New FERC Order expands the reach of demand response

Posted on by Kelly Yazdani

This past Thursday, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) ruled to unify the treatment of distributed energy resources. Up to this point, states could opt-out, banning the participation of distributed resources in the wholesale power markets serving their local customers. What this meant practically for large commercial, industrial, and institutional organizations was that sites in certain states could not capitalize on their operational flexibility. According to Gregg Dixon, Voltus CEO, this historic FERC ruling “eliminates the antiquated local barriers that have prevented these distributed energy resources from delivering and receiving value in every wholesale power market in the United States.” Put simply, states can no longer opt-out.

Jon Wellinghoff, the former FERC Chairman commonly referred to as the “godfather” of demand response, also puts this ruling into perspective. “This ruling is the single most important decision in FERC history. By cementing the place of distributed energy resources in wholesale markets, we have taken a leap toward ensuring reliable grids and a clean energy future.” Wellinghoff, who refers to demand response as the “skeleton key” of the clean energy transition, speaks openly about the need for this balancing resource to allow for the widespread adoption of renewable energy.

Yet our work is not done. It will be 90 days before this ruling is written into law, and wholesale market operators then have up to nine months to submit compliance filings on how to modify the tariffs to enable these resources. Voltus is working closely with the appropriate grid operators to expedite implementation, expanding the financial opportunities for multi-site customers, as well as single-site organizations within these localities. Despite these short-term limitations, Dixon writes that the long term vision for Voltus is clear: “Our team and platform are ready to accelerate the energy transition, unlocking the value of distributed energy resources in every state.”

Interested in cashing in on your operational flexibility? Reach out to our team at info@voltus.co to learn more about the opportunities available to your organization.

Week #6 – Working with multiple CSPs to maximize DR dollars

Posted on by Kelly Yazdani

Potential Customer: Can my company work with more than one curtailment service provider (CSP) to stack multiple demand response (DR) programs and maximize earnings?

Voltus: Yes. Well … maybe. 

Nearly 140 demand response programs exist across North America. Many of these programs are offered exclusively by Voltus while others aren’t offered by Voltus at all. What’s that now?

That’s right, in some cases a DR program is offered only by a utility or even a competing CSP. No matter, Voltus lays out all the options for monetizing your operational flexibility and supports your participation in every program with our technology and services. 

Conversely, we often talk to customers who are currently under contract with a different CSP and are interested in contracting with Voltus to cash in on additional programs. Is that allowed?

From Voltus’s perspective, of course. The caveat here is that you need to make sure you are not prevented from doing so under your current CSP’s contract. We always advise customers to make sure that any new program they sign up for at a facility doesn’t preclude them from participating in other programs with other providers. We’ve run into many unfortunate situations where a customer signed up with a CSP and gave them exclusivity over not only a single facility’s ability to participate in DR, but exclusivity over DR for all of their facilities … unbeknownst to them.

So, let’s look at a real world example. Voltus works with a large commercial real estate company with properties throughout the United States. This customer is very sophisticated and wanted to take full advantage of every stackable DR program in the PJM service territory, specifically Pennsylvania. In Pennsylvania, a customer can take advantage of seven separate demand response programs simultaneously. Unfortunately, the company’s CSP at the time had exclusive rights to all DR programs at each of the company’s facilities under a contract that had been signed three years prior for a five year term. The larger problem was that the CSP only offered two of the seven programs and wouldn’t cooperate in allowing the customer to participate in the other five programs. In fact, the CSP claimed that by tapping into other programs the company was putting their current DR earnings at risk (fake news).

In this particular case, the CSP had enrolled the customer in PJM’s ELRP program and signed them up for economic DR to capture energy payments. As it turns out, the more lucrative option for the customer was a combination of Pennsylvania Act 129 DR, Voltus’s Peak Saver program, and PJM’s synchronized reserves program. We showed the customer that they would more than double their demand response dollars by enrolling in these additional programs. We also helped the customer negotiate away from exclusivity with their original CSP. Amazingly, participation in these additional programs actually increased the company’s earnings in the two original programs – a win-win-win for all parties involved!

Of course, every region is different and every CSP is different so it’s important to dig into the details.

  1. Make sure you’re not limited by current terms and conditions in your DR agreements.
  2. Make sure you’re taking advantage of every stackable DR program.

In the end, the best strategy for you business may be to use two (or more) CSPs. We’re indifferent as long as you’re maximizing your demand response dollars.

Interested in doubling your company’s DR dollars? Email us at info@voltus.co or chat with us below.

Week #4 – Flushing out Phantom Megawatts

Posted on by Kelly Yazdani

In the early days of demand response, as grid operators and utilities sought to unlock the potential of this resource, program requirements were understandably light. Advance notice was often day ahead, dispatch windows were Monday through Friday 9:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., hours of dispatch were limited to 20 hours per year, etc., and rarely was demand response dispatched for anything but an annual test. With such a low barrier of entry, customers signed up in droves. The net effect was quite remarkable as demand response became the fastest growing capacity resource in the US since 2000 with the exception of wind.

As demand response became a larger percentage of the resource stack, grid operators started dispatching these resources regularly, deliberately, and at increasing frequency to deliver very valuable capacity, energy, and ancillary services. A single annual test became a thing of the past. Customers are now being called on to curtail load or transfer demand to behind-the-meter assets many times during the year. Under-performing “phantom megawatts” that flew under the radar in the early days of demand response can no longer meet market requirements.

Demand response is needed more than ever to deliver on-peak capacity, to help tamp down energy prices during grid constraints, and to help balance the grid 24/7/365 in real-time through frequently dispatched operating reserves programs (e.g. PJM Sync Reserves). As a result of more stringent program requirements, the value of demand response is also on the rise. For the strongest-performing demand response resources, capable of adapting to increased demand response requirements, this means more cash for curtailment, often more than double what was available in the past.

Demand response has come of age. If your business is ready to truly offer up your operational flexibility to the grid (and make cash in the process), email us or chat with us by clicking below.

A Response to COVID-19.

Posted on by greggdixon@voltus.co

All,

Dealing with the reality of a global pandemic is new for all of us. We don’t know the full business impact of COVID-19, but we do know it’s negative, certainly in the short term and possibly the long-term.

A business downturn results in two things:

  1. Organizations look to save cash.
  2. Organizations have more operational flexibility as manufacturing lines aren’t running at full capacity, offices aren’t fully staffed as people stick closer to home, hotels aren’t filling up, etc.

At Voltus, we are in a unique position to help you prepare for this downturn. Demand response programs turn this unforeseen operational flexibility into cash for your business.

We make it incredibly simple to enroll and get started in these programs with a simple one-page agreement. There are no out of pocket costs. There are no risks. Our technology is installed by your own electricians, keeping your team working. The entire process is remote.

Demand response is a small but important part of the solution to the challenges ahead of us. Join us in keeping our economy strong by turning COVID-19 on its head.

Stay healthy and safe,

 

 

 

Gregg Dixon
Voltus, Inc.
CEO

 

 

 

Still Seeking: Women in Cleantech!

Posted on by Voltus

A little over a year ago I posted about how cleantech has a pipeline problem with recruiting female candidates – a problem that perpetuates itself because the status quo continues to be a male-dominated industry.  At Voltus, we are committed to making targeted efforts to attract women to the industry.  Whereas in early 2018, 33% of our job candidates were female, and only 26% of our employees were female, today, we are at 50% of our job candidates (a goal we committed to as a leadership team), and 40% of our team. By focusing on recruiting an equal number of men as women, the employee count starts to come naturally.

Today is International Women’s Day, and for all of the forward progress we have made, women are still a ways away from full and true equality.  We need to continue to fight the gender gap.  In cleantech this means encouraging more women to enter, stay in, and become leaders in this amazing field. Building a cleaner and more sustainable future is one of the best opportunities to have a positive influence in the world. It impacts everyone, and getting it right makes our planet better. It is exciting, fun, and has a positive social impact . . . something that research shows women care about significantly when considering their careers.

At Voltus, we know our work is not done.  We need to continue to proactively recruit female candidates . . . the male candidates still come to us easily based on our broader networks, but that is slowly changing. We have done more direct outreach to female candidates, recruited more through university networks, and posted and networked within female-based industry groups. We’ve created a culture that makes it easier for working-moms to have exciting careers in a flexible working environment. I have both a three year old and an eight month old and I know it’s hard . . . ok impossible! . . . to do it all.  However, things like flexible work hours, working from home, a supportive team, and three months of paid parental leave go a long way.

Join us!