Dive Brief:
- Exelon's PECO Energy has tapped demand-response provider CPower to help reduce demand during the hottest summer months by targeting commercial and industrial loads for curtailment.
- CPower is helping several utilities meet the load management requirements of Pennsylvania Act 129, which directed utilities to increase their reliance on demand response.
- CPower's strategies to curtail large loads include temporarily reducing or shutting down industrial processes, turning off lights in groups or sequences, cutting back HVAC systems or closing large motors and compressors.
Dive Insight:
CPower has announced a string of agreements this year, and Pennsylvania's Act 129 has been a boon to its business.
In January, FirstEnergy selected EnerNOC and CPower to fulfill a four-year demand response contract at three of its Pennsylvania utilities: Met-Ed, Penn Power and West Penn Power. And in February, National Grid selected CPower, EnerNOC and IPKeys to help launch its first commercial demand response program for customers in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
"The new PA programs will provide compounding value and a great opportunity for businesses to improve their bottom line and help the community by keeping the power system sustainable and stable during times of high use," CPower Senior Vice President Glenn Bogarde said in a statement.
CPower will offer the Commercial and Industrial Demand Response Program from June to September, 2017 until 2020. The program is "unique," CPower said in that it allows for enrollment in addition to existing PJM programs.
Pennsylvania Act 129 was passed in 2008. The initial phase required utilities with more than 100,000 customers to reduce MWh consumption by 3% and reduce system demand 4.5% during peak hours. The second phase focused on efficiency targets with no demand reduction component. In the third and current phase, regulators have directed utilities to make additional reductions in demand and consumption.
