April 30, 2024 – Two Connected Communities projects have received public utility commission approval for their proposed tariffs associated with the projects. Edo Energy, received approval from the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission, on January 1, 2024, for revisions to Tariff WN U-28 and the new proposed Tariff Schedule 71 for the Spokane, Washington Connected Communities Pilot. Portland General Electric Company received approval from the Public Utilities Commission of Oregon on March 28, 2024 for its Smart Grid Testbed Phase II proposal.

November 28, 2023 – The U.S. DOE announced in a blog post that Utah utility PacifiCorp is leading a Connected Communities project that will combine solar PV, batteries, and appliances in buildings across Utah into an automated grid resource. The demonstration project will integrate 700 diverse building spaces into daily grid operations, including homes, offices and industrial sites.

June 28, 2023 – The U.S. Department of Energy announced in a blog post that on May 22, 2023, SunPower & KB Home “switched on” one of the nation’s most advanced communities of connected, grid-interactive buildings, in Menifee, California. The community of 219 all-electric homes will include energy efficiency technologies, such as electric heat pumps and spray foam insulation, as well as solar PV and energy storage, and they will be connected through a community-level microgrid, which allows them to operate independently from the main grid during unstable grid conditions.

August 8, 2023 - A New York Times online article about residential energy resilience prominently featured the Connected Communities project in Menifee, CA, in addition to other communities employing solar, storage and microgrid technologies. The article noted that the all-electric Menifee homes each include a smart electrical panel, connected switches and outlets, and a phone app that will calculate when and how much power customers use from each appliance. Homes will also be wired to incorporate electric-vehicle charging stations, and could eventually be equipped with vehicle-to-home charging.

June 12, 2023 - KQED, the San Francisco Bay Area PBS affiliate, featured a story on the new residential community in Menifee, California, that is part of the Connected Communities project led by SunPower, in partnership with residential developer, KB Homes. The 78 single-family homes in this community, and the 141 in an adjacent development are all completely electric, with flexible electric loads that can provide grid services, and shared battery storage with islanded microgrid capabilities. Some homes also include vehicle-to-grid and vehicle-to-building EV charging. Other project collaborators include automaker Kia, manufacturer Schneider Electric, UC Irvine and the U.S. Department of Energy.

November 8, 2022 – In a U.S. DOE blog post, Alejandro Moreno, Associate Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy summarized DOE’s goals for the Connected Communities program—to establish a new model for buildings. In this new model, the buildings will operate at least 30% more efficiently than the current industry standard, and will provide energy and critical flexibility back to the grid.

November 2, 2022 – A U.S. DOE blog post announced the kickoff event for the Connected Communities program which was held at the Ohio State University (OSU) in Columbus, OH, on November 2 and 3, 2022. The event provided the first of many opportunities the program’s inaugural ten project teams will have to engage with each other and industry stakeholders as they work as a collaborative cohort over the five-year project timeline. 

October 13, 2021 - The U.S. Department of Energy announced 10 pilot projects that have been selected to deploy Connected Communities across a wide range of technologies, locations, and building types. These projects will demonstrate the capabilities of grid-interactive efficient buildings that will support renewable energy adoption and grid resilience and reduce energy use, costs, and emissions.