The current Hoosier Energy demand response pilot utilizing around 400 smart thermostats and a smart thermostat program with around 1,000 devices will migrate to the DERMS platform. The OATI DERMS platform will connect the residential programs into a single control and data platform to simplify Hoosier Energy’s control process, provide additional distributed energy resource (DER) benefits, and measure and verify program impact. The platform's flexibility enables Hoosier Energy to allow customers to bring their own devices into its demand response program, as well. In the future, Hoosier Energy may expand the program to commercial and industrial members or to additional distribution grid assets and DERs.

“OATI DERMS is a scalable solution allowing Hoosier Energy to coordinate DER value streams, maintain member system autonomy, and return value to the entire membership. DERs are an emerging energy resource with continuously maturing value streams as the energy grid transforms. OATI’s DERMS is a flexible tool which allows us to pivot alongside the electric grid’s transformation and maximize the value we can return to our members.” – Ryan Henderson, Senior Manager – Emerging Energy Resources, Hoosier Energy.

OATI webSmartEnergy® DERMS was selected by Hoosier Energy as part of a competitive application process. The program will focus primarily on demand response applications through Wi-Fi connections with plans to expand smart energy/DERMS capabilities and communication types as future needs arise. Hoosier Energy will administer the program on behalf of its 17 members and will have full control and a system view of all participating cooperatives while providing visibility for each co-op and the devices within service territory.

The partnership between Hoosier Energy and OATI builds on a relationship that began with bulk power software solutions more than two decades ago.

"Once again, Hoosier Energy has recognized the imperative of investing in proven, bankable technology that enables its members and their customers to dynamically navigate the energy transition," said Sasan Mokhtari, president and CEO of OATI. “OATI is honored to once again support Hoosier Energy's innovation journey, which is rooted in providing affordable, reliable, and clean energy.”

In recent years, OATI has become the go-to partner for utilities, including rural cooperatives, in search of a DERMS solution that is grid-tested and seamless to deploy. The company now boasts more than 10,000 MW of load under command and control from G&T cooperatives, rural distribution cooperatives, municipal utilities, and investor-owned utilities. To date, of the 60 G&T cooperatives in the U.S., 11 are now utilizing the OATI DERMS solution, due in part because of its unique multi-company capabilities and integration partnership with the National Information Solutions Cooperative.

OATI’s tailored approach to customer service allows utilities, like Hoosier Energy, to grow its DERMS partnership from a single use case into a full-fledged platform to support its members. That adaption is made possible by OATI’s in-house systems integration team that masterfully connects diverse interfaces. In the case of Hoosier Energy, that meant tying more than 50 disparate interfaces into the OATI DERMS platform.

The growing list of OATI DERMS customers includes some of the most innovative utilities in the world, enhancing the expansive footprint of OATI Smart Grid solutions.

"Utilities around the world require solutions that help them stay ahead of a rapidly evolving energy landscape," Mokhtari said. "They trust OATI's DERMS, and so many of our industry-leading tools, because of the painstaking effort our team devotes to getting the technology right the first time. That's been OATI's promise for nearly 30 years, and it always will be.”