On hot summer days, utilities may have to resort to using older, dirtier backup plants, demand response programs help avoid this. (Photo: Flickr)

Last Thursday, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) voted to give the state’s three largest utilities approval to spend a total of nearly $350 million on energy saving demand-response measures. Edison International’s electric utility will spend around $188.8 million on demand response programs over the next three years, Pacific Gas and Electric around $109 million, and Sempra Energy’s electric utility around $51.6 million.

Demand response programs are a critical step in preventing global warming pollution. California’s peak daily power usage is generally somewhere between 35,000 and 40,000 megawatts of electricity a day, but on extremely hot days when air-conditioning use is high, utilities must generate up to 50 percent more electricity. On these occasions, utilities are forced to employ the use of older, dirtier backup plants, known as ‘peaker plants’ that rely on fossil-fuels. The cost of reserving peaker plants for only a few hundred hours of service a summer can be more than one billion dollars annually.

By enrolling in demand response programs and cutting energy use during peak hours, business customers can help avoid the need for peaker plants, prevent rolling blackouts and contribute to cleaning California’s air.

• Download the 2006 Demand Response List of Programs to find a program for your company
• Read background: “Calif Regulators Approve $350 Million For Utility Power Conservation,” by Cassandra Sweet, Dow Jones Newswires (8/20/09)
• Read background: “Listening to the Price of Power: New Thermostats Could Save Billions,” by Gordy Slack, Physorg.com (8/12/09)
• Related: “Flex Alerts Help Keep Energy Outlook Bright for Summer 2009” (e-Newswire, 6/02/09)
• Learn more about demand response programs from Pacific Gas and Electric, Southern California Edison, and San Diego Gas and Electric

Image: Flickr

Hundred of farmers in Idaho are doing their part to curb energy demand on hot summer afternoons. They have enrolled in a program with The Idaho Power Company to shut off electric irrigation pumps when demand soars on hot afternoons. This program can save the power company up to 5% of its peak demand.

By taking a creative approach like this, the power company is eliminating the need to build expensive new power plants to meet that demand.

In the past most farmers kept their irrigation pumps running 24/7 because it was cheaper than sending an employee down to turn them off and on. With the payments from this program farmers can save an estimated $10,000 out of an annual $40,000 pumping bill, more than enough to pay for the trip down to the pump.

By cutting off irrigation on hot summer afternoons there is the added benefit of saving water when it’s most likely to evaporate.

This is just one way to save energy by saving water. Electric pumps are not just used by farmers, there are huge pumps moving water all over California. In fact 19% of the energy used in California goes to pumping, moving and treating water. By saving water in your home or business you will be saving energy across the system.

• Visit the Flex Your Power Agricultural Efficiency page for more information
• Learn more about the link between water and energy

Jim Detmers, Vice President of the California ISO, presents awards in the demand response category at the 2008 Flex Your Power Awards

Despite drought conditions which threaten to slash California’s hydroelectric capacity by 1,000 megawatts, officials are predicting a low probability of energy supply shortages this summer, thanks in no small part to demand response programs such as Flex Your Power’s Flex Alerts. By conserving energy on hot summer days, Flex Alert participants generate up to 1,000 megawatts of conservation, equal to the output of a large power plant. This not only helps prevent blackouts, but also protects the environment by obviating the need for “peaker plants,” the dirtiest of power plants which utilities must use to meet demand when power systems are strained.

“Demand response is becoming more and more important,” stressed Jim Detmers, Vice President of the California Independent System Operator Corporation (California ISO). “I would urge energy consumers to consider participating in a demand response program that works for their situation.”

The ISO is also counting on generation from nine new power plants this summer, including two wind farms and a solar plant. Together, they should make up for reduced hydroelectric production. However, considering that most of California’s power still comes from fossil fuels, efficiency and conservation remain critical in order to protect the environment and improve air quality. Flex Alerts are always voluntary, so sign up, stay informed, and help protect California from pollution and blackouts this summer.

The Conserv-O-Meter from the California ISO shows when energy demand is high.

• Read news release from the California ISO: “Energy Outlook Bright for Summer 2009“
• Learn more about Flex Alerts
• Join the Flex Alert Network

Leeds is ready to win (Photo: British Gas – Green Lane)

Earlier this year, on this blog, we told you about three families in Medford, Massachusetts, who competed to save energy and reduce their carbon footprints on the “Energy Smackdown” reality TV program (Power Plug, 1/29/08). A sequel, of sorts, “Green Streets,” is under way in Britain.

A national competition that began in January, “Green Streets” pits 8 homes on 8 streets across Britain in a contest to save energy and slash greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The current leaders, residents of Green Lane in the town of Cookridge, have cut energy costs by 29.32%. The think tank Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), which is monitoring the exercise for British Gas, projects that if the performance of the eight streets were replicated nationwide, it could save £4.6 billion and cut GHG by 20%.

The competition comes at a time when one of Britain’s biggest energy suppliers, EDF Energy, recently announced it was raising gas prices by 22% and electricity rates by 17%. Other major energy suppliers are expected to follow suit.

Green Streets’ organizers have equipped all 64 entrants with varied energy-efficient technologies — from new water tanks and boilers to solar panels. While there’s friendly competition between the households, participants are more likely to swap tips. Families have adopted energy-saving tactics such as turning the oven off five to 10 minutes before the end of the recommended cooking period, making sure energy-using devices are unplugged when not in use and replacing an electric lawnmower with a human-powered one.

One of the participants — Janine Lewis of Leeds — says that what’s struck her is that it’s her family’s behavior which really makes the difference. “Just the simplest things, like drawing the curtains later at night in the summer and keeping the lights off. Not putting the children’s school uniform in the washing machine every day. Not leaving things on standby,” she told the Guardian.

“One of the most striking things has been how cosy everyone feels because of their new insulation. You don’t have to suffer by saving energy,” adds Leeds energy adviser Alan Pickard.

Halfway through the competition, the IPPR is ready to publish three draft recommendations. According to Matthew Lockwood, senior fellow for IPPR’s climate team, the first is extending the competition by offering £4 million annually from the Treasury as prizes for similar inter-town energy-saving contests. The second is recruiting a national force of energy advisers, which IPPR estimates would cost about £500 million annually — miniscule compared with the £4.6 billion saving on national energy costs — which currently total about £23 billion.

The final reform would repeat on a national scale the £30,000 British Gas has given to the eight streets to pay for new energy-efficient equipment. Green mini-mortgages are suggested as one way to fund energy efficiency projects. A three-year loan at a 7% rate of interest would be offset by £395 annual savings in fuel bills, according to IPPR.

• Related: “Reality TV Spotlights Home Energy Use in ‘Energy Smackdown’” (Power Plug, 1/29/08)

To demonstrate their commitment to environmental conservation, Farmers’ Rice Cooperative’s plant management worked with a Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) representative to enroll in the utility’s Critical Peak Pricing (CPP) program. FRC’s rice mills use 8,000 HP to clean, mill and package rice for shipping. Over 11 days of CPP participation, FRC averaged an impressive 37% load reduction, with their highest peak load reduction being 1,340 kilowatts, or 88% of their total load. By simply agreeing to shut down when requested during critical peak demand hours, the company has realized an impressive total savings of $135,000 on their annual electricity bill. Farmers’ Rice Cooperative was a Demand Response/Conservation Honorable Mention recipient in the 5th Annual Flex Your Power Awards.

• Read background
• View the 5th Annual Flex Your Power Demand Response Award winners and honorable mentions
• Sign up to receive e-mail and text message notification of Flex Alerts
• Find out more about the Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), San Diego Gas and Electric Company (SDG&E) and Southern California Edison (SCE) demand response programs
• Read Flex Your Power’s Best Practices Guide for Food Growers and Beverage Processors

Vuteq manufactures parts for the biggest automakers in the country, but that doesn’t stop them from cutting power use when California needs to shed peak demand. The company is enrolled in two demand response programs and is able to shed an average of 286 kilowatts. By shifting operating hours to earlier in the day, and focusing on less energy-intensive operations during critical times, Vuteq was successful enough to win PG&E’s Golden Orb award for its participation in Critical Peak Pricing (CPP) and Demand Bidding Program (DBP) demand response programs. Vuteq was a Demand Response/Conservation Honorable Mention recipient in the 5th Annual Flex Your Power Awards.

• Read background
• View the 5th Annual Flex Your Power Demand Response Award winners and honorable mentions
• Sign up to receive e-mail and text message notification of Flex Alerts
• Find out more about the Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), San Diego Gas and Electric Company (SDG&E) and Southern California Edison (SCE) demand response programs
• Read Flex Your Power’s Best Practices Guide for Manufacturers

The heat wave smothering California this week, along with the first Flex Alert of the summer, remind all of us that the need for conservation and demand response rises in concert with spiking temperatures. In 2006, confronted by another brutal heat wave, California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly) partnering with EnerNOC, and participating in the Demand Reserves Partnership (DRP), curtailed load for 21 hours over nine days. During one particular event on July 24, Cal Poly reduced 1.75 megawatts of demand, which amounts to an impressive 27% of the university’s peak load. Cal Poly achieved load reductions primarily by adjusting lighting load and HVAC set points, along with a well-communicated, campus-wide curtailment plan. Cal Poly simultaneously initiated a program in its energy management system to shut down non-essential HVAC loads. Overall, Cal Poly reduced its total electricity consumption by 23,000 kilowatt-hours. Cal Poly and EnerNOC were Demand Response/Conservation Honorable Mention recipients in the 5th Annual Flex Your Power Awards.

• Read background
• View the 5th Annual Flex Your Power Demand Response Award winners and honorable mentions
• Sign up to receive e-mail and text message notification of Flex Alerts
• Find out more about the Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), San Diego Gas and Electric Company (SDG&E) and Southern California Edison (SCE) demand response programs
• Find rebates, incentives and services for the institutional sector

With a significant heat wave bearing down on California and the West this week, and with more than 300 wildfires still burning statewide posing potential threats to the state’s power grid, the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) has declared a Flex Alert for Tuesday through Thursday, July 8 - 10. CAISO expects to see the highest electricity demand of the summer this week, and it urges Californians to conserve energy, especially during the “AC rush hour” of 3:00 - 6:00 p.m.

CAISO says it does not anticipate any shortages this week, but it cautions that peak demand could approach the record peak demand of 50,270 MW, set July 24, 2006 (e-Newswire, 7/26/06).

To sign up to receive e-mail and text message notification of Flex Alerts, and for energy conservations tips, visit our Flex Alert page. To view the current demand on the grid and an hour-by-hour forecast of the day’s electrical surplus/shortfall, visit CAISO’s website.

I’ll post updates about the Flex Alert at this blog throughout the week. Please pass this post along to your friends and colleagues in California.

• Sign up to receive e-mail and text message notification of Flex Alerts

Ernest & Julio Gallo Winery installed computer-accessible demand control systems at two of their facilities in Fresno and Livingston. The automated system at Fresno provides real-time power monitoring and control of 12,500 tons of refrigeration chillers, five filtration systems and 24 radio-controlled portable pumps. The Livingston winery’s system controls 14,000 tons of refrigeration. Tests run on the systems have shown a potential demand reduction of 4,417 kilowatts in Fresno and 1,791 kilowatts in Livingston. Ernest & Julio Gallo Winery was a Demand Response/Conservation Honorable Mention recipient in the 5th Annual Flex Your Power Awards.

• Read background (PDF, 1.3 MB)
  
• View the 5th Annual Flex Your Power Demand Response Award winners and honorable mentions
• Sign up to receive e-mail and text message notification of Flex Alerts
• Find out more about the Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), San Diego Gas and Electric Company (SDG&E) and Southern California Edison (SCE) demand response programs
• Read Flex Your Power’s Best Practices Guide for Food Growers and Beverage Processors