Dive Brief:
- NextEra Energy Services and AutoGrid announced yesterday they would partner to offer two new demand response programs for commercial and industrial customers in the PJM market, allowing either manual participation or automated responses via an online DR platform dubbed "ControlComm."
- A real-time price response program will allow customers to be paid to reduce usage when market prices for electricity are high for at least an hour and are forecasted to stay high for a few hours in the future.
- Another "5 Peak Load Contribution" (5PLC) program allows participants to lower their energy bills by reducing electric usage during the five highest 15-minute PJM peak events that occur in June, July, August and September.
Dive Insight:
The FERC 745 decision earlier this year to uphold the federal agency's ability to regulate demand response programs in wholesale markets was expected to boost demand response programs. Now that expectation appears to ring true.
NextEra Energy Service and AutoGrid have developed two new demand response programs targeting C&I customers, which along with efficiency and other demand management services are designed to help customers lower bills significantly by responding to short-duration calls for curtailment.
“Our introduction of these programs in PJM provides our customers with an easy way to modify energy consumption to reduce their energy costs," NextEra Energy Services President Brian Landrum said in a statement. “These new demand response programs, along with our existing energy efficiency, renewable energy and other energy services, help our customers implement smart energy strategies that meet their business objectives.”
The new Real-Time Price Response program allows fixed-price customers to reduce usage when real-time market prices for electricity are high for at least an hour and are forecasted to stay high for a few hours in the future.
"Customers who choose to reduce their electricity usage below a calculated baseline during such periods will get paid based on the duration and corresponding market prices of electricity during their curtailment," NextEra said.
The 5PLC targetrs the five highest 15-minute PJM peak events that occur in June, July, August and September. NextEra will provide a daily notification and rolling five-day forecast to customers to plan for anticipated 5PLC peaks in the PJM market.
The companies said customers can choose to manually or automate some or all of their participation by connecting building management systems—such as heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, lighting systems and energy storage systems to name a few—to the ControlComm platform, powered by AutoGrid.
“These intelligent, automated demand response programs enable NextEra Energy Services customers to maximize their demand response program energy savings without impacting their operations,” said AutoGrid CEO Amit Narayan. “From accurate event forecasting, and an easy-to-use portal, to automated response to events, these demand response programs provide customers with the tools they need to simply and effectively monetize their energy flexibility.”
The ControlComm platform integrates grid operator demand response event signals directly into its system, includes forecasting algorithms to provide accurate forecasts of when demand response events are likely to be scheduled, and allows customers to analyze historical, interval energy data.
In addition to the PJM market, NextEra Energy said its ControlComm platform is also available to customers located in Texas through demand response products optimized for the ERCOT market.
