Dive Brief:
- Arizona Public Service this month proposed a slate of new efficiency and demand-side measures that include incentives for smart thermostats, electric vehicle charging infrastructure, electric school buses and charging infrastructure, energy storage and water heater timers.
- Among the programs is a "reverse demand response" pilot that aims to address negative pricing in the middle of the day by shifting non-residential load to times when renewable energy abundant.
- The program aims to reduce the need to curtail solar during periods of negative pricing. To be eligible, dispatchable customer load must have a demand of at least 30 kW.
Dive Insight:
APS' application, filed on the first of this month, stresses that energy efficiency "continues to be a vital part" of the utility's resource portfolio. But in some instances, simply reducing demand is not the most effective tool.
"We can deliver higher value by also using other demand side tools like load shifting, electrification and reverse demand response to help smooth system load shapes and shift energy use into midday hours when energy prices are low or negatively priced," the utility explained in its plan to implement the program.
APS is proposing a new reverse demand response pilot initiative in 2018 that will work to identify opportunities for dispatching loads in response to negative pricing events.
This pilot "invites customers to work with APS to find innovative ways to benefit themselves as well as contribute to lowering rates for all APS customers."
Customers would need to identify "beneficial but non-essential loads" that could be operated in response to an event signal. Those loads would be sub-metered and provided with no-cost energy during event periods. APS said the pilot provides load flexibility to help address duck curve challenges, and reduce the need to curtail solar during periods of negative pricing.
To be eligible, the dispatchable customer load must have a demand of at least 30 kW.
