Tendril is collaborating with Essent N.V. on a first-of-its-kind smart energy application crowd sourcing project. The project will use the Tendril Connect cloud platform to link some of Essent’s smart meter-enabled residential customers with web and mobile application developers from around the world.

The app developers will use Tendril Connect APIs to access interval usage data from energy meters and create consumer apps for the program participants. The project was presented at The Next Web Kings of Code Hack Battle in Amsterdam and will officially begin later this year.

During the pilot, developers will create and test their apps. Essent will then make the apps available to participating households, who can provide feedback to developers, and even rate the applications. The apps could be in a position to gain the attention of Essent’s parent company RWE and its various business units, representing millions of energy customers throughout Europe.

Arjan van der Eijk, Essent director of smart energy, notes, “For consumers, the real value of smart meters comes not from the meter itself, but from innovative, compelling applications that use analytics and other information to turn meter data into a relevant message and action for the consume We believe this unique project will accelerate time to market for innovative energy applications tailored to the needs of our customers in a highly cost-effective manner. This type of innovation lies at the heart of our commitment to continually deliver value to our customers.”

According to a study by the Electric Power Research Institute, consumers who have the ability to monitor their energy use in real-time reduce their electricity consumption by as much as 20 percent.

Kent Dickson, Tendril’s chief technology officer, adds  “This is the future of home energy management It’s about harnessing the creativity of the:  developer community to build energy apps, offer them in an app store environment and let consumers choose the applications that best suit their needs. We architected our platform to make this type of creativity and choice possible and to enable utilities to meet the evolving needs of today’s consumers. Consumers have this type of choice in other areas of their lives. Why shouldn’t they have it in deciding how to manage their energy use?”

© smartmeters.com. No Reproduction without permission.