With climate change, many other changes follow, including meteorological phenomena. Those weather events, in turn, pose a threat to grid reliability. So to ensure that there will be no blackouts of energy, electric grid operators use different systems to ensure the flow stability.
Flex Alert
Get your flex alert and be prepared
Web AppCustom SoftwareTypeScriptReactNode.jsNestJSTypeORMPostgreSQLAWS
Core values
Deep insight into conservation efforts - Choropleth map shows the areas of response thanks to which CAISO can forecast the level of conservation. Plus, the subscribers can also have an insight into the area's engagement by entering the ZIP code.
Subscribers' privacy preserved - each user has its own digital identity (DID) on the Energy Web Chain that allows CASIO to communicate with the subscribers but thanks to blockchain technology there is no way to link personal data to response history.
Flexibility - both subscribers and non-subscribers can respond to Flex Alerts.
High demand of the app - we had to prepare the app to serve millions of subscribers from the beginning.
Learn more about the collaboration between Energy Web and CAISO from the article on Medium.
Everybody like numbers
2
backend apps - one for providing business logic, data encryption and API integration, while the second one for analytics data
2
frontend apps - one that allows the users to subscribe, manage the account data
1
app for synchronizing data with the 3rd party software
40 mln
users - this was the app’s range that we had to be prepared for
As with every system, there are some options on the market. But what if no available solution caters to your needs? What if you need something different and all you have for now is an idea?
Then, custom software is your solution to go. It ensures scalability and security of the system. Plus, it’s cost-effective and you have a continous support from your team - whether it’s about upgrading functionalities or fixing bugs, the team is there for you. On every step of the way.
And that's how the project was born. As Energy Web worked with CAISO to improve its existing Flex Alert system, we provided development and design support.
Our goal
Our main task was to build web application where users can subscribe to flex alerts via email and set zip code. Subscription makes you available for receiving the previously mentioned alerts when energy drop-off in given area is predicted.
Additionally, users are able to make a response on every alert to confirm that they are participating in energy saving. Responses may be done anonymous or by using user’s data. However, all personal information is secure thanks to cryptographic blockchain utilities.
As for our additional tasks, we had to build tools for collecting analytics data, do data migrations and synchronize them with the 3rd party.
Those data include:
- Total subscribers count (can be filtered by month),
- Total response count (can be filtered by month, or by alert),
- Response count by region (county),
- Anonymous / Not Anonymous response count.
About the clients
Energy Web
Energy Web is a global nonprofit organization accelerating a low-carbon, customer-centric electricity system with blockchain technology. What do they do? They primarily focus on decarbonizing energy grids with open-source, decentralized technologies.
CAISO
The California Independent System Operator (ISO) is a nonprofit public benefit corporation that takes care of the wholesale power grid in the majority of California. Their goal is to ensure Californians have their electricity 24/7 by managing the demand flexibility systems called Flex Alerts.
How we worked in the international team
During this project, we collaborated with worldwide teams, including the USA, the Philippines, and Ukraine. And because we worked with various people, we had specific roles in the team. We were responsible mostly for code development working very close with devOps team and software architect.
As for project management, we used Jira, which helped us plan and track our progress in the international team.
Challenges & how we overcame them
It was our first time working with cryptography, so we had to know the solution to work with it properly. We used its basic functions during the project, such as generating the library, encrypting, and deciphering the data.
Also, the app was in high demand in California. In the beginning, we had thousands, if not millions, of subscribers merged into the system. That was another challenge for us - to prepare the product for all the possibilities.
Different time zones were also an issue. We had to figure out a way to connect and talk about the progress we made in the project. For that, we used Slackbot. It was set on a given hour and reminded all the team members to enlist the tasks we did that day.
Plus, we knew that the app had to be ready for peak hours - this is the time when people get a Flex Alert message and respond to it - so we had to optimize the product to work well during this time. Luckily, we managed to do that.
Save energy - anytime, anywhere
As a result, we’ve managed to create a whole energy saving system, including getting and managing flex alerts as well as collecting, migrating and synchronizing data with the 3rd party. All of it while preserivng the privacy of the app’s subscribers.
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