Demand response
Demand response: lessons from the Smart Synergy pilot
An archived pilot illustrates how businesses can be compensated for providing short-duration demand flexibility.
Adapted for PB Energy’s Insights archive from David Brushett’s LinkedIn commentary. The date shown is the original post date.
Demand response asks participating customers to adjust electricity use during specified periods. EfficiencyOne’s Smart Synergy pilot offered an example of how commercial and industrial customers could provide that flexibility.
The historical offer
The accompanying pilot flyer described up to 12 events, lasting up to four hours each, during December through February. It advertised compensation of $100 per kilowatt of average seasonal reduction, subject to the pilot’s rules and performance measurement.
The notice described notification by 4 p.m. on the preceding day. Notice length therefore depended on whether the event occurred the following morning or evening. These terms belong to the archived pilot, not a current offer.
Identify flexibility before committing
Useful candidates can include controllable heating, cooling, charging, storage and industrial processes with scheduling flexibility. Each site needs to assess operating constraints, safety, comfort and how the reduction will be measured.
The broader lesson is to value when energy is used alongside how much is consumed. Reliable demand flexibility can complement energy efficiency while giving customers another reason to improve metering and controls.
