Among policy circles of electricity consumption experts, demand response has become a hot topic. Demand response, sometimes referred to simply as DR, is the amount customers alter their electricity consumption during times of high demand on the electric grid. The reason it has become so important is because peak demand drives the price of electricity up and places the most stress on the grid during the year.Power Smart Pricing customers understand this idea better than most any electric customers throughout the United States. There is a very clear pricing incentive to lower your electricity usage on those hot summer afternoons.
When CNT Energy goes to conferences to discuss our work, we focus on the demand response of our Power Smart Pricing customers. In the case of most electricity pricing programs, customers do not have any incentive to alter their electricity consumption during times of high demand.
Some utilities take the matter in their own hands by instituting a dynamic demand mechanism. This term refers to ways the utility can lower household consumption on their own. For example, an air condition cycling program gives the utility control over a household's largest electrical appliance. The ability to manage consumption is so important that utility companies even offer a bill credit to have this control.
Like all good ideas, someone has figured out how to profit from it. EnerNoc manages large scale building energy consumption. According to the company, they currently manage 2 to 2.2 gigawatts nationwide. Their business is growing with deals like they recently made with the City of Boston to manage its public buildings. Aside from complex demand response solutions, EnerNoc can show an organization where and when they are wasting their energy consumption.
Here is another example of PSP customers being ahead of the curve. Continue achieving great savings results and responding to peak demand!
1 comment:
Demand Response is a nice way to best utilize the energy supply that we have in relation to the transmission grid. I whole heartedly endorse the use of DR to allow Energy producers and Transmission compnaies - even down to the distribution providers to use every single method of DR to it's fullest use. That means sometimes DR is used to make available a Megawatt or two for profit purposes. Using DR for the purpose of conservation (saving the planet) is an abberant use of the technology. Until we (the USA) regain the samnity of mind that says we need more generation, both coal and nuclear, we will further become global paupers and apologists for being "consumers". Oh to see the day when we value production rather than wasted capacity. Wise use of resources for sure, but this country did not become great by conservation. We did not save the world from despotism twice in the 20th century by conservation. We had to out produce the enemy not out conserve them. We have vast resources of coal and natural gas, we have safe nuclear technology,if we knuckle under to the Global Warming alarmists, we will give global supremacy to our enemy and become their subjects.
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