PowerFlex and WeaveGrid Partner to Advance Grid Flexibility Through Commercial Managed Charging

PowerFlex and WeaveGrid are partnering to help utilities enable more EV charging and unlock greater flexible capacity for the grid. The companies are collaborating to demonstrate how intelligent EV charging and distributed energy resource (DER) orchestration at commercial sites can reduce grid stress, support decarbonization, and create new value streams for businesses and drivers.

This collaboration brings together WeaveGrid’s Distribution-Integrated System Capacity Orchestration (DISCO) platform and PowerFlex’s adaptive EV charging solutions and PowerFlex X™ software, with a shared focus on scaling participation among commercial customers throughout PowerFlex’s expansive commercial charging network.

Why Commercial Managed Charging Matters for Utilities

Utilities across the country are confronting rapid load growth from EVs, electrification, and data centers, but are often constrained by system capacity limitations, particularly at the distribution level. By supporting commercial managed charging and distributed flexibility, utilities can leverage their existing infrastructure more efficiently and shape demand to keep rates affordable for all. At the same time, these solutions help lower the total cost of ownership for site or fleet owners who are participating in these programs.

Sites such as fleet depots, workplaces, multi-unit dwellings, and municipal facilities may operate dozens or even hundreds of EV chargers, representing hundreds of megawatts of dispatchable capacity sitting behind the meter. When those chargers are intelligently controlled, utilities can:

• Support better site utilization: By utilizing both behind-the-meter and front-of-the-meter load balancing, commercial EV charging sites can support more charging per site by operating within both site and grid-level constraints.
• ‍Shape load at the asset level: By acting on utility signals in near real time, commercial sites can coordinate EV charging alongside other onsite DERs, shifting load away from peak periods while still meeting driver or fleet operational requirements.
• ‍Accelerate learnings: Through expansion of these pilots and programs, utilities can more easily measure grid impacts and verify savings, while also providing valuable insights into future system planning needs and the impact of flexible capacity.
  

Through commercial managed charging, WeaveGrid and PowerFlex are acting on a shared belief that the path to a more resilient, affordable grid runs through smarter use of the infrastructure already being deployed.

How the PowerFlex-WeaveGrid Integration Works

The collaboration combines each company’s strengths in a way that is designed to be replicable across multiple utility territories:

1. WeaveGrid coordinates at the grid edge

WeaveGrid’s DISCO platform provides the utility-facing orchestration layer. DISCO translates grid constraints at the transformer, feeder, and bulk system level into dispatch instructions for participating assets. Those assets include commercial EV charging sites managed by PowerFlex in the utility service area, alongside other flexible loads and DERs supported by WeaveGrid.

2. PowerFlex optimizes charging at participating sites

PowerFlex receives WeaveGrid’s dispatch instructions and uses Adaptive Load Management^® (ALM) technology to implement the requested load reduction. Charging is dynamically distributed across participating EV chargers so that site-level electrical constraints and driver or fleet requirements are still met.

3. Participants receive compensation and insights

Subject to the specific program rules, participating customers may receive financial incentives such as bill credits or other rewards, while gaining greater visibility into how their charging behavior supports grid stability and sustainability goals.

This end-to-end flow enables utilities to access flexible capacity from commercial EV charging in a way that is automated, measurable, and compatible with existing grid operations.

WeaveGrid’s DISCO Platform: Orchestrating Flexible Grid Capacity

WeaveGrid’s DISCO platform underpins the partnership’s grid-facing functionality. Originally proven at scale in EV managed charging programs, DISCO has expanded to orchestrate a broader set of distributed energy resources, including batteries and other flexible loads.

Key capabilities of DISCO include:

• Hyper-local visibility: DISCO provides continuous, asset-level insight into flexible capacity on the distribution grid, enabling utilities to see when and where constraints are emerging.
• ‍Device-level orchestration: Through direct, authorized integrations with OEMs and connected devices, DISCO can coordinate behind-the-meter assets, such as EVs and batteries, to stay within transformer, feeder, and bulk system limits.
• ‍Single orchestration layer: Rather than managing separate programs by device type, utilities can use DISCO as a unified dispatch and orchestration platform for hundreds of megawatts of flexible load.
• ‍Capacity without accelerated upgrades: By smoothing local peaks exactly where they occur, DISCO helps utilities serve more load on existing infrastructure, potentially deferring costly grid upgrades while protecting reliability.
  

In the context of this partnership, DISCO’s orchestration capabilities are extended to include commercial EV charging sites powered by PowerFlex, giving utilities a more comprehensive view of, and greater control over, flexible load across their service territories.

Adaptive Load Management & PowerFlex X: Intelligent Control at the Site Level

On the customer side, PowerFlex provides the EV charging hardware and software infrastructure to facilitate onsite load reduction.

PowerFlex chargers are optimized with patented Adaptive Load Management^® technology, which intelligently balances available power between individual ports in real time. Instead of simply dividing power equally or prioritizing by arrival time, ALM takes into account:

• Driver or fleet schedules and required state of charge
• Site-level power constraints and circuit limits
• Utility demand charges and tariff structures
• External signals, such as demand response or managed charging events

For utilities, this means that when a WeaveGrid dispatch request is received, PowerFlex X with ALM can precisely modulate charging across dozens or hundreds of ports at a site to meet the requested reduction while still ensuring vehicles achieve the charge they need by departure time.

For commercial customers, the same tools help:

• Install up to 10x more chargers without major electrical upgrades
• Save up to 60% on implementation costs
• Avoid peak demand charges by flattening site load
• Support fleet reliability and improve driver experience

Managing Integrated Clean Tech Ecosystems

ALM is integrated into the PowerFlex X energy acceleration platform. The software combines the functions of an energy management system (EMS) and charging management system (CMS) with other capabilities to monitor, control, and optimize an organization’s onsite energy assets holistically.

Many PowerFlex customers pair EV charging with onsite solar arrays and battery energy storage. This combination of clean technologies creates additional value for utilities and participants in commercial managed charging programs:

• Higher utilization of clean energy: Solar generation can help power EV chargers and replenish onsite batteries, reducing reliance on fossil-fueled grid power.
• ‍Peak shaving and TOU optimization: Stored energy can be dispatched during high-cost or high-demand periods, helping sites avoid demand charges and reduce their carbon footprint.
• ‍Microgrid and resilience capabilities: When solar, storage, and EV charging are configured as an islanded microgrid, facilities can maintain critical operations — including fleet readiness — during broader grid disruptions.
• ‍Virtual power plant participation: Combined DERs such as solar, storage, and EV charging can be aggregated into virtual power plants (VPPs), creating additional revenue opportunities through demand response and other grid services.
  

By integrating these assets under PowerFlex X and connecting them to WeaveGrid’s DISCO platform, utilities can tap into a richer, more flexible portfolio of distributed resources — both for managed charging pilots and for future grid services programs.

An Invitation to Utilities: Commercial Managed Charging

As the challenges inherent to EV adoption and electrification intensify, WeaveGrid and PowerFlex can help utilities:

• Increase hosting capacity on existing distribution infrastructure
• Maintain reliability as load becomes more dynamic and localized
• Engage customers in programs that are both simple and financially compelling
• Align EV charging with broader decarbonization and DER strategies
  

If you represent a utility and are interested in exploring commercial managed charging, grid-edge flexibility, and integrated DER orchestration, reach out to WeaveGrid or PowerFlex today about incorporating our solution in your own service territory.