POWER June 2020 - 18

FOCUS ON O&M
crews to flag traffic flow, re-route traffic,
and do the actual work, directional boring
was the best option, " he said.
Before work started, crews used computers
to plot a path for the boring and
collected soil samples to ensure the tunnels
would not collapse during construction.
" There's a lot of upfront engineering
to make sure a plan like this was safe to
execute, " Ehrfurth said.
Crews bored holes 54 inches wide and
35 feet under the highway, for about 750
feet, to carry the 42-inch diameter piping.
In several places, crews dug open trenches
and laid in trench boxes and steel
plates overhead so traffic could proceed
while crews worked. The sections of pipe
were thermally fused to make one continuous
run and it took 10 to 12 hours to
pull the pipe the entire distance under the
highway. Most of the road work was done
overnight and on weekends, when traffic
in the area was lighter.
The facility's construction began in
March 2015, and the new plant was in full
service by August of 2018, with the work
done on time and under budget. Decisions
made early in the design and planning
phase enabled the construction and engineering
team to achieve all its milestones.
-This article was written by staff of The
Boldt Company, an Appleton, Wisconsinbased
construction services firm.
BACNet Protocol Can
Change Energy Storage
Industry
The growth of the energy storage industry
in the past few years has been huge,
and the sector is expected to add another
2 GW of capacity in 2020. In many
ways, energy storage solutions (ESS) are
at the forefront of technology, evolving
to adapt to the needs of both residential
and commercial markets eager for more
energy independence in situations with
increasingly unreliable utility power. In
one crucial way, however, energy storage
lags behind the standard found in
many other building innovations-integration
with BACNet.
The BACNet (building automation
and control network) protocol, conceived
in 1987, was quickly adopted as
an inexpensive, efficient way to marry
building technologies and achieve maximum
interoperability. Uniquely suited
to building automation, BACNet uses a
simple input/output language to streamline
communication between objects.
This allows devices to share data even
when they perform different functions
18
or are from different vendors. Since the
beginnings of the BACNet protocol, the
need for a standard in communication
has only grown with the variety of smart
technologies available. The energy storage
industry has been slow to integrate
with BACNet, but it is certainly capable
of doing so, and moving in that direction
is crucial for continued strong growth.
The following are just a few of the ways
BACNet can have a positive impact.
Accurate Measurement of Energy
Use. Perhaps most intriguing to the
ESS industry is the idea that BACNet
(Figure 5) can greatly improve the measurement
of energy used. The idea
behind the protocol is to get devices
all speaking the same language. Measurements
across all devices that are
tied to the network can flow to a single
point, allowing for comparisons of usage
in various locations, at different
times and by different users. More data
can always help users make better decisions.
Precise energy measurements
are already used in other utilities to cut
costs, and learning more about the way
energy is stored and cycled will help
lead to further innovation.
Remaining Relevant in the Power
Industry. The heating, ventilation, and air
conditioning (HVAC) industry has long used
motion sensors and thermostats to keep
waste to a minimum-it's important that
the energy storage industry keep up. There
will always be a need for storage cells, but
how can users ensure devices aren't functioning
when they aren't needed? Further,
how can resources be allocated in the most
efficient way possible so that the energy
is there when it is needed? BACNet helps
answer these questions and solves a need,
making it a natural next step for consumers
looking to improve their grid.
Reduced Material Costs. Utilizing
the protocol allows the same wiring to
work for a variety of systems, cutting
down on the raw materials needed in
a project. For homes, the savings may
be minimal (but still there), but in large
commercial projects, the copper, plastics,
ceramics, and other materials can
cost millions of dollars. Cutting back on
material costs would undoubtedly be
the difference between a winning and
losing bid. Reduced production is also
better for the environment, a big selling
point in the clean energy business.
BACNet Goes Further Than Smart
Technology on Its Own. Smart systems
utilize things like motion sensors to give
machines ways to manage themselves.
BACNet is the equivalent of adding a vawww.powermag.com
5.
The BACNet (building automation and
control network) protocol uses a simple input/
output language to streamline communication
between objects. This allows devices to share
data even when they perform different functions
or are from different vendors. Humless
has integrated BACNet with all its energy storage
technology. Courtesy: Humless
riety of other senses to a single system.
So, instead of just motion, it can integrate
with temperature, time of day, or other
useful inputs. Using BacNet adds another
layer to smart tech, improving the ways
storage can be used to better the devices
in homes and commercial properties.
The Industry Is Moving Toward a
BACNet Standard. There are other
methods available, of course, but BACNet
is an American national standard, a
European standard, a national standard
in more than 30 countries, and an ISO
global standard. It is also supported by
major players such as Honeywell, Siemens,
and ABB, to name a few. Standardization
becomes important when
systems and buildings need to share information
and talk to each other to make
the data usable. It also gives consumers
options. If all devices are able to successfully
integrate data, the customer is
not tied to a single brand and can customize
their device setup in a way that
makes the most sense.
BACNet is an open source technology,
available at no cost to manufacturers
willing to incorporate the protocol.
It helps users, integrators, and vendors
monitor and control automation processes
on any size system.
It is already used in heating, ventilating,
lighting control, access control, and
fire detection applications. There is no
reason for the power storage industry
not to follow, as it provides better data,
cheaper installations, and better integration
across the board. If storage solutions
don't adopt this standard, other solutions
will ultimately take their place. ■
-Glen Jakins is CEO of Humless,
an energy storage equipment
manufacturing company.
POWER|June 2020
http://www.powermag.com
POWER June 2020

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