Electrical panels — the gray boxes of circuit breakers that sit in basements or on the exterior of a house — can be a major barrier to electrifying homes and apartments.
Millions of homes have undersized electrical panels that may be unable to handle the extra power demand that comes with switching from fossil gas to electric heating and appliances, or adding an EV charger to the garage. It’s possible to upgrade these panels, but it can be expensive and at times slow-going, given that utilities often need to be involved.
Arch Rao, CEO of San Francisco–based startup Span, thinks his company’s digitally controllable smart-panel technology could unlock electrification for those homes. But to play that role, the products will have to come in more shapes and sizes — and at lower price points — than Span’s $3,500 32-circuit panel, which is primarily aimed at homes with solar panels on their roofs and backup batteries in their garages.
That’s why Span is now expanding its smart-panel line, Rao told Canary Media in an interview. The goal is to “go from where we are today to a place where we’re helping more homeowners, states and utilities meet their electrification goals.”
Span’s new product line, set for commercial release later this year, includes 24-circuit and 16-circuit models suitable for smaller homes, multifamily buildings and small commercial properties, he said. It also includes a combination panel/electric-meter unit that could serve as a tool for utilities, which is being tested by as-yet-unnamed U.S. utilities via a partnership with global metering technology company Landis+Gyr. Span declined to share pricing information at this time.
“Electrification is going to be relevant across existing homes upgrading to get an EV charger or heat pump,” Rao said, and “utilities are trying to build infrastructure to support widespread electrification” without incurring expensive grid upgrades that can be triggered by homeowners seeking to electrify their homes — which can drive up costs for all customers.
In California, a state with aggressive building-electrification goals, utilities are already starting to fall behind in upgrading their grids to meet increasing loads, Rao pointed out. If a utility determines that an electrification project requires expanding the capacity of the power lines feeding a home, the resulting upgrade project can take years and add tens of thousands of dollars in costs.
And as state programs and federal subsidies from The Inflation Reduction Act bring tens of billions of dollars in tax credits and incentives for home-electrification projects, including solar panels, batteries, electric vehicles and heat pumps, Rao said the need for solutions to panel bottlenecks will become even more urgent. Electrical-panel upgrades themselves are eligible for government incentives, too.
