CPS Energy’s Energy Research and Technologies Initiatives (ERTI) team investigates technology innovation in energy supply, delivery, and end use. Using CPS Energy’s Vision 2020 as the primary filter, CPS Energy develops and implements practical applied research projects and end-use initiatives for the integration of new technologies across CPS Energy and within the communities that we serve. The team utilizes local, state, regional and national resources to evaluate and explore the latest advances in energy science and technology. Our goal is to make the energy you use cleaner, more efficient, and more productive.

When new technologies with significant promise are identified, they may be selected for research by CPS Energy. Often, these “cutting edge” technologies may not be commercially available but may be critical to successfully implementing long-term energy strategies involving non-traditional sources and methods. For example, large-scale energy storage – batteries – will help mitigate the variability issues associated with the broad deployment of solar generation.

Other applied research projects are designed to test results of relatively new, but proven, technologies in the CPS Energy service area. This research will help us to determine how local variables such as climate, economics, and culture affect the projected benefits and costs of deploying these technologies. These types of technology assessments include home energy management systems, geothermal heat pumps, energy efficient building materials, and electric vehicles and the charging infrastructure necessary to charge them.

Education is another important function for ERTI. ERTI works in collaboration with a broad base of local, state, and federal agencies, as well as organizations and businesses, to develop effective energy initiatives that will showcase innovations in energy technology and facilitate the exchange of knowledge and information.

Energy storage is expected to transform the electric utility industry. Traditionally, electricity is generated when it is needed and used once it is produced. However, storage will give utilities the ability to match supply and demand, allowing them to produce and store electricity for later use. 

Energy storage assets have the potential to reduce carbon emissions. Using off-peak energy during the day will prevent the need to increase generating capacity to meet demand, making energy storage an environmentally friendly alternative. ES systems are also a very favorable substitution to a generator for emergency back-up power. 

CPS Energy is embracing plug-in vehicles – from all-electric to hybrid electric models. This new technology offers a cheaper, more environmentally friendly alternative to gasoline vehicles. They also reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

CPS Energy continues to study the effect plug-in vehicles will have on our current infrastructure. Our utility also has plans to located dozens of public charging stations around Greater San Antonio, increasing the convenience and value of owning a plug-in car.

CPS Energy sees home energy management systems as a key enabler to improving energy efficiency and reducing peak energy demand. An automated home energy management system can better connect utilities like CPS Energy with customers to provide two-way communication for the management of energy demand.

CPS Energy is working with Consert, a software company, to pilot a home energy management system that allows customers to establish user profiles through their home computers for their heating and air conditioning systems, water heaters and pool pumps.  This system, used in conjunction with other CPS Energy smart grid initiatives like advanced metering infrastructure, will help customers automate their energy conservation and manage their bills, while allowing the utility to conserve energy during periods of high use.

Homes use more than 20 percent of the all the energy used in the U.S., according to the Department of Energy. CPS Energy believes high-performance energy efficiency homes will be a critical component of controlling energy demand and the associated carbon emissions. Most homebuilders have been reluctant to build more energy efficiency features than current building codes require, citing additional costs for improving energy efficiency and competitive home prices. 

CPS Energy’s Peak Performance Home Project was designed to obtain and compare the data on energy use and savings between a typical home built to code standards, one with significant energy efficiency upgrades, and a third with energy efficient upgrades plus built in solar photovoltaic energy generation. CPS Energy partnered with Woodside Homes for the construction of these three houses. The data will provide the basis for determining energy efficiency rebates and education.