reliable, and green solutions. If you’d like to learn more about how our products are making the world we live in a better place, don’t hesitate to contact us.