I-Corps: Platform that matches users with renewable energy suppliers while providing on-demand energy analytics

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of technology for independent power producers who supply renewable energy (solar and wind energy) to their customers. These energy producers need to find consumers who want their products, which may be households or commercial buildings. To date, producers have experienced difficulty in identifying customers, which is thought to be due to high costs of customer acquisition combined with high rates of customer turnover. Energy users also have difficulty identifying renewable energy suppliers that are reliable and competitively priced (especially as there are often difficulties in comparing terms proposed in differently-structured contracts).

This I-Corps project is based on the development of a software platform that gives energy suppliers access to a list of potential clean energy consumers that includes their usage characteristics. The platform also gives the consumers a curated list of suppliers who are reliable, competitively priced, and able to provide the services that they need. The underlying technology is data analysis via machine learning coupled with the application of artificial intelligence. The technology provides energy users with the ability to analyze their energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, and to benchmark their consumption against other energy suppliers.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.