ATLANTA, Feb. 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Southern
Company and its Alabama Power and Georgia Power subsidiaries have
officially announced Smart Neighborhood™ initiatives that will
provide customers with state-of-the-art home construction,
distributed energy resources – including solar and battery energy
storage – and smart home appliances and technologies.
The first-of-a-kind Smart Neighborhoods – located in
Atlanta and suburban Birmingham, Alabama – will benefit customers
through improved reliability, increased use of distributed
energy resources and lower costs. These communities have the
potential to further enable the smart grid and help the Southern
Company system better meet customers' evolving energy needs.
Both projects simulate what the future may hold for the energy
industry, and provide Southern Company and its subsidiaries
information on how homes of the future will function. That
information will lead to new programs, products and services for
customers.
"In the rapidly changing energy landscape, we are focused on
meeting customers' current and future energy needs through
cutting-edge research and technology," said Southern Company
Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Kimberly S. Greene. "These collaborative
research projects with Alabama Power, Georgia Power and our
partners will deepen our understanding of how distributed energy
resources interact with the electric grid and how emerging
technologies improve customers' lives."
The Smart Neighborhood concept is the result of the Southern
Company research and development team's deep collaboration with
Alabama Power and Georgia Power, including a supporting partnership
with the Southern Company Energy Innovation Center. The companies
collaborated with U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National
Laboratory and the Electric Power Research Institute on the
initiatives, and have partnered with leading homebuilders for the
construction and sale of the communities' homes.
The first Smart Neighborhood project was announced by Alabama
Power and all 62 homes have been sold. Signature Homes is the
community developer and is overseeing the construction and sale of
the homes at the Reynolds Landing community at Ross Bridge in
Hoover, Ala. Home construction is
expected to be complete in the spring.
"The first homeowners have moved into our Smart Neighborhood and
we are excited to provide those customers with advanced energy
solutions that will influence services across our territory in the
future," said John Hudson, Alabama
Power's senior vice president of Marketing and Business
Development. "Each home is a crystal ball for home-building and
residential consumption. Along with our construction, technology
and research partners, Alabama Power is among the leaders of energy
innovation."
The Alabama project features
the Southeast's first community-scale microgrid. It is comprised of
solar panels, battery energy storage and a natural gas generator
that supplements power from the existing electric grid.
Each home in the Smart Neighborhood is built with emerging
energy-efficient building features, and equipped with leading-edge
technology, including a high-efficiency heat pump, an intelligence
home comfort system with an Infinity Touch thermostat,
voice-activated security, smart locks, cameras, interconnected
appliances, triple-pane windows, LED lighting and more. Read more
about the Alabama Power Smart Neighborhood here.
Meanwhile, Georgia Power has partnered with PulteGroup to help
develop the first Smart Neighborhood in Atlanta. The new homes will be located in
Atlanta's Upper West Side, one of
the city's most vibrant and popular areas. Altus at The Quarter
will feature luxury townhomes with cutting-edge smart home
technology.
"Building the future of energy in Georgia centers on our continued commitment to
offer new, flexible products and services that meet the changing
needs of our customers," said Paul
Bowers, chairman, president and CEO of Georgia Power. "This
partnership with PulteGroup provides a unique opportunity for us to
demonstrate how energy companies can collaborate with homebuilders
and retail partners to better serve customers today while
developing new opportunities for tomorrow."
Each technology-enhanced home in the Georgia Power Smart
Neighborhood will be served by Georgia Power with power
supplemented by individual rooftop solar installations and in-home
battery energy storage. Homes also will be equipped with the latest
energy technologies such as optimal insulation for maximum
efficiency, advanced heating and cooling systems and LED lighting.
They will feature home automation, including smart thermostats,
smart locks and voice control.
Construction is underway with the grand opening scheduled for
later this year.
Information and data collected from the distributed energy
resources will provide researchers valuable operational experience
as the company continues to evaluate microgrids along with
residential battery storage and rooftop solar. Information
from the HVAC systems, heat pump water heaters and other
technologies will help inform new programs and services for
customers. Read more about the Georgia Power Smart Neighborhood
here.
Southern Company remains at the forefront of innovation to
provide customers with clean, safe, reliable and affordable energy.
The latest announcements represent another important milestone in
the company's work to build the future of energy and extend
Southern Company's historic focus on the research and development
of emerging energy solutions.
About Southern Company
Southern Company (NYSE: SO) is America's premier energy company,
with 46,000 megawatts of generating capacity and 1,500 billion
cubic feet of combined natural gas consumption and throughput
volume serving 9 million customers through its subsidiaries. The
company provides clean, safe, reliable and affordable energy
through electric operating companies in four states, natural gas
distribution companies in seven states, a competitive generation
company serving wholesale customers across America and a nationally
recognized provider of customized energy solutions, as well as
fiber optics and wireless communications. Southern Company brands
are known for excellent customer service, high reliability and
affordable prices that are below the national average. Through an
industry-leading commitment to innovation, Southern Company and its
subsidiaries are inventing America's energy future by developing
the full portfolio of energy resources, including carbon-free
nuclear, 21st century coal, natural gas, renewables and energy
efficiency, and creating new products and services for the benefit
of customers. Southern Company has been named by the U.S.
Department of Defense and G.I. Jobs magazine as a top military
employer, recognized among the Top 50 Companies for Diversity by
DiversityInc, listed by Black Enterprise magazine as one of the 40
Best Companies for Diversity and designated a Top Employer for
Hispanics by Hispanic Network. The company has earned a National
Award of Nuclear Science and History from the National Atomic
Museum Foundation for its leadership and commitment to nuclear
development and is continually ranked among the top energy
companies in Fortune's annual World's Most Admired Electric and Gas
Utility rankings. Visit our website at www.southerncompany.com.
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SOURCE Southern Company