Government & Public-Sector Partners
The Quickest, Highest-ROI Path to Winter-Peak and Summer Parasitic drain Relief.
Did you know? ~30% of heat cables are left running through the summer.
Across America’s snowbelt, roof-heating cables run 24 / 7 from November to April, quietly drawing ≈1.9 kW per circuit whether snow is present or not. With more than 20 million such buildings, that “always-on” load wastes about 140 TWh every winter—over half the annual output of U.S. solar.
Powder Watts replaces that waste with a shapeable, dispatchable Virtual Power Plant (VPP): computer-vision smart switches energise cables only when snow or ice are detected, permanently cutting 70–90 percent of the load. The result is zero-carbon capacity that costs a fraction of batteries or new wires and deploys in weeks, not years.
Case Study | Powder Watts vs. Two Tesla Powerwalls
(≈ 10–11 kW winter-peak capacity per cold-climate home)
| Metric (2025 install) | Powder Watts FlexiWatt™ | Two Tesla Powerwalls |
|---|---|---|
| Primary grid function | Permanently sheds 70–90 % of roof-cable load; also Shapes & Shifts | Shifts load up to 10 kW for ≈ 2.5hrs; no permanent shed |
| Hardware per home | ≈ 6 smart switches controlling ≈ 11 kW | 2 × 13.5 kWh batteries (≈ 10 kW continuous for 2.5hrs) |
| Up-front installed cost | ≈ $1,500 / switch → ≈ $9,000 per home | ≈ $30,800 before incentives → ≈ $21,560 after 30 % ITC |
| First-year utility incentive($0.35 / kWh saved) | 25.8 MWh × $0.35 = $9,030 outlay | None – batteries do not save kWh |
| Net program cost per controllable kW* | ≈ $821 / kW | ≈ $2,156 / kW |
| Annual net energy impact | 25.8 MWh saved | ≈ 0.45 MWh lost • Charge (AC→DC) ≈ 95 % • Discharge (DC→AC) ≈ 94 % • Round-trip ≈ 89 % → 10.7 % loss on 4 050 kWh cycled† |
| Lifetime public cost per kWh‡ | ≈ $0.023 | ≈ $0.22 |
| Interconnection / studies | None – installs on existing roof circuits | Often requires panel upgrade & interconnection review |
| Raw-material exposure | No lithium, cobalt, nickel | Lithium-ion supply-chain constraints |
| Useful life | 15–20 yr (no cycling degradation) | 10–12 yr to 70 % capacity (cycle-limited) |
* Program-sponsor cost after incentive ÷ controllable kilowatts.
† Two Powerwalls (27 kWh) cycled once per winter day for 150 days → 4,050 kWh throughput; 10.7 % round-trip loss ≈ 435 kWh ≈ 0.45 MWh wasted.
‡ Program-sponsor outlay ÷ lifetime verified energy benefit (15 yr for Powder Watts; 10 yr usable for batteries).
Policy takeaway: Even with a $0.35 / kWh first-year incentive, Powder Watts delivers dispatchable winter capacity for about $0.82 /W—over 70 % cheaper per kilowatt and nearly ten times cheaper per lifetime kilowatt-hour than two home batteries. It saves 25.8 MWh per home each year, while the battery stack actually consumes about 0.45 MWh in conversion losses.
Bottom line: Powder Watts offers governments and utilities the highest, most enduring ROI for winter-peak resilience—no lithium, no interconnection delays, and no new transmission.