Pecan Street
Pecan Street is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit operating the world's largest volunteer residential energy and water research network — 1,000+ instrumented homes across 10 states — feeding 15 billion daily data records into Dataport for 2,000+ academic and commercial users across 60 countries.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2009
- HeadquartersAustin, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Pecan Street does
Pecan Street Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit research and development organization founded in 2009 in Austin, Texas, that operates the world's largest volunteer residential energy, water, and transportation research network, with instrumentation installed in more than 1,000 homes across 10 states and Puerto Rico. Its core technology combines proprietary hardware (eGauge circuit-level meters, BluCube/BluBand water monitoring devices, microgrid prototypes, and a 3,800 sq-ft, 800A testing lab) with custom wireless data transmission software that captures electricity, water, and natural gas usage at intervals from one second to one minute, 24/7/365. This data flows into Dataport, a web-based platform that grows by 15 billion records per day and serves as the largest source of disaggregated customer energy data on the planet, used by more than 2,000 university-sponsored researchers from 60 countries and producing 600+ peer-reviewed publications.
The organization generates revenue through a mix of philanthropic and federal grants (Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Department of Energy, NSF), tiered Dataport data licensing (free academic tier, $10,000-$15,000/year university subscriptions, custom-priced commercial multi-year licenses), and fee-based services including product testing and UL-certified verification at the Pecan Street Lab, field trial deployment of products in instrumented homes, and the PLATFORM for Product Launch startup acceleration program. Its customer base spans academic researchers (primary), energy technology companies and utilities (Austin Energy, Capital Metro, Peninsula Clean Energy), government agencies, water utilities via the University Municipal Water Consortium, and clean-energy startups, supported by board representation from Siemens, Octopus Energy Group, and Cornell University. Recent strategic moves include geographic expansion into Oklahoma, Georgia, Oregon, and Pennsylvania, vertical expansion into soil carbon via the Digital Dirt initiative, and product expansion into waveform-level electricity data and vehicle-to-grid research.
Pecan Street firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Pecan Street
- Legal name
- Pecan Street Inc.
- Website
- https://pecanstreet.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2009
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Pecan Street is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit operating the world's largest volunteer residential energy and water research network — 1,000+ instrumented homes across 10 states — feeding 15 billion daily data records into Dataport for 2,000+ academic and commercial users across 60 countries.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Where Pecan Street is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Austin
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Pecan Street business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Operations, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Data Licensing: Dataport licensing to universities and commercial entities. University pricing ranges from free (basic tier with 75 homes) to $10,000-$15,000 for broader institutional access. Regular commercial licensing available with custom pricing.
- Lab Testing Services: Product testing and verification services through the commercialization lab. Includes UL-certified testing, proof-of-concept verification, and performance testing for energy and water-related products.
- Field Testing: Field testing deployment of products in homes equipped with high-resolution monitoring equipment, enabling companies to test and validate products with real-world data.
- Free Tier Access: Free university tier provides basic access to 75 homes from Austin, New York, and California testbeds with ISO data. Designed to enable academic research without cost barriers.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Annual | University Free - Basic data access at no cost |
| Subscription | Annual | University-Funded Faculty Research - $10,000/year |
| Subscription | Annual | University-Funded University-Wide - $15,000/year |
| Subscription | Multi-year contract | Regular/Commercial License - Custom pricing |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels8 records
Pecan Street product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Pecan Street operates the world's largest volunteer network of residential energy customers (1,000+ homes across 10 states and Puerto Rico) and delivers high-resolution electricity, water, and natural gas usage data through its Dataport platform. It also runs a 3,800 sq-ft commercialization lab in Austin for product testing and verification, and offers field-testing deployment services for energy, water, and connected-home technologies. The organization generates 15 billion data records daily, used by 2,000+ university researchers from 60 countries.
Product overview
Pecan Street is a research and development organization (501(c)(3)) headquartered in Austin, TX that operates the world's largest volunteer network of residential energy data participants. The company's core offering consists of Dataport, a comprehensive data platform providing high-resolution energy, water, and transportation datasets to researchers and companies; Pecan Street Lab, a world-class 3,800 sq ft testing and commercialization facility; and specialized hardware products including BluCube and BluBand for water monitoring, and eGauge for electricity measurement. Additional offerings include Digital Dirt (soil carbon research), the PLATFORM for Product Launch (startup acceleration), and high-resolution Waveform Data. The organization also hosts the University Municipal Water Consortium and offers the Leak Detection, Measurement & Verification (LDMV) platform. The network spans 1,000+ homes across 10 states and Puerto Rico, generating 15 billion data points daily used by 2,000+ university researchers from 60 countries.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Dataport The world's largest resource for residential energy use data, providing high-resolution electricity, water, and natural gas usage data to researchers and companies for technology development and testing. Includes datasets for EV charging, rooftop solar, energy storage, and regenerative agriculture.
- Pecan Street Lab A 3-story, 3,800 square-foot testing and verification facility equipped with split-phase 800A electrical service, solar arrays, full building automation, and equipment for testing energy and water technologies including smart meters, fuel cells, EV charging, HVAC, and disaggregation algorithms. Used by major corporations and startups for product certification and validation.
- BluCube A gateway device that connects water meters to Pecan Street's secure data servers via home Wi-Fi, enabling real-time water usage monitoring and leak detection for residential and commercial properties.
- BluBand A non-invasive device that converts existing water meters into smart meters, enabling minute-level water data collection and near real-time monitoring of water usage.
- High-Resolution Waveform Electricity Data High-resolution waveform electricity dataset providing direct measurements of voltage and current at the waveform level, enabling unprecedented insight into how electricity flows through homes, devices, and distributed energy systems.
- PLATFORM for Product Launch A startup acceleration platform integrating data-driven market intelligence, minimum viable product development, rapid prototyping, and industry collaboration to streamline technology validation and investment acquisition for clean energy and water technology startups.
- Leak Detection, Measurement & Verification (LDMV) A platform for testing and verifying water-related products through Pecan Street's lab or field testbed, enabling companies to assess leak detection, measurement accuracy, and water conservation product effectiveness.
- Digital Dirt Pecan Street's soil carbon sequestration research initiative applying big data expertise to accelerate market development for regenerative agriculture and carbon farming, including AI/ML approaches for monitoring and verification.
Quantifiable outcome
- 15 billion data records generated daily, making Pecan Street's database the largest source of disaggregated customer energy data on the planet
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use Pecan Street
Customer profileNamed customers7 records
Segments5 records
Ideal customer profiles5 records
Pecan Street technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration1 record
AI capability6 records
Feature6 records
Pecan Street partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.
- Austin EnergycorePartnership on DOE-funded Austin SHINES project designing, managing, and analyzing performance of using energy from EVs as a dispatchable grid resource. Also partner in V2G research center development.
- University Municipal Water ConsortiumcoreConsortium of 25+ water utilities and universities collaborating with Pecan Street to accelerate water conservation and availability solutions through advanced technologies, cloud computing, and data-intensive field research.
- Austin Technology Incubator (ATI)majorPartnership to launch Water Technology Incubator helping companies commercialize technologies for transportation, purification, and distribution of water.
- Cornell UniversitymajorNSF-funded partnership with researchers at Cornell University and Colorado State University for soil carbon research, exploring information pathways and digital tools to support regenerative agriculture decisions.
- Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC)majorPartnership to convene AI for Soil Carbon Monitoring and Working Group and develop Digital Dirt toolkit. Continued partnership to integrate publicly accessible soils datasets into modern, integrated soil information system.
- 4p1000 InitiativeminorInternational partnership focused on soil carbon sequestration, part of Pecan Street's Digital Dirt initiative exploring regenerative agriculture and carbon farming markets.
- Capital MetromajorPartnership on Electric Last Mile project testing all-electric, zero emissions, low-speed shuttle circulators in three Austin neighborhoods, with experimentation in autonomous vehicle technology.
- Georgia Tech and Lamarr.AIminorCollaboration using drones to provide efficiency improvements for lower-income families and demonstrate collective power of saving energy and money.
- Peninsula Clean EnergyminorPartnership on nine-home electrification pilot in San Mateo County, California, replacing fossil-gas and propane appliances with efficient electric ones at no cost to recipients.
Scale indicators7 records
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Pecan Street competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- EPRI: Electric Power Research Institute is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that conducts collaborative R&D for the electricity sector, funded by utility members. It is the most direct institutional peer to Pecan Street in terms of mission, nonprofit structure, and utility-anchored research output.
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory: LBNL's Energy Technologies Area runs residential energy efficiency research programs (e.g., Home Energy Saver, end-use load research). It shares Pecan Street's residential data research mandate but is a federally funded national laboratory with substantially larger scope and budget.
Emerging players
- Recurve: Recurve provides meter-based energy analytics, load forecasting, and grid flexibility analytics for utilities and program administrators. It is comparable to Pecan Street's Dataport analytics work but operates as a for-profit SaaS focused on demand-side flexibility and M&V rather than residential research.
- Bidgely: Bidgely applies AI to smart meter data for appliance-level energy disaggregation and customer engagement. It directly parallels Pecan Street's NILM disaggregation research capabilities but monetizes through utility SaaS contracts rather than academic data licensing.
- Sense: Sense sells a home energy monitor that performs circuit-level disaggregation using machine learning. It is directly comparable to Pecan Street's high-resolution monitoring approach but distributes as a consumer hardware product rather than operating a research participant network.
- Span: Span builds smart electrical panels that provide circuit-level visibility and DER control in homes. It overlaps with Pecan Street's circuit-level monitoring mandate but focuses on DER orchestration and electrification rather than research data licensing.
- Arcadia: Arcadia operates a clean energy data platform that connects households to utility interval data and renewable programs. It is comparable to Pecan Street's residential energy data aggregation but commercializes through community solar and clean energy marketplace monetization.
Broad incumbents
- Itron: Itron is a global leader in smart electricity, gas, and water metering and AMI infrastructure for utilities. It is comparable to Pecan Street's water (BluCube/BluBand) and electricity (eGauge) metering hardware deployments but operates at massive commercial scale across investor-owned and municipal utilities.
- Uplight: Uplight provides customer energy engagement, DERMS, and analytics platforms for utilities. It is comparable to Pecan Street's utility-facing analytics and demand response research but operates as a venture-backed SaaS serving utility customer programs.
- NREL: The National Renewable Energy Laboratory is the U.S. Department of Energy's primary national laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research. It is comparable in research mandate to Pecan Street but is federally funded and orders of magnitude larger in budget and staff.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Pecan Street social profiles
Digital presencePecan Street compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance1 record
Pecan Street financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Pecan Street leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles14 records
Pecan Street funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds2 records
Investors1 record
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Pecan Street M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Pecan Street
What does Pecan Street do?
Pecan Street operates the world's largest volunteer network of residential energy customers (1,000+ homes across 10 states and Puerto Rico) and delivers high-resolution electricity, water, and natural gas usage data through its Dataport platform. It also runs a 3,800 sq-ft commercialization lab in Austin for product testing and verification, and offers field-testing deployment services for energy, water, and connected-home technologies. The organization generates 15 billion data records daily, used by 2,000+ university researchers from 60 countries.
Is Pecan Street a public or private company?
Pecan Street is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was Pecan Street founded?
Pecan Street was founded in 2009. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Pecan Street based?
Pecan Street is headquartered in Austin, United States, in the North America region.
How does Pecan Street make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Data Licensing is the primary driver. The others are lab Testing Services, field Testing and free Tier Access.
Who are Pecan Street's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are EPRI and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Emerging players are Recurve, Bidgely, Sense, Span and Arcadia. Broad incumbents are Itron, Uplight and NREL.
Does Pecan Street have an API?
No public API is recorded for Pecan Street.