Week #5 – Uncovering the Gross Up

Posted on March 25, 2020 by Kelly Yazdani

At Voltus, we talk to hundreds of energy decision makers every day from dozens of industries in every major energy market. Sometimes these organizations are learning about the benefits of demand response for the first time. At other times, we’re connecting with businesses long-steeped in demand response program participation. Our message, regardless of experience, is that it is possible for customers to double their demand response dollars, and one of the easiest ways to contribute to this goal is giving demand response customers their fair share of the “gross-up.”

What the heck is the gross-up!?!

So glad you asked.

The gross-up is industry-speak for the transmission loss factor and operating reserve margin that is applied to electricity demand in wholesale power markets. These concepts impact the value of demand response resources in these same markets.

The bottom line: if you’re not being paid your portion of the gross-up you could be losing 5% to 40% of your demand response dollars depending on year and market.

Let’s look at an example to understand the concept clearly.

You have 1,000 kW of demand response capability at your facility. You contract with a demand response provider to get 65% of the revenue earned from enrolling your load curtailment in the ISO-NE market. At $7.03/kW-month you would expect the gross revenue from the 1,000 kW to be worth $84,360 for power year 2019, which at 65% nets your business $54,834. Pretty good, huh? Yet, your demand response capability is actually more valuable than 1,000 kWs and here’s why.

When power is generated by a natural gas power plant, 7% of that power is lost on average over transmission lines (a 100 MW generator only delivers about 93 MWs of usable electricity to the point of consumption). Additionally, that natural gas power plant isn’t 100% reliable throughout the year, which requires the grid operator to buy, on behalf of the market, what’s called “operating reserve.” Operating reserve averages about 15% of generation capacity (that 100 MW generator requires the grid operator to purchase 115 total MWs of generation). These transmission line losses and operating reserves add up, amounting to an additional 22% in this example.

Demand response capacity behaves differently though since it’s created at the point of consumption. This capacity doesn’t experience transmission line losses and doesn’t require operating reserves. As a result, the grid operator in our example would “gross up” the value of your 1,000 kW demand response capacity by that same 22%. The demand response provider is actually credited with 1,220 kW (1,000 kW plus the 220 kW gross up). In many cases, demand response providers only pay the customer 65% of the “nameplate capacity” (the original 1,000 kW). The additional $18,559 of value that comes from the 220 kW gross-up goes entirely to the demand response provider.

You can do the math to determine the true revenue share, but in this example it amounts to 53% to the customer, not the expected 65%.

Gross-up values can vary significantly by wholesale market, the particular power year, and the customer’s transmission level service. Regardless of the exact value, the gross up is money that shouldn’t be left on the table. If you’ve been doing demand response for a long time and you’re looking to maximize cash from your operational flexibility, ask your demand response provider for your share of the gross up.

At Voltus, we value transparency above all else. Interested in working with us or learning more about the many ways you can double your demand response dollars? Email us at info@voltus.co or chat with us below.

Got CashGen?

Posted on November 1, 2017 by Voltus

Did you once use your onsite generator to earn revenue through demand response? If the answer is yes, you’ll want to join this webinar.

As you likely know, in 2016 a US district court vacated language in EPA regulations that allowed onsite generation at commercial and industrial sites to participate in demand response programs under “emergency” operating conditions. It also had implications in Canada.
The elimination of this language effectively removed 3,000 MWs of demand response from markets throughout the US and Canada.
In this webinar, the leading demand response and generator experts will show you just how simple it can be to restart the cash flow from your generator at no cost and no risk in a simple, single-page DR agreement.

Please join us by choosing one of the scheduled webinars below and we’ll send you a special link with details.

When $10 Million Shows Up in Your Bank Account . . .

Posted on October 23, 2017 by Voltus

Today, Voltus got a little pocket money (PR Newswire). It’s creating quite a bit of buzz in the industry (G reentech Media) and we’re grateful for the attention it’s getting.

The back story is pretty simple: a few of us put our nose to the grindstone for a year, built a great technology, signed up a bunch of customers, generated profits, and attracted the interest of investors who really liked the focused business model we developed to attack a huge, underpenetrated market where the competition wasn’t innovating or fully serving customers.

But what’s the secret to our success and how do we plan to extend this success with $10 million in the bank? First, our success to date is simply a matter of attracting bright, gritty, and good people who are passionate about solving energy challenges. Second, our vision is simple: deliver more demand response dollars to the bottom line for our customers than anyone in the industry . . . less energy, more cash. Put the people and the vision together and get out of the way!

This simple model has us doing three things: we build product, we sell product, and we deliver cash to customers. This aligns with how we differentiate: we have a best-in-class technology platform that unlocks every possible revenue stream for our customers, we have a transparent, no-cost, no-risk, single page commercial agreement that makes it easy for our customers to do business with us, and we are world leaders in understanding energy markets and demand response which allows us to more than double the value customers get from what they’ve been doing in the past.

So, for our part, Matt and I sell. We evangelize. That’s us at the Crowne Plaza in Springfield, Illinois last week in the midst of a Monday morning through Friday evening road trip. We crossed paths in Springfield, signed our funding documents, snapped a pic with the front desk attendant, and went our separate ways, Matt to Peoria, I to Champaign-Urbana. We’ll sign up a dozen or so new customers from that trip.

We’re pretty sure that our competition’s CEO and President don’t do this. We’re pretty sure they don’t commit to delivering 100 MW individual sales quotas each year. Because selling is hard, yet it’s the single most valuable thing a company does in a growing market. And Matt and I love to do it . . . we love to meet our customers . . . at their steel plants, their wastewater treatment plants, their grocery stores, their data centers . . . we love to see the pride they take in their work . . . we love to forge new friendships . . . we love to learn about their unique challenges . . . we love to tell the Voltus story . . . and we love to pay our customers to use our product to help them make their businesses stronger.

Our team has a clear plan on how to turn that $10 million into $100 million in short order by delivering exceptional value to customers. You can be sure that Matt and I will be on the road doing our part to help our team get the cash to the customers.

Giddy up!