Hometown Connections, a utility services subsidiary of the American Public Power Association (APPA), has selected GridPoint as its exclusive smart grid software platform provider. The marketing agreement enables APPA utility members to purchase GridPoint’s software platform with favorable commercial terms and deliver innovative energy savings programs to public power customers.

GridPoint Platform 3.0 allows utilities to progressively integrate and customize smart grid solutions, including energy efficiency, load management, renewable integration, storage management and electric vehicle management. Hometown Connections and GridPoint will initially begin marketing solutions that meet public power utilities’ immediate program needs such as demand response and energy efficiency, which will enable a utility’s customer to reduce energy consumption and costs through an online energy management portal.

The platform delivers smart grid solutions through the integration of distributed energy resources, including plug-in electric vehicles, solar panels, advanced storage technologies, and household devices such as thermostats, electric water heaters and pool pumps. Based on open standards, the platform aggregates these new energy technologies from multiple manufacturers into a single manageable resource that utilities control via the GridPoint Utility Portal. The platform provides control, measurement and verification of events, increases flexibility and reduces costs for utilities to operate disparate systems, data and home devices.

Hometown Connections currently secures discounted pricing, group packaging and high levels of service for over 650 APPA members. It makes products and services directly available in every part of the country through its direct sales staff and alliances with 19 public power joint action agencies, state associations and individual utilities.