Alabama Power, partners to develop smart neighborhood

Alabama Power, Signature Homes, Southern Company, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and several technology vendors recently partnered to develop Smart Neighborhood in Hoover, Alabama to test, demonstrate and collect data from various emerging energy technologies.

The 62-home community will be located at Signature Homes’ new Reynold’s Landing community at Ross Bridge in Hoover, featuring advanced energy-efficient technologies, materials and appliances, as well as a community-scale power system. Energy usage and performance data will be collected from the home’s features and be analyzed to determine how they can be used to improve the way homes are built and powered.

The neighborhood’s microgrid will be comprised of solar panels, battery storage and backup generation. It will be capable of generating over 586,000 kilowatt hours of energy annually, enough energy to power the neighborhood. The community will also be connected to the existing grid.

“Customers today expect energy solutions that fit their lifestyles, and that is the idea behind Smart Neighborhood by Alabama Power,” John Hudson, senior vice president of marketing and business development at Alabama Power, said. “Our goal is to continue to enhance our customers’ experiences and to ensure they have more control over their energy use.”

Each home in the Smart Neighborhood will feature a high-efficiency Carrier Infinity heat pump, a Rheem hybrid electric water heater, a Carrier Infinity Greenspeed intelligence home comfort system with an Infinity Touch thermostat, a Rheem EcoNet mobile app and a Vivint smart home system, interconnected Samsung appliances including a refrigerator, dishwasher, washer and dryer and an induction range and energy-efficient insulation, triple-pane windows and LED lighting.

Construction on the community is scheduled to begin this summer and be completed by spring 2018. Data from the project will be collected for two years.