Constellation Energy recently announced that it has released an app for its VirtuWatt energy management tool. The app, available for the iPhone, provides Constellation Energy’s VirtuWatt customers with a mobile platform for monitoring power usage and managing their participation in load response programs that compensate customers for reducing energy use during periods of peak demand on electricity grids.
“We know that energy decisions aren’t always made near a computer or during normal business hours, so extending VirtuWatt’s mobility through an app was a natural evolution for our energy management solution,” said Peter Kelly-Detwiler, Constellation NewEnergy senior vice president of load response. “The VirtuWatt app gives our customers all of the tools and data necessary to manage and optimize their energy consumption from virtually any location.”
The VirtuWatt app is the first mobile solution that allows commercial power users to view real time energy usage, spot trends and see current electricity market pricing. This allows users to pinpoint opportunities to shift operations to lower cost energy periods and to bid electricity usage reductions directly into the energy and ancillary service markets in return for compensation from grid operators. Participation in load reduction programs can significantly reduce energy costs for commercial electricity users. The VirtuWatt app helps customers to maximize the financial benefits of load response programs, and makes participation and compliance easier than ever before.
“Our customers were already using smart phone browsers to access VirtuWatt, so the app simply optimizes the experience for the mobile device,” said Kelly-Detwiler. “Mobility is essential for energy managers and operations executives that are responsible for multiple locations or that work in large, intense industrial or commercial environments. The VirtuWatt app delivers the flexibility and responsiveness they need to make smart, timely energy management decisions.”
VirtuWatt, released in May 2010, utilizes a combination of hardware and online applications that function as an intuitive, user-friendly, easily accessible energy management system. Release 1.1 of the VirtuWatt app delivers the energy dashboard and Market place bidding functionality of the VirtuWatt application. The ability to remotely control power usage through the iPhone application is expected to be made available through an iTunes update in the fall of 2010.
The VirtuWatt app is currently available for the iPhone or iPod touch devices (iOS 4.0 or later), is currently being optimized for the iPad and will soon be available on other smart phone platforms, including Android and BlackBerry. The VirtuWatt app is available as a free download from the iTunes ® App Store. To utilize the app, users must be Constellation Energy electricity or load response customers with a VirtuWatt electric meter and building management system interface.
