Week #3 – Incremental Auction Sell-Off (Don’t Get Caught Holding an Empty Bag of Cash)

Posted on March 10, 2020 by Kelly Yazdani

Using a bit of provocation, last month we declared that PJM Demand Response is Dead! The caveat here is that PJM Demand Response (as you’ve known it) is Dead, with changes to the Emergency Load Response Program (ELRP) that make it much more difficult for customers to perform and, ultimately, earn cash (e.g., a 30 minute response with 365/24/7 availability doesn’t work for most).

Our webinar, outlining these changes, and highlighting our out-of-market PeakSaver Program, occurred a few weeks before the close of PJM’s 3rd incremental auction (IA). These incremental auctions give capacity providers, who made commitments to provide capacity three years ago, the opportunity to sell their positions back to the market. Given the changes to ELRP, we had a company-wide hypothesis: curtailment service providers (CSPs) will offer thousands of megawatts back to the market during the 3rd IA, ultimately mitigating their risk of portfolio underperformance under stringent new “capacity performance” program requirements.

There is an important phrase in that last sentence though – mitigating their risk. If a demand response provider unloads their position, what happens to the customer who is expecting to get paid for ELRP program participation in 2020? When the CSP liquidates their position in an IA, the CSP is paid, but the customer’s obligation to perform, and their earning potential, is gone.

Last week, the results were posted and our theory held true: 4,500 MWs of generation capacity, a large portion of which represents demand response, was sold back to the market, dumping many CSPs’ commitments to deliver for the first full “capacity performance” year (starting 6/1/2020). This capacity offloading is a clear sign that the new capacity performance rules prove too risky and costly for many in-market demand response MWs. Commercial and industrial customers who were expecting to generate revenue for the upcoming power year may find that their position was sold out. The CSP will pocket 100% of the profit, leaving the customer with nothing.

What now? Given these results, CSPs are scrambling to figure out exactly how to maximize the profitability of their portfolio and will only retain the best performing customers into the new power year. Don’t get caught holding the bag. All customers should contact their CSP and get a written confirmation of their position for the upcoming summer.

Most importantly, sign up for out-of-market demand response. Voltus’s PeakSaver program can be stacked with in-market programs and provide a clear path to cash this summer. Because the program is market independent, you can enroll at any time, doubling your demand response dollars for the coming year. PeakSaver provides a no cost, no risk approach to demand response that proves far more reliable than many in-market programs.

The only bag you should be holding is the one filled with money. Contact us at info@voltus.co or chat with us by clicking on the icon on the bottom right of your screen to get yours.

This post is part of multi-week series dedicated to “Getting the Most Cheese from Demand Response.” Check out Week 1 on Eliminating Capacity Charges and Week 2 on In-Market versus Out-of-Market Demand Response.

Webinar: PJM Demand Response (as you know it) is Dead. Now what?

Posted on February 19, 2020 by greggdixon@voltus.co

Demand Response in PJM, as you’ve known it, is dead.

Now that PJM requires DR resources to respond in 30 minutes on a 24/7/365 basis, customers are abandoning the program. So, where are these flexible loads going?

Join energy experts Dana Guernsey and Todd Krause, as well as a special guest message from Jon Wellinghoff, former FERC Chairman, in this lively replay of our popular webinar. Ready to double your demand response dollars in 2020 and beyond? Join us!

PJM Demand Response is Dead. Now what?

Posted on February 11, 2020 by greggdixon@voltus.co

Demand Response in PJM, as you’ve known it, is dead.

Now that PJM requires DR resources to respond in 30 minutes on a 24/7/365 basis, customers are abandoning the program. So, where are these flexible loads going?

There’s a new, smart approach that doubles the cash earned for your operational flexibility in 2020 and beyond. Added bonus – there’s no risk or cost to access these financial benefits!

Join Todd Krause and Dana Guernsey, the leading PJM DR experts, as well as special guest Jon Wellinghoff, CEO, GridPolicy, Inc. & Former Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and hundreds of the top commercial and industrial energy management practitioners in a lively discussion to learn more about new DR opportunities!

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!

DR is Dead

Posted on June 23, 2017 by Voltus

DR, as you’ve known it, is dead. Join us to learn two truths and a lie:

Truth: Customers are fleeing flagship demand response programs in PJM, New England, and New York as program risks and demands on customers increase
Truth: “Out-of-market” demand response is replacing traditional demand response: it provides less risk and a better financial proposition to customers
Lie: Learn how your demand response provider has been underpaying you, keeping for itself some of the money earned by customers

We expect more than 3,000 commercial and industrial customers to join us for these webinars. Please join us by choosing one of the four scheduled webinars detailed below and we’ll send you a special link with details.